On November 25, the Transit Commission approved OC Transpo’s 2025 draft budget and we provided an update on our Para Transpo Talk series, the arrival of the latest zero-emission bus (ZEB) and our 40th annual OC Transpo/Loblaw Holiday Food Drive.
If you didn’t get a chance to tune in, The Next Stop Blog is here to bring you up to speed on what you missed.
Our 2025 operating budget is $856 million – the largest investment in OC Transpo’s operating budget in the City’s history. The draft budget will head to City Council on December 11.
The 2025 draft budget is focused on several initiatives that will help us reach our goal of reaching 99.5 per cent for bus service delivery.
Part of the draft budget includes a proposed eight per cent increase to the transit levy, as well as some changes to OC Transpo’s fares:
The Transit Commission approved a motion recommending that City Council maintain free transit for seniors on Wednesdays and adjust the Senior monthly pass to $78.50, which is a 42 per cent discount of the Adult monthly pass price.
Under the proposed budget, Seniors would no longer ride free on Sundays.
We are excited to say that new investments next year also include the delivery of brand new ZEBs and increasing our Para Transpo service. Some of the most exciting news will be the launch of O-Train Lines 2 and 4 and extending O-Train Line 1 to Trim Station.
The launch of our New Ways to Bus network and revising east-end bus routes to connect to O-Train stations is also planned for 2025. There are also no further bus service reductions planned for 2025 as part of the draft budget.
We are happy to say that OC Transpo’s first Para Transpo Talk series held in October was a great success.
More than 300 attendees joined at various locations around the city and had an opportunity to see the new Para Transpo minibus.
These customer engagement sessions allow us to meet with customers, their families, companions and support persons to talk about feedback and ideas about Para Transpo service. For more information on future Para Transpo Talk sessions, please visit octranspo.com.
Some more good news is that our first new ZEB has arrived, and we are currently finishing up pre-service inspections before it enters service. There are an additional 26 ZEBs expected to be delivered early in 2025. Stay tuned!
Happy holidays, everyone!
It’s incredible to think that this is our 40th annual OC Transpo/Loblaw Holiday Food Drive.
The OC Transpo/Loblaw Holiday Food Drive is Ottawa’s largest annual, single-day grocery store food drive.
This year’s food drive will take place on Saturday, December 14, from 10 am to 5 pm at participating Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, Your Independent Grocer and No Frills stores across Ottawa.
More information will be shared on octranspo.com.
In October, we saw ridership rise 0.5 per cent higher compared to September, and nine per cent higher than the previous year at 67.9 million customer-trips.
Para Transpo has also seen an increase in ridership. Our 12-month total ridership is 848,000 customer-trips, an increase of 16 per cent compared to the previous year.
For more information on OC Transpo, visit octranspo.com, or follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.
2025 review
Remember when the O-Train extensions were just plans? 2025 changed everything.
We opened Lines 2 & 4 (hello, airport rail link!), powered up the East Extension for testing, rolled out the West’s first train, and completed station after station.
This is the story of how Ottawa moved toward a tripled rail network in one landmark year.
Read More about 🏆A year in review of the O-Train Extension project
OttaTalk
The OttaTalk team invited transit leaders into the studio to talk about Ottawa’s busiest room — the TOCC.
Hosts interviewed Director Joel Lemieux and Manager Brad Tubman about the command centre that handles 400,000 calls each year: no windows, but eyes on the entire city.
Go behind the scenes of the podcast with The Next Stop Blog!
Read More about 🎧 Behind the scenes of OttaTalk’s episode on the TOCC 🎙