Councillors demand fix for bus No. 12 woes

Downtown councillors are demanding a fix for OC Transpo bus route 12, whichthey say is notoriously unreliable and routinely leaves passengers stranded.

The No. 12 runs from Blair Road to Montreal Road,downRideau Street and finally ends its journey onBank Street.

It was a no-show more than 300 times between January and March of this year, and riders say when it does arrive, it's often packed to the brim.

The goal should be zero [cancelled trips].- John Manconi

"Every time you get on it's overcrowded, cheek to jowl" said frequent rider Sue Fortin.

While the number of cancelled trips is higher than the city-wide average for OCTransporoutes, the No. 12 still shows up97.9 per cent of the time.

However, cancelled rides makepeople less confident in the system and more likely to forego takingthe bus, said Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury.

John Manconi, the city's transportation general manager, agrees.

"The goal should be zero [cancelled trips]," he told the city's transit committee Wednesday.

'Peak' detours

Light rail construction is largely to blame for the delays,Manconi said.

The work is forcing buses to share already congested traffic lanes, he said, making it difficult for drivers to start their routes on time.

"You're at the peak of the peak of detours," he said.

Manconi told the committee he rode the route recently to get a sense of where the problems are, adding it was easy to see where drivers were getting squeezed.

Cancelling trip a last resort

Delays and cancellations aren't unusualfor routes that travel through downtown without dedicated bus lanes. But according to transit officials, cancelling a trip is always a last resort.

When a driverdoesn't make it on time, OCTranspotries to redeploy other buses located at standby locations so the city can make quick adjustments but that's not always possible.

City staff are now looking at ways to make route No. 12 smoother, including the installation of priority bus lanes and advanced green lights.

That may not be enough for Fleury, who represents some of the neighbourhoods along the No. 12 route.

"If the bus physicallydoesn't pass, itdoesn't matter that the light is green or that you have a dedicated bus lane," he said. "You just don't have the bus."

Overhaul years away

The problems are expected to ease once the Confederation Line opens and the construction is cleared away.

After that, the city is expected to overhaul its transportation master plan, which is nearly 10 years out of date.

Councillors hopethat changing theplan couldalleviate the delays transit users face when trying to board routes like No. 12.

ButManconicautioned it will take a year after theLRTopens just to gather data.

It will likely take another year after that, he added,to put together a plan that takes into account changes to the road network, train service, bikes, pedestrians, companies like Uber and Lyft, and perhaps even autonomousvehicles.