LRT Off-Peak Service Reduced

This is a release from the City of Ottawa:

—

Renée Amilcar, General Manager,

Transit Services

Subject / Objet Weekday off-peak service on O-Train  Line 1

Background

Date: February 10, 2025

On August 26, 2024, weekday off-peak service on O-Train Line 1 was adjusted from every five  minutes to every 10 minutes. Peak-period service remained unchanged, with trains scheduled  every five minutes.

These service adjustments reduced the capacity of O-Train Line 1 from 7,200 to 3,600 customer trips per hour per direction. This change in service frequency and available capacity was  introduced to better reflect the existing and expected travel patterns of transit customers and to  achieve savings of $1.6 million per year. Staff have closely monitored ridership following these  changes.

On September 18, 2024, Council approved a motion with the following directions:

Be it resolved that OC Transpo collect and analyze ridership data at the current service  frequency to assess the impact on overall ridership levels and transit system efficiency and  return to Transit Commission within three months with an analysis of ridership trends and  patterns, impact on revenue and operational costs, an assessment of any other  operational efficiencies and cost-saving measures, and the impact of any federal or  provincial investment in transit, and make a recommendation about future service levels at  that time.

Be it further resolved that staff continue to monitor the data and commit to increase  service, as soon as operationally feasible, to align service levels with ridership demand  when it increases.

Below is a summary of the results of the data collection and analysis.

The number of customer-trips observed during the fall of 2024 (September through to December)  was slightly lower than the projections that were used in summer 2024 when the decision was  made to adjust the level of service. In the memo to Council on August 2, 2024, staff projected that the maximum number of customer-trips per hour per direction would be 4,400 during the peak

periods and 2,900 at off-peak times. The actual observed ridership averaged 4,200 customer trips per hour during the afternoon peak period and 2,400 customer-trips per hour during the off peak periods. This represented an average maximum of 58 per cent of available capacity being  used during peak periods and an average maximum of 67 per cent of available capacity being  used at off-peak times.

In addition to ridership counts, field observations were completed between September and  October 2024 to monitor O-Train Line 1 passenger loads during the midday. Staff used the CCTV  system to monitor levels of crowding at O-Train Line 1 stations outside peak periods and  recorded whether platform volumes were light, medium or heavy. These field observations were  completed from Tuesday, September 3, to Friday, October 11, focusing on the hourly reports  during the weekday period between 10 am and 2 pm. A total of 140 platform volume observations  were made.

During the days and times observed, passenger loads remained light 87 per cent of the time. The  first seven weekdays of service in September saw medium passenger loads after which only four  days over rest of the month had medium loads.

Passenger volumes were observed to be “heavy” on only one instance, September 23, between  noon and 1 pm. This increase was due to a temporary train diversion affecting O-Train service  that day.

The majority of fare revenue across the OC Transpo transit network is collected from the sale of  pre-paid fares. Revenue from the sale of these products does not vary based on how many trips  customers complete every month and would not be significantly affected by any change in  ridership during the off-peak periods.

Based on the data shared in this memo, sufficient capacity is currently being provided on O-Train  Line 1 during off-peak periods to meet demand.

OC Transpo will continue to monitor the system, collect and analyze ridership data, and will  adjust service levels within budgeted levels of operating resources to ensure that sufficient  capacity is provided to meet customer demand.

To be able to respect a balanced budget, further transit system cost savings were identified in the  2024 Budget and will be implemented in April 2025 with the New Ways to Bus route network  changes. These route changes are also expected to improve the reliability of bus service across  the city.

Original signed by

Renée Amilcar

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