OC Transpo to undo some optimization route cuts

OC Transpo's massive route optimization project is set to be scaled back a little bit, as was announced today. Given an extra $5.5M in the 2012 City of Ottawa budget to address specific service concerns resultant from the optimization process--specifically: overcrowding on buses and lacking service to certain areas--OC Transpo announced upgrades to take effect by early in the new year.

According to reports from the CBC and the Ottawa Citizen, service changes will entail:

• an increase the number of buses serving routes 2, 4, 5, 16, 30, 87, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 106, 111, 118, 120, 143, 148, 169, 261, 263, and 691;
• larger buses serving routes 4, 38, 60, 62, 87, 93, and 114 at peak times in the day; and
• route adjustments on route 5, 16, 93, 106, 121, 144, 169, and 198.

The goal of route optimization when the process began was to trim the fat, so to speak, on OC Transpo service by reducing route overlaps, "milk runs," and inefficient routes and trips. The eventual savings target was about $20M per year; with the $5.5M injection from this year's city budget, those savings are now down to an estimated $14.5M per year.

That $14.5M represents trimming a little more than four per cent off OC Transpo's total expenditures (from 2010, the most recent numbers available).