COMMENT: Some councillors (and the mayor) won't take the 'transit challenge' because buses suck

“New Flyer” Photo by Justin S. Campbell, via Flickr. (Used under a Creative Commons License.)

Filed under “Hmmm”.

Some councillors, and Mayor Jim Watson, won’t take the challenge to rely on the bus this week… because of a truly stunning revelation: OC Transpo service sucks.

CBC Ottawa reported that 15 councillors are on board with the challenge, launched by advocates at Free Transit Ottawa, which leaves eight councillors who either said no or didn’t reply. Watson also didn’t commit (but his spokeswoman says he owns a Presto card, and even uses it sometimes.)

Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder said she’d try, but wouldn’t commit to the challenge.

To be fair, some of the councillors who didn’t sign up, like Scott Moffatt (Ridea-Goulbourn) and Eli El-Chantiry (West Carleton-March) live where OC Transpo doesn’t go. (Could they Park n' Ride?)

You can see which councillors are participating in the challenge on freetransitottawa.ca. Also, check out your councillor’s Twitter feed, because many of them are tweeting in real time how the travel is (not great.)

Taking transit this week as part of the Transit Ride Challenge. From my home in Mooney's Bay I am enroute to the Carlington Community Health Centre for my first meeting of the day. Two packed Route 87 buses left us standing at the curb. Route 290 saved the day.

— Riley Brockington (@RiverWardRiley) February 4, 2019

The really striking thing about this challenge is that service is so bad, and so known to be bad, that relying on transit is considered to be a “challenge”. Kinda tells you all you need to know…

Add to that this great comment someone made on Ottawa Reddit today: “Two bonus challenges: Try taking an Express bus in the morning. Try going anywhere on a Sunday.” Yikes.

Read the full story on CBC…