FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2026
Press Release: Horizon Ottawa Concerned OC Transpo Continues to Diminish Bus Fleet
Press Release: Horizon Ottawa Concerned OC Transpo Continues to Diminish Bus Fleet
OTTAWA – Horizon Ottawa is concerned that OC Transpo’s shrinking bus fleet will continue to fail to provide reliable bus service even after the delayed e-bus order arrives based on comments made by OC Transpo staff Troy Charter in a CBC podcast released this morning. Charter stated that “the electric buses will replace about half our fleet”, referring to the 350 buses purchased in 2023. In 2011, OC Transpo had over a thousand buses, but thanks to significant cuts under Mayor Watson in 2011 and more recently Mayor Sutcliffe in 2023, there are less than 800. If Charter’s estimate is accurate, this points to the city and OC Transpo planning to retire just as many buses as they acquire.
Advocates including Horizon Ottawa raised concerns in 2023 when these buses were sold that this would lead to a shortage of R1 buses if the LRT continued to suffer from technical issues, yet the city took this risk despite the opposition.
OC Transpo’s bus fleet is aging. A concerning number of buses are past their planned lifetimes. This has created a huge backlog of maintenance and repairs, exasperating the impacts of the bus shortage.
“This was directly caused by mayors and councillors in power since 2010 who prioritized tax cuts and austerity measures over maintaining a sustainable transit system.” said Tom Ledgley, Coordinator for Horizon Ottawa. “The city should have been not only replacing old buses at a steady rate to avoid overwhelming their mechanics, but also steadily growing the fleet proportionally to population growth.”
Up until Watson’s cuts in 2011, the city had at least one bus for every 1000 people. Today, this rate has shrunk by a third. Horizon Ottawa has launched a petition calling on the city to commit to purchasing at least an additional 100 buses, and to maintaining a fleet size proportional to the population. Over the coming months, Horizon will be organizing around the issue of public transit and advocating for residents to elect a Mayor and Council in October that will restore transit to a functional state.
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For Media Inquiries:
Tom Ledgley
613-663-7018
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