OC Transpo fares to increase 1.9 per cent in 2014

The annual tradition of fare increases will continue in 2014, as yesterday the Transit Commission approved a budget that will see user fees for OC Transpo go up by an average of 1.9 per cent on July 1, 2014.

Hey, it's better than the 7.5 per cent increase that riders saw in March of 2010--in fact, OC Transpo General Manager John Manconi claims it's the smallest increase of OC Transpo fares in nine years:

And they're proposing an average 1.9% fare increase, which JM says is the smallest increase in nine years.
— David Reevely live (@ReevelyLive) November 20, 2013

Courtesy of the Ottawa Sun's Jonathan Willing, here's the full rate card:

Here is the proposed #OCTranspo fare table for 2014 (most changes take effect July 1): pic.twitter.com/mu8wSivz26
— Jon Willing (@JonathanWilling) October 23, 2013

I think my favourite is the new DayPass charge of $8.10... so utterly inconveniently random. Most people will probably just drop $8 in there, but I'd wager that shortfall will be made up for when people inevitably round up the $3.45 regular cash fare.

Presto fares, for the record, will be going up five cents to $2.77 per trip.

The most significant increase is the 16.4 per cent hike in community passes, from $35 to $40.75 per month. Those passes are designed for "Ottawa residents who receive benefits under the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)" and registered Para Transpo customers.

It's an obvious reality that as costs of public transit increase, the costs to use public transit will also increase. But that doesn't make fare increases any more palatable.

2010 Election: Watson on ParaTranspo

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

It was interesting to note that on the day I interviewed Jim Watson about his mayoral campaign, one of his campaign volunteers was arriving in his office at about the same time--although she was later than she had expected, because the ParaTranspo ride she had booked was significantly later than the time scheduled. So she underlined to Watson the importance of finding a way to improve the reliability of ParaTranspo to the mayoral candidate, and Watson and I discussed it afterwards.

Recently, Ottawa's transit committee voted in favour of a full review of the ParaTranspo service, which Watson thinks is a necessary step in figuring out what the problems are so that they can be fixed.

We went through a strike with ParaTranspo, which was very hard on a lot of people. A number of years ago, we went through the privatization and then the un-privatization and my volunteer, I think, is reflective of a number of people who find it frustrating when you book for a certain time, and it’s an hour late. If you have a doctor’s appointment, or a work engagement, you can’t operate on ‘I’ll try to come by within an hour and a half.’ You have to be more precise. [...] So I think the review will allow us to put all the cards on the table and figure out exactly what is wrong with the system, why do we continuously have these periods where people can’t even get a booking, let alone if they do get a booking it’s quite late.

And if his campaign volunteer didn't underline the importance of the service thoroughly enough, Watson noted that Ottawa's aging population is going to make an effective ParaTranspo service that much more important.

We have an aging population; the baby boomers are becoming senior citizens, and as a result, we don’t have the kind of forward planning that we need to determine, "Alright, what are the needs of the aging society?" both the disabled and able-bodied seniors who need ParaTranspo.

Watson has proposed that he would hold a global 'senior's summit' to discuss issues such as these ones about ParaTranspo.

2010 Election: Doucet on ParaTranspo

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Many users of ParaTranspo would suggest there are a lot of areas that it can improve, and Clive Doucet sees that there are problems with it, too. But instead of further investments into trying to make ParaTranspo more efficient, Doucet thinks that the increasing accessibility of OC Transpo's regular fleet--including wheelchair-accessible buses, priority seating, audio and visual stop-calling, and other measures--will allow ParaTranspo to narrow its focus.

Well, ParaTranspo is its own world. The problem with Para, I guess, is money. I think we’re slowly moving away from that as we get our system to be more accessible to the handicapped. Hopefully Para won’t be so necessary as we roll out; our buses will soon be 100% disable-friendly, and the same thing with our rail system. I’m hoping that Para will actually diminish in size, as we grow our capacity in other ways.

2010 Election: Lawrance on OC Transpo and ParaTranspo

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Mayoral candidate Robin Lawrence isn't happy with OC Transpo and ParaTranspo. In our interview, he discussed not only his concerns with the way some staff are treated, but he also cited concerns he has with the way certain staff treat riders and users of the system.

I’m tired of seeing OC Transpo workers and others getting dumped upon. And ParaTranspo, it’s the same thing.

Mr. Lawrance doesn't have a plan or platform available to improve the workplace for employees or the service for users, but he has routinely pledged to do his "best for all the citizens in the City of Ottawa". And while he's not optimistic about his chances in the election, he is hopeful that his campaign will help increase awareness of issues, both in the public and among city politicians.

I might lose, but I’ll tell you what: Before I lose, I’m going to open people’s ears up in this city. And I’m going to wake that city council up. Enough is enough.

2010 Election: Cullen on ParaTranspo

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Those who don't use ParaTranspo are prone to forgetting about it, but it is a social service that contributes to the accessibility of the City of Ottawa. Alex Cullen feels that, as a result of being so easily forgotten by those who don't regular use it, ParaTranspo has become the "neglected child in the transit family", and would make it a priority to assess the service--particularly with new legislation about accessibility apparently in the works.

There is new accessibility legislation around, an expectation that people with mental disabilities have as much right to Paratranspo as people with physical disabilities, we have an aging population--which may be more active, but the numbers of folks who incur a disability with age will increase; it will proportionally fall, but the numbers will increase--so I see a need to look at ParaTranspo, see how it's fitting today's needs, and what we should be doing to anticipate tomorrow's needs.

Part of Cullen's motivation for the review is to bring the utility in line with those new regulations, but he's also concerned with the frustration of ParaTranspo clients.

We have avoided, so far, a human rights challenge on mental disability, but that’s going to have to be part of the debate as well. We have a population that is getting more and more frustrated because of the constraints there, it has not increased in scope for some time. And, quite frankly, it’s very expensive; a bus ride costs between $2.50, $3, but Paratranspo is about $28 a ride. So we have to look at that very carefully. We’ve got a clientele that’s getting increasingly frustrated, we have pressure from accessibility legislation, and we have the cost of Paratranspo. The whole principle behind ParaTranspo is to enable those who cannot use our current public transit system an alternate means of participating in our society. I think that principle is very important, but it’s time to look at how well we do it, and what does it need to better meet our communities needs.