tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218149071529011844.post3208370655717711551..comments2024-03-09T05:03:54.979-05:00Comments on Public Transit in Ottawa: Rebranding OC TranspoPeter Raaymakershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10883553886241429786noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218149071529011844.post-75458775587542355942011-02-10T13:21:02.289-05:002011-02-10T13:21:02.289-05:00It's more that people in Ottawa are whiny and ...It's more that people in Ottawa are whiny and entitled. Many have completely unrealistic expectations of transit. <br /><br />We actually have a pretty good transit system on the whole. Above average for North-America, anyway.<br /><br />Modal split is significantly higher than other cities of the same size in North-America, ridership is climbing at a healthy rate, the fleet is now very new, the network speed is above average, coverage is extensive. Service hours and frequency are average to above average for a city this size. According to outsiders, drivers are more courteous than elsewhere. Our fleet is nearly 100% accessible. Fares are in the bottom half in Canada (when you take all fare media into account).<br /><br />The main problems are the "express bus" model of service delivery which is expensive, inefficient and unreliable, quality control with the schedules and a refusal to adopt a non-confrontational relationship with front-line workers. <br /><br />Management hasn't gotten the message to only promise what can be realistically delivered, ie. don't promise a bus will be there if it won't be on a regular basis, reasonable running time for routes, not promising that buses will be right on time at each and every stop. Passengers should only be provided with times at certain points on the route and these time points should be strictly enforced with drivers, at least until some type of real time system is set up.<br /><br />People from outside Ottawa are usually quite impressed with our transit system, it just needs some tweaking.<br /><br />People will always complain about transit no matter the branding. There is no possible way pleasing all the people all the time, unless, of course, you can provide hover buses that don't pick up any slow moving or undesirable passengers, that stop right in front of everyone's house on demand and go directly to where they want to go without stopping.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218149071529011844.post-7004473056320229132011-02-09T11:19:19.358-05:002011-02-09T11:19:19.358-05:00their reputation is deservedly poor and no amount ...their reputation is deservedly poor and no amount of spending on "branding" is going to change that without quality improvement first.<br /><br />How about using that money to improve service and transparency about the real quality of service i.e. live tracking of buses visible to anyone.<br /><br />Then if they hit some publicly stated and externally verified targets then they can try to rebrand based on that improvement<br /><br />"OC Transpo; not quite so unreliable anymore"gawpnoreply@blogger.com