octranspo

Is anyone else having problems with the OC Transpo Travel Planner today?

I constantly get these error messages:

 How was everyone's Canada Day 2009 with OC Transpo? I went to park and ride at St. Laurent but the station was closed on top and the doors to the mall were locked. There were several groups of people wandering around not knowing what to do. I ended up just driving to a friend's house near downtown and walking the rest of the way. How was your Canada Day? 

Thanks to the Canadian Transit Forum, I had discovered this new look for the web site, still in part in construction, but much of the essential stuff is there.


http://www.octranspo1.com/

To the new driver (his FIRST DAY!) on the #4 Downtown route on Friday night,

I say it again - congrats on your job, and I hope those teenagers weren't causing you too much trouble. (He said the new people get the worst shifts... he was doing the #4 until 1am!! That bus gets weird at night).

You did a good job (he really did) and he knew how to use the ramp properly and everything.

Oh, and he WAS cute and young. :P But he was generally a very nice guy! It was quite pleasant to chat with him.

A 22-year-old man is in hospital with minor injuries after being hit by an OC Transpo bus in Orleans Friday morning.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Health/struck+Orleans/1735598/story.html

"OTTAWA — There were no injuries and just a few minutes delay for the riders of an downtown-bound OC Transpo bus that caught fire Friday morning.

The fire aboard an eastbound No. 96 bus occurred on Highway 417, just east of the Eagleson Road exchange, at about 8:30 a.m. All the passengers managed to get off safely and were soon aboard another bus to continue their journey."


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/fire+disrupts+morning+commute/1713137/story.html

There's a positively frightening photo accompanying the Citizen's story. Good to see that no one was hurt.

really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYqf6T7XFog&feature=PlayList&p=79639BFF24D7612B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=35

"From June 21- August 29, the upper level at St. Laurent Station will be closed for renovations resulting in buses being detoured to the lower level, etc. Also affected during this time are the elevators, escalators, pedestrain walkways and the Sales and Information Centre."


That's great and all, but are they going to be done the LOWER level by then? Half of each side down there is still closed off.

To address the technology issue, the City of Ottawa is hosting an LRT Technology Forum on June 20, 2009 that will bring together transit experts, technology providers and key stakeholders to identify the best transit technology options for the City’s new LRT system.

Residents are invited to take part in the Forum on Saturday, June 20. Presentations by staff and technology providers will be followed by small group discussions. There will also be an opportunity to visit displays and engage with other participants and technology providers.

More info here: http://ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/tmp/lrt/index_en.html

Cullen proposes hand sanitizers on OC Transpo

OTTAWA — Ottawa's transit buses should have hand-sanitizer dispensers on board to help stop the spread of colds and flu, says Alex Cullen.

The councillor for Bay ward and declared 2010 mayoral candidate says it's in the interest of public health to have the cleansers, which are usually rubbing-alcohol based, available to OC Transpo passengers.

"People get on, they touch the bar or the handrail, they touch their noses, they can get sick," Cullen said.

He says that at a city council transit committee meeting on June 17, he hopes his fellow councillors will agree to ask city staff to look into the idea in more detail.

On Tuesday, he'll hold a news conference to promote the idea with U of O nursing student Jenn St. Jean, who raised the idea in a letter to the Citizen in February.

A Facebook group in support of the proposal has attracted 91 members.

Granted I don't really pay much attention to names in the news when it comes to OC Transpo, but isn't it Cullen who keeps proposing stupid, money-wasting ideas? Like come on.

I'll keep my anti-hand-sanitizer rant to a minimum but it's because of these products that people these days have no bloody immune system and keep getting sick. You get sick for a reason and your body starts building an immunity to the bacteria/virus. Also throw in the fact that these products will likely spawn the next super-bacteria and we'll have another pandemic on our hands (like swine flu wasn't enough). OC needs to spend this kind of money in more important areas.

I've been very pleased with OC transpo lately. For myself I give a thumbs up! Make that four tumbs included from my friend and her roomate.
Had posted something earlier but apperently it got cut off >_> think i know why but i'll keep it shorter !

Very entertaining on the 95/96 now a days when people can't read the " Press button " sign in the middle or end of the bus to open up the door. Some people still yell at the driver to open it. My friends roomate remarked to them " Sir if you'd kindly read the yellow button, *Gasps sarcastically* and now press the button (passenger presses button) *gasps sarcastically again* see! the door opens without the driver. "

Starting to take the bus more and more now a days, haven't for a while been walking everywhere but my feet hurt by the time i start my night shift so I thought busing is more entertaining and less painful, well feet wise ear wise the conversations on the buses these days...jeez..

I heard one girl on the 95 say " Like " about 50 times from Silver City down town , to Baseline Station. I ended up counting her likes in my head because i was bored and my friend was hogging my music. I said afterwards can that lady go 5 minutes without saying the word " Like " or, talk a little quieter so the whole bus doesn't have to hear about her government job? *facepalms*

Are they really gonna cut food and drinks from the buses? I mean, understandable of why they want to get the food off the bus. But the drinks? Does that go to Drivers as well? I've been listening to the councilors lately on that motion and thought some drivers I know in Kanata might not be happy about not drinking their late night coffee from Tims.
Either way, its one thing I hope that passes with the council.

OC Transpo bus operator Marino Verzeroli is the 2008 Transecure employee of the year. He received the award at the 19th annual Transecure awards ceremony last week, for his role in helping a young child in need.

Full story: Bus operator honoured for saving young child from snowstorm

Standing o!

so a couple days ago I made a post here in a fit of annoyance, which has kind of, just a little, spiraled rapidly out of control. I feel better since spreading about my misery a bit, but I wanted to balance out the bicker with some nice. I really enjoyed Clean Air Day, or whatever it's called, although it was badly advertised (at least in Barrhaven), and my mom and I only found out at the last minute. But my mom got to ride double on my bus pass coming and going downtown. I wonder how it went for everyone else?

Big Fat Jerk/Not a Big Fat Jerk?

So yesterday I get on the Buck Eighteen at Billings Bridge going towards Confederation Heights for to catch an O-Train. This is a little bit after 15h00.

The bus fills up to a modest level, most people have a seat to themselves, but some have to double up. (It's on of the ones that has the 5 seats abreast at the back, with two seats of two in front of those facing forward, and two seats in front of that facing each other).

The bus goes one stop to Data Centre, where this guy gets on the bus and immediately starts berating the folks sitting in the priority seating to move (the lady he was getting them to move for wasn't even on the bus yet). The thing is there was a fairly old gentleman sitting in the seats he was indicating (the seats across the aisle were both occupied by younger, more able looking people). He's yelling at the guy, repeating himself 3 or 4 times, so the guy gets up and moves. So that got my goat.

But, whatever. Then the dude looks to the seats beside the priority ones that can also be flipped up, and he's all like "EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!! I NEED THOSE TOO!!!!!!!" The lady is driving one of those wheelchairs with the extra wheels in the back, that can purdy much spin 360 degrees in place, so I'm like: "Whu...?" So, the folks oblige (including old dude who he had just forced to move one time). So he flips the seat up. While he's doing that, lady has already maneuvered herself in her spot, no problem. He waits like 3 seconds (or until everyone he just asked to move has their backs to him) after flipping the second seat up, then flips it down and takes it himself!! Now he's taken my goat and sacrificed it to the gods of asshole-dom.

WTF? Ok, yes, you want to be near or beside his charge/wife/friend/whatever. Understandable, but what an underhanded way to go about it...there's nothing wrong with him, he could have stood near her, or further back in the bus, facing forward to observe. Hey, you even could have asked. Hell, he maybe even could have asked (though that would have been difficult considereing the toneu adopted when you got on the bus). But no, you had be a huge douche bag from start to finish. Arse.

Fares have gone up nearly 10% across the board! 15% for tickets.. that one was a bit surprising.

http://octranspo.com/fares/FareNews_menuE.htm

Also: New Student Age Limit "To quality for a student photo ID card, students must now be age 27 or younger, in addition to the other requirements." Not cool. Not cool at all.

Sorry brothers, My  MD insists that I need to fully recover. RTW date is Sept 20. (16 weeks) And it's not true that his name is Dr. Summeroff!   No more 8 hr pieces with 90's or 92's that don't have A/C.  9:30 spares... I  feel for you, really I do.
Now, who's going to check the open work?

I'm surprised nobody else picked up on this, from the Sun:

"Bus hygiene" was identified as a problem area in OC Transpo's annual report presented yesterday at City Hall, and general manager Alain Mercier promised to address the issue by next fall.

"In most major cities, food and drinks are not allowed on buses," Mercier said. "Do we want to consider a no-food policy? We know the lack of bus hygiene hurts our reputation and can deteriorate the customer experience."

Mercier said there is also a "huge cost factor" to allowing food on buses. Staff are hired to clean the buses at the end of a shift, but some buses are on the road for 14-16 hours at a time. Drivers are encouraged to clean up if they have time between routes, Mercier said, but it is up to their discretion.

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/05/30/9621271-sun.html

Wow, just wow. This really highlights how out of touch management is with reality. Instead of dealing with REAL problems of safety, and reliability, they're going to create more unenforceable and unneeded rules.

Buses aren't that dirty, and what crap there is, isn't food. How about a free newspaper ban first!