I have a love-and-hate relationship with Ottawa’s transit system. I take the bus but the bus hates me.
Feng and I share one car. More precisely, he drives most of the time and gives me a lot of rides although I now have a full licence and can also take the car if I feel like it.
Taking public transportation is second nature to me. I grew up in a city and I took the bus and the tramway a lot. In France, we only drove if we had to get out of the city. Gas is expensive and cities are made for pedestrians, not cars: narrow one-way streets, weird signs and traffic laws and traffic jams are a strong deterrent for drivers. I like public transportation—not because I’m an environmentalist but because it’s practical. Sit down, grab a book or your MP3 players, keep an eye on the stops and the next thing you know you are there.
But Canada is a car country, much like the U.S.A. When I first came here I marvelled at the huge driveways in our neighbourhood, built to accommodate two or three cars. “Why would a household need two SUVs and one car,” I wondered. Well, I still don’t get why city folks buy SUVs or these monster Hummers, but I do know why people favour cars here: because the public transit system sucks.
In Ottawa, the transit system is operated by OCTranspo and consists of buses and a five-stop light-rail transit system, the OTrain. Buses that ride on the Transitway network, dedicated bus roads that don’t interfere with regular traffic, are usually fast and frequent. Tough luck for the rest of us who don’t live right on the Transitway. For instance, it takes me 15 minutes by car to go to downtown Ottawa—we live in a very close suburb and not far from the 417, the major freeway. But by bus, the trip can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half.
It’s frustrating. And it’s even more frustrating to think that the people who designed the transit system are probably not the ones who deal with it. Similarly, those who don’t ride the bus usually don’t get what we, riders, are complaining about.
One of my biggest complaints with OCTranspo is the loose interpretation of “bus schedule.” Some buses don’t come. Ever. I have enough experience with buses to know they may be a few minutes late or early. It’s inevitable during rush hour and when bad weather conditions strike. But some buses are on the schedule and simply don’t come. And when you are waiting with another 5 passengers for the same bus, you know that you didn’t miss it.
Waiting for the bus in the winter is no joke. Not all stops have a shelter and it can be deadly cold, not to mention that it’s a huge waste of time. When buses come every ten minutes or so, waiting for the next one isn’t a big deal. But buses in my neighbourhood are every twenty or thirty minutes and there is nowhere to go for shelter.
One of the main bus hubs is located downtown, in the Rideau Neighbourhood. Pretty much all buses transit here, either on Rideau Street, or on the bridge across the shopping mall. I decided to use my wait time effectively and started snapping pictures of buses and passengers in Ottawa.
It’s kind of the same thing in Montréal … there’s nothing like waiting 45 minutes on the corner when it’s -20 because the bus before didn’t come! On the other hand I love buses in Paris, you never need to actually look at the schedule because they come every 10 minutes or less!
I would have enjoyed the buses if it has a rider friendly public transporation system. It looks like there are lots of bus riders in Ottawa, and the buses really need to be on schedule. Glad to see how you utilize the wait time to take some great shots!
Have you noticed that when you take a crowd scene there is often someone who is looking straight at you with a stern questioning expression? I usually notice that later when I am going over the photos. There is almost always someone if I look closely. It’s kind of a “where’s Waldo” sort of thing.
No shelters in Canada?? I feel like that should be in some kind of universal human rights declaration – in cold countries heated bus shelters are a must! I agree that I prefer public transport to driving, but it’s almost not worth the trouble in the US because our systems are so inefficient!
Hi Zhu,
That really does suck about the disfonctioning of the bus system.I wonder why they have time tables if they don’t honnor them?
Across the Atlantic, I am an user of mass transit in & around Paris.On the RER line, trains are late or are skipped. Most of the time, the bus is OK where I am.
That is all I have because I have no French driving licence.I live with it.
Have a nice day & bises.
Hey Zhu, this is so interesting because in a city state like Singapore, everyone is crazy over cars and that’s why in order to own a car – we need to bid for a certificate of entitlement (COE) which can be more than $40,000 depending on the size of the car you want to purchase.
We have a very efficient transport system here in Singapore but during peak hour, it can be really bad but having said that, it is convenient to go everywhere with public transport.
I nearly thought you were talking about Ireland! Not only that, but it’s expensive! Some of the stop are not even signalled here.
Actually that reminds me of my bus trip from Ottawa to Wakefield.
Bus driver: Where are you going to?
Me: Wakefield
Him: Where do you want to stop?
Me: At the bus stop. That’s where I’m supposed to meet the person collecting me.
Him: There’s no bus stop in Wakefield. Where should I drop you?
Me: Ah… Wherever you want then!
Oh yes, Ottawa’s buses. I remember how I used to try sometimes to take the bus from my Dad’s place, in Gloucester, to my mom’s place, in Kanata…on a Sunday. It would have been faster to go to Montreal.
I can give you a hint about the SUV’s and big cars. One reason for some (like myself, a minivan driver) is that bigger cars are seen as safer in case of an accident. It’s a bit like an arms race; nobody wants to be in the smallest car on the road, especially if they’ve got kids. Hummers are definitely overkill though!
论公巴服务的话，我觉得伦敦的巴士很棒哦！
真的是四通八达，非常方便呢！
这一点可以提供给加拿大参考参考，呵呵！
I totally understand your perspective on this. Buffalo is the same: it’s not a city that is big enough like NYC or Boston that the public transportation is well-used by the large populace. Here in Buffalo, public transportation actually acts like a social barrier: the ones who use it are looked at as the lower classes of society. Buffalo is a city that is well-segregated; the rich ones who can afford cars moved out of the city and into the suburbs, and the inner city is all working-class territory, those who cannot afford the cars.
@Cynthia – I don’t think I ever took the bus in Paris. Oh shame on me. I usually stick to the subway because I know the lines and the stops… the bus looks so confusing!
@micki – I guess there is more demand now that gas is so expensive, but the system really has to improve to keep up.
@Tulsa Gentleman – Eh eh, you are right! I guess “where is Waldo” is the American version of “où est Charlie?”. I remember these books from when I was a kid!
@Soleil – Some stops have a shelter but not all of them, and you can’t really walk from one stop to another in the ‘burbs.
@barbara – You don’t really need to drive in France is you live close enough to a major city. The RER is convenient enough from Paris to your place (at least, my trip was fast 🙂
@shionge – Oh, wow, I had no idea! Interesting piece of trivia. It makes sense to me though, I remember looks at the traffic in HK and it was just crazy. Why would you even want to drive in that kind of traffic if you have okay public transit!?
@Em – 😆 Feels like a déjà-vu!
@Margaret – I see your point about SUV and I understand it’s practical for families. Let me rephrase: what I don’t get for instance are pick-up trucks. People look like idiot when they are driving around with snow in the back during the winter! 😆
@London Caller – I found the buses a bit confusing (mostly because they drive on the “wrong” side of the road) but the tube was awesome. Very clean too!
@Linguist-in-Waiting – There is this social aspect in Canada too, to a lesser extend. You can tell people who take the bus outside rush hour are usually immigrants or poorer people who probably don’t have a car.
The bus shelters on Rideau St by the Centre have had their glass panelling removed, making them pretty useless shelters for anything worse than a light drizzle. My girlfriend tells me OC Transpo did this because homeless people were sleeping there at night. I don’t quite understand why this is a problem, there being no night buses it’s not like this would bother anyone. Plus removing glass panelling on a bus shelter seems just a bizarre thing to do.
Here in Ottawa we desperately need a light rail that runs from extreme west to east, as well as better bus service. There are too few buses and they are all crammed! And why do they go along the regular roads sometimes and get stuck behind rush hour traffic? I don’t get it.
three cheers for east west light rail in ottawa!
I live in Kanata and the rail is (literally- it’s 20 feet from the street in front) in front of my house! I want a nice train on it to take my kids and myself downtown!
Now that would be sweet!
Pauline is right!
Heyy Zhu, its my marathon blog read session again, lol. I’ve heard that Toronto’s TTC is among the better transit systems. It still takes me double the time to take it compared to cycling. 🙂 Anyway, we dont have 2 cars but we do have 2 bicycles… no 3 infact! 🙂