Welcome to the OC Transpo Transit System site.

OC Transpo came into existing on August 1, 1972 by The Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton to serve the region of Ottawa and Carleton cities better than the existing system.

OC Transpo has the largest fleet of articulated buses in Canada as well Invero D40i made by New Flyer Industries.

Information on the fleet of buses can be found at OC Transpo and at cptdb in detail.

For history on OC Transpo, you can go to cptdb and get year by year information there.

It very rare I get up to Ottawa. 2010 was the year I shot the most photos of the system in the short time I had. I have place 20 photos thumbnail on each page that will take you to the full size of the photo for better viewing as well faster downloading. I have yet to load my 2005 page. I have also place links to various videos I shot on the pages and the videos are on youtube site.

OC and Ottawa are the poster child for BRT (Bus Rapid Transitway) in North America. The BRT was started in 1978 and the first phase open in 1983. In 1996, the final section of the 31km 1978 plan was completed. It is still expanding today.

January 1st, 2001, OC Transpo became part of the new amalgamated City of Ottawa.

On October 15, 2001 a pilot project LRT (Light Rail Transit) O-Train went into service using 3 (DMU) Diesel-powered Talent Bombardier trains Running from Bayview Transitway station in the north to Greenboro Station in the south, servicing 5 station along the 8km system. This was the first system in Canada where light rail vehicle ran on the same track as heavy rail traffic trains. Regular CP trains operated at night after the O-Train stop running. The platforms are the same hight as the doors on the DMU that fold down at night to allow trains to get by them.

This was the first stage of putting in LRT in the City of Ottawa. Due to the politicking surrounding the LRT, it still in operation today.

There was an LRT (light rail Transit) system to be built back in 2003 to the point that the current Mayor of Ottawa cancel the contracts for it and move ahead with this idea what the LRT system should look like. The City of Ottawa was sued by the various contractor who were award a contract to built the first plan and has cost the city 10's of million dollars to date.

Based on the current condition of operation in the downtown core, the BRT is a failure. The core will never handle 180 buses an hour as claim. It fails even at 100 buses per hour.

From an operation cost view, BRT win hands down for building it, but loose to LRT on operation cost. LRT can move more riders than BRT at haft the cost, if not more than a low floor articulated bus or a double deck bus. Labour to drive these buses or LRT eats up 80% or more of the operation cost.

Facts based on other comparison.
Peak load for 60' bus is 65 and 80 for crush load. For LRT, it is 125 and 180.
A driver earning $60,000 today will received $145,636,000 in 30 years using 3% yearly increase.
A 60' bus cost about $750,000-$1,000,000 today and at 3% increase, it will cost about $1,347,849 in 30 years
If buses are replace every 10 years, you need 3 buses at a cost of $3,300,812 for 30 year comparison.
A LRT will cost about $4.5 million and will last 30 years with a mid life overhaul of about $175,000 for a total of $4.675 million.
To move 3,000 rider per hour from a single point and allow for room at other stops, you need 40 buses with a headway of 1.5 minute.
To move the same number of riders with LRT, you will need 24 cars with a head way of 150 seconds using 1 unit or 450 seconds (7.1 minute) using a 3 car unit for 10 trains.
To move 5,000 riders per hour from a single point and allow for room a other stops, you need 67 buses with a headway of 54 seconds. To move the same number of riders with LRT, you will need 40 cars with a headway of 1.5 minutes using 1 unit or 270 seconds (4.5 minute) using a 3 car unit for 13 trains.
To move 7,000 riders per hour from a single point and allow for room a other stops, you need 93 buses with a headway of 39 seconds. To move the same number of riders with LRT, you will need 56 cars with a headway of 64 seconds using 1 unit or 190 seconds (3.05 minute) using a 3 car unit for 20 trains.
To move 10,000 riders per hour from a single point and allow for room a other stops, you need 133 buses with a headway of 27 seconds. To move the same number of riders with LRT, you will need 80 cars with a headway of 34 second (.75 minutes) using 1 unit or 135 seconds (2.15 minute) using a 3 car unit for 28 trains.

You need 3 personal for each vehicle you put on the road. Buses will require 120, 201, 279 and 399. LRT will require 72 or 30, 120 or 39, 168 or 60, 240 or 84.

If we look at cost per hour to put a vehicle on the road, it cost about $110 for a bus and $150 for an LRT. To move 3,000 riders per hour it costing $6,600 for a bus, $4,500 for a single LRT or $1,500 for 10 trains. You only need 1 driver for a 3 car unit. It is clear LRT is the cost saver in operation cost between $1,500 and $4,500 per hour. At 10,000 riders per hour, cost saving is even greater for LRT. Buses cost $22,000/hr while LRT is $15,000 or a saving of $7,000/hr.

Fuel cost is another sources of cost saving using LRT. A bus gets about 7km per liter at a cost of about $.90/lt and use about $4/hr. An LRT use about 250 kw of power at $.11/kw or about $27.50/hr.

You can find more detail cost analysis on BRT vs. LRT Here.