octranspo

Sorry I haven't posted in a while and sorry for the scary avatar and sorry for this other rant of mine against our intelligent (?) city politicians.

Isn't me but did the Finance Committee aren't aware that the same politicians have opted to slashed the initial proposal of increasing the fare hike of 7.5 % to 3-3.5%. Why the flip-flop? If I am not mistaken the members of the audit, budget and finance committee are some of our city politicians. And actually they want the fare hike to be implemented in March 2010 instead of July 2010.

And to add insult to injury, the same committee is proposing cuts as well to routes. I don't know what routes this useless committee are targeting (since they didn't bother posting a document/agenda of today's meeting online) for cancellation. While the Citizen it says re-orginaization, I am pretty sure those cuts proposed are simillar to what was proposed the last two years but was soundly rejected twice by Council. Why insisting on cutting those routes - it's obvious it will never be accepted.

Oh and the comittee also wants to scrap the funding for the university transit pass, another flip-flop.

Obviously while this city wants (?) to promote a greener environment, this committee is actually doing the complete opposite with these kinds of ways to help ease the budget pain - not that it would ease a lot though probably just pennies in savings Looking at the $30 million cost cited by the auditor general this week in costs for sick days of municipal employees or the heavy cost of suburban sprawl and useless road widening projects and other anomalies caused by our brilliant (?) politicians, it is quite easy to find ways to ease the budget pains although the politicians doesn't seem to get it .

While it would be great to cut the tax hike significantly, stop targetting the wrong areas such as transit. It would be a lose-lose situation for the city and the users. It would actually means a major lost of revenues and probably worsen the budget hole.

By the way, here's the CTV link

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091127/OTT_Budget_091127/20091127/?hub=OttawaHome

And the Citizen article

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/City+finance+committee+strikes+green+fees+cuts+other+services/2275801/story.html

How pathetic. They make over 50K a year to drive a bus and that is not enough?

I hope the driver is fired.

http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/abc/Local/ON/ContentPosting?isfa=1&feedname=CBC_LOCALNEWS&date=true&newsitemid=ot-ottawa-oc-transpo-driver-charged-stealing

Gah.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/11/18/ottawa-stroller-bus-city-hall.html


Bus-riding moms win Ottawa stroller fight

More than a dozen moms armed with babies and strollers rolled into Ottawa city hall Wednesday to protest rules that would have restricted bulky strollers on transit buses. And in the end, councillors backed down.

City staff proposed the new rules after receiving complaints from customers and operators involving the area at the front of the bus reserved for seniors, pregnant women, people with disabilities and passengers with small children.

"There's been a lot of falls and injuries as a result of people trying to move around the stroller," Vicky Kyriaco-Wilson, Ottawa's manager of transit marketing and customer services, said Wednesday. "We really are trying to find a way to accommodate all of our customers in a way that's co-operative."

The proposed stroller policy would have banned non-folding single strollers. Only one open stroller would have been allowed on board at a time, in a designated wheelchair spot, and only if it were occupied by a child. If a wheelchair needed the spot, the parent would have to fold the stroller up and move.

But as a result of the protest Wednesday, the proposal was abandoned in favour of the current practice. Transit drivers will continue to decide the size and number of open strollers that can be on board at one time.

Rules would be hard to follow

About 15 mothers, many with their strollers and small children, showed up to demonstrate against the proposed restrictions and to show the transit committee how hard the new rules would be for parents who rely on the bus. Among them was Hannah Rogers, who rides the bus daily with her three-month-old and a three-year-old.

"Where do you put the infant if you are folding your stroller?" she asked the committee. "Do I need to hand my child over to a stranger while I fold my stroller if there's no room for me on that bus? That would be a little complicated."

Brianne Marvin, 22, said she has relied on transit to get first to high school and now to Algonquin College. Her three-year-old son attends daycare near her home in Orléans. Sometimes she has had to wait up to two hours before a bus would let her on with her stroller, she said. Making things any worse could discourage young mothers from trying to get to school.

"Being a parent at 18 I could have just said 'I'll give up,' but having the transit system there — I mean it — it has helped me a lot to give back to the community and [be] a successful person,"

Many parents can't afford any other form of transportation, she said.

The protesters managed to convince the committee, including Coun. Georges Bédard, that the policy was unrealistic.

"I think that is rather onerous in certain situations," he said. "And if in fact there is room on the bus … we should let these people on the bus with their strollers open because many of them are carrying very small children and they need protection along with other passengers."

Kyriaco-Wilson said she hopes the attention drawn to the issue recently, along with public education, will reduce the number of conflicts among bus riders in the front of the bus.

Too punctual, OC Transpo drivers told to show up late
Effort reduces stress, OC Transpo brass say

Reduces stress? Really?

They use the word abysmal and Mercier in the same sentence.

Ouch.

And I quote:

This new information brought strong rebuke from city council led by Mayor Larry O’Brien, who said the decision may have been correct, but the logic behind it was poorly conveyed.

“The communication from your department, Mr. Mercier, to us, was abysmal and you need to hear that,” said O’Brien.

“This is new information that just filters in, and it almost feels like I’m being blackmailed into supporting something I don’t want to support,” said Innes Ward Coun. Rainer Bloess.


www.metronews.ca/ottawa//article/372218--council-reverses-transit-call

The Councillors on Transit Committee has amended the stroller policy that OC Transpo management proposed (no thanks to Councillor Bedard for interfering).

Basically, strollers will continue to be allowed to used the aisle.

http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/tc/2009/11-18/disposition39eng.htm

That the Transit Committee receive this report for information as amended by the following:

1. That the new stroller policy be amended so that:

a. An open stroller carrying a child must be placed in a wheelchair position if available.

b. Should a wheelchair position not be available, open strollers will be allowed in the aisle unless they interfere with other passengers or with the safe movement of passengers within the transit vehicle.

c. Should an open stroller be in a wheelchair position and a person using a wheelchair boards and needs that position, the customer with the stroller will be required to move.

Pass it on however you can. There's a Night Stop at Baseline Station. After 2100 hrs wait there for your bus. It's for your own safety...

...attend the Transit Committee meeting and speak in support of it. The meeting is on Wednesday morning, and it will be the second item on the agenda.

Last night, I came across this link on Google ( http://forums.weddingbells.ca/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=4348260&Main=4347709 ). I am sure there will be people speaking against the proposed policy.

I know pass holders are ALLOWED on the back of the articulated buses, but are they REQUIRED to enter at the back?

I was on a bus the other day and the driver refused to allow people with passes on at the front saying that they had to get on at the back.

At 2 stops the driver refused to open the front doors (the bus was busy but not packed, and there was more space at the front then the rest of the bus) this resulted in ticket holders having to get on at the back and then work their way up to the front.

It made me wonder, are pass holders ONLY supposed to get on at the back, and drivers are just nice about allowing them on at the front, or what?

As the subject says...

I'm a wheelchair user (I have a manual wheelchair), and so I do use the ramp to get on and off the bus. But I was wondering, out of curiosity if there was actually policies/rules surrounding people walking (or not walking) on the ramp?

So many different drivers seem to have different ideas about this. Some throw a fit if someone helping me onto a bus happens to also walk up the ramp. Whereas some drivers are perfectly fine letting the entire crowd of people waiting for the bus walk up the ramp.

I do think the ramps are probably overused which would naturally lead to them breaking more often -- but at the same time, a 100 pound person walking up a ramp has got to do less damage to it than a 200 pound electric wheelchair.

Thanks from this inquiring mind!

OC Transpo Suggests Next Stop Could be Stroller Ban

Josh Pringle
Friday, November 13, 2009

OC Transpo is hoping its new stroller policy will limit the size and number of open strollers on board a bus at any one time.
The "Priority Seating - Managing the Front of the Bus" report for the Transit Committe outlines the new policy that will take effect on April 15th.
The stroller policy will encourage customers to fold and stow the stroller upon boarding the bus, and it expects commuters to be able to manage the stroller, the child and any other items they have with them.
An open stroller occupied by a child will be allowed on OC Transpo buses if it is capable of being folded, it is capable of being safely stowed and it will not interfere with other passengers or with the safe movement of passengers on the bus.
OC Transpo will require an open stroller to be placed in a wheelchair position, and no open strollers will be allowed in the aisle of the bus.
Staff say customers who fold and stow their stroller and hold the child on their lap are eligible for Co-operative Seating at the front of the bus.
The report does say that if the new policy proves to "ineffective," a full "fold and stow" policy will be implemented and no open strollers will be allowed on OC Transpo buses

So I see a story in the Citizen about our new HOV in Ottawa.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/First+High+Occupancy+Vehicle+lane+offers+quick+trips+carpoolers/2214792/story.html

I posted awhile back that I was generally opposed to HOV cause they bleed transit via a process of casual carpooling, also known as Slugging?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slugging

So, my question is how long before the first person pulls up to the eagleson park and ride where people are waiting for the 96 and asks....
"anybody want a free ride down-town?" ?

If you use the Eagleson park and ride, would you really get in the car?
What do drivers think about this possibility?

man, i really love doing trippers on days like today (stat holiday that has a rush hour). im able to consistanly finish my trip on express routes ranging from 8 to 12 min early.

really forwrd to xmas eve!

While I was traveling on Saturday, I witnessed something that I thought should be mentioned.

I was at Rideau Centre, awaiting a Route 1 bus heading for Rockcliffe Park and a book sale, when a Route 7 bus came by. That route isn't quite as suitable for the destination, but I considered taking it instead. While waiting for passengers to get off, I became aware of some passengers squabbling. The shouting match quickly devolved into fisticuffs, with a woman flinging hot coffee and another fellow swinging fists.

At that point, the bus driver shut the front doors, with one party inside and the others (both the flinger and the other fellow) outside. After another awkward moment, the driver simply drove off, leaving other prospective passengers stranded.

My question, aimed at bus drivers as well as riders, is how often do we witness fisticuffs like this? And what could be done to make sure people are not more affected, other than the large red "shield" signs on each bus warning of the consequences of assaulting an OC Transpo employee? I do not necessarily blame the driver in that case, but an episode like that at an isolated stop can leave people waiting a long time for the next bus.

What do others think? As always, inquiring philosophers would like to know.

otherwise known as city city council, the transit committee and finally, OC Transpo...


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/These+people+simply+company/2198869/story.html

I am not going crazy!
 I was at Southkeys today,waiting for the 140 billings and checked both the printed schedual, which is up to date, and the screen schedual thing, and there was a 10 minute difference between them. For a bus that comes every 30 minutes that seems pretty bizarre. Is the screen one up to date on delays or traffic?

I know people running in front of our moving buses is nothing new.  Tonight I think I reached my tipping point.  The forth (right, 4th) person who did this to me came running out of the shadows just as I was pulling away from a service stop.  I let the 50ish year old guy on just to ask him if he thought it was worth the risk to his life.  He (of course) shrugged and said, 'well, I was trying to make eye contact...." BTW it was about 9:30 pm.  WTF is wrong with these people.  Of course, if I hit him, it's my fault so I take a rather personal view on this sort of bullshit behavior. Of all the selfish, stupid things one can do; these people don't think for a second, let alone consider the people on the bus who might get tossed around roughly when I need to hit the brake hard. Christ people can be so stupid.  Otherwise, still a happy man enjoying serving the public (honestly...mostly)

Please excuse my typing... I'm writting this from my blackberry on bus 6359. This bus, the 95 Orleans has been held up for almost an hour at Lebretton because of some emergency downtown. Something at Slater and Kent. Anyone have any info? Traffic is really bad as of now.

Cheers!

....for starting to hand out sanitizing wipes for the equipment, and bottles for hand cleaning to all drivers! Most of us have been trying as best we can to clean our work stations as much as possible and wash our hands as often as possible, but this is a great idea, and I thank management for doing this for us to make things much easier to try and stay healthy and not catch any flu or other viruses!

73.25 for a student pass? Wtf? Not like I have enough to pay for...I really don't like the city for this. *shakes head*