Bus routes on chopping block

The proposed change is part of OC Transpo's 2009 Transplan – an annual assessment of transit services and bus routes, which aims to reduce costs, increase efficiency and extend the service to new areas.

This year's plan proposes to cancel route 24 Downtown/Gloucester North, which runs between Beacon Hill and downtown during morning and afternoon rush hours. This would be compensated with increased service on a modified 124 route that would end at Hurdman station.

Beacon Hill resident Joanna McCaffrey, a regular user of route 24 who works at Health Canada, says she's not pleased with the prospect of having to transfer at Hurdman station to get downtown. "The 24 is really the best option for people in our neighbourhood," she explains, noting this bus takes her right from home to work, and "it's faster than driving."

But if the proposal goes through, McCaffrey says she might give up commuting to work and carpool with neighbours instead.

For OC Transpo, this proposed change fits into the larger goal of improving the bus flow on Albert and Slater streets, by reducing the number of routes that offer direct commuting service to and from downtown. "Albert and Slater are very congested during rush hour," notes Pat Scrimgeour, manager of transit service design with the City of Ottawa. He says at the busiest time of the day, almost 180 buses – the maximum capacity – run on these streets every hour.

Scrimgeour says any small increase in the number of buses that run on Albert and Slater largely affects the reliability of the service. For this reason, OC Transpo is proposing to cancel some commuter routes that service downtown, like the 24, which would increase the number of costumers having to transfer at Hurdman station.

Tim Tierney, president of the Beacon Hill North Community Association, suggests "this would discourage people from taking the bus."

He says he's received over 30 e-mails from Beacon Hill residents, some of them planning to do the same as McCaffrey and switch back to driving to work if the proposal goes through.

Despite these claims, Scrimgeour says he continues to believe transit remains the best way to travel. He assures residents there are currently enough buses linking the station to the downtown core in order to accommodate the extra commuters who would have to transfer at Hurdman. "They might not always get a seat, but there's enough space to reasonably, comfortably move people from Hurdman to downtown," he continues, explaining there is a bus that departs from Hurdman to downtown about every 20 seconds in the morning.

He adds that Beacon Hill residents would also "benefit from a faster trip," provided by a unique, modified route 124, in which buses would run at a higher frequency.

Tierney disagrees with this, arguing the increased frequency of buses in Beacon Hill might end up disturbing the peace for homeowners, not to mention the fact that the modified route 124 would miss four stops currently serviced by route 24, one of which he frequently uses.

The complete Transplan proposal, including modifications to 33 routes in the city, was posted earlier this month on OC Transpo's homepage for feedback from users. Scrimgeour says they've already received 1,500 comments, which OC Transpo will take into consideration before making its proposal to the city's transit committee on May 20.