CEO of a transit research group says free rides would be ‘appropriate’ after shutdow
A transit expert with ties to Ottawa says it would be “appropriate” for OC Transpo riders to get paid since the troubled Confederation Line will be closed for three weeks.
Since the shutdown, which was caused by a problem with the bearings, transit riders and city council members have talked about the pros and cons of giving riders money.
Officials from the city have not ruled out giving some kind of compensation, but they are waiting to decide until the system is back up and running.
Tuesday morning, five one-car trains ran between Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations as part of a partial reopening of the light rail system.
During a conversation withOttawa MorningJosipa Petruni, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC), said on Wednesday that OC Transpo needs to treat users like customers.
Peterruni, who went to Carleton University and works in Ottawa often, said, “We have to treat transit riders like they are really great customers of a service that has to be great.”
“And giving them free rides is one way to help them when the service they pay for with their fares and their taxes doesn’t work.”
“Everything is on the table.
Sutcliffe said that he understands and respects Petruni’s point of view and that “all options are on the table.”
“We do need to treat our passengers like customers,” he said. “We have to give them the best service we can.”
But because OC Transpo has a big budget shortfall, he stressed that the service “has to work from a financial point of view.”
“We’re not a small business. He said, “We’re not Air Canada.” “When there is compensation for transit riders, it comes from taxpayers and the transit riders themselves.”
In the past, the city has given free rides, such as after a derailment in 2021 that shut down the system for almost two months.
He said that the city would have to cut back on services or raise taxes to pay riders back.
“We’re just taking it out of one pocket and putting it into another.”
Sutcliffe said that his goal is for taxes and riders to each pay half of the cost of public transportation.
“Right now, we’re a long way from that goal,” he said.
But Petruni said that compensation is about more than just the numbers, since the number of people taking the train has dropped since the pandemic and there has been a lot of violence on public transportation.
“Transit systems are trying to get people back into the system,” she said. “We have to do something about climate change, and we have to get rid of traffic.”
She also said that giving riders money isn’t enough on its own. She said that cities and towns should reward customers with a points system or lower rates during off-peak hours to get them to take public transportation more often.
OC Transpo and city communication get high mark
As someone who uses Ottawa’s public transportation often, Petruni said she wasn’t surprised to hear that the system would be down for several weeks.
“God forbid you rushed a reopening after what you just heard, which is that you rushed the launch of the system as a whole.”
But she praised OC Transpo’s “measured approach” to getting the system back up and running.
In the end, Petruni said, there needs to be more funding at the provincial and federal levels so that people can trust their public transit systems.
She asked, “At what point will transit be more important than everything else?”