Fare increases and service cuts: That’s the usual road travelled by struggling transit companies, but its effectiveness is questionable.
The picture emerging from OC Transpo’s budgetary struggles is one many transit companies across the country will find very familiar.
Faced with revenue shortfalls at the fare box — the result of decreasing ridership and consequently deficits — transit companies often respond with fare hikes and service cuts to try to balance the books. It rarely works, but it is a vicious cycle the companies can’t seem to escape.
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This is what is happening in Ottawa as OC Transpo struggles to deal with lagging post-pandemic ridership and a mounting deficit. With ridership down 30 per cent since the pandemic, and facing a $49.8-million deficit, OC Transpo has responded with a 2.5 per cent fare increase across the board beginning Jan. 1. It is also cutting 75,000 service hours per year, or about 3.5 per cent of total service.
Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar says the changes are not cost-cutting, but “route optimization,” aimed at building a network that meets customer needs. Never mind that the changes being implemented will save $10 million. The route changes are the biggest in more than a decade, and will undoubtedly affect many local and crosstown routes largely used by people on low incomes and the city’s most vulnerable. The last time something this big happened was in 2011, when massive route changes and cancellations, to save $19.5 million, drew 6,500 complaints from irate riders.
But such tactics are not limited to OC Transpo. Halifax cut routes and reduced service to deal with labour shortages. Montreal announced an $18 million spending cut and Toronto implemented fare increases and service cuts — all to deal with budget pressures. That’s the usual road travelled by struggling transit companies, but its effectiveness remains questionable.
The issue has bedevilled transit companies for years, with critics and experts assailing their approach. “When routes are cut and transit is less frequent or convenient, ridership declines. When there are fewer riders paying fares, cities lose income and are inclined to further reduce routes,” says transit and rail research consultant Willem Klumpenhouwer of the University of Toronto. “Then you have a death spiral, as people put it.” This is the vicious cycle transit companies are trapped in.
Yes, running public transit even at the best of times is no easy task. Expenditures are often high, but fares don’t generate enough money to operate the service. What’s worse, the pandemic dealt a heavy blow to transit, hitting Ottawa even harder because the service was designed to move people, mostly federal public servants, to centres of employment downtown. Now that many of the public servants are working from home, there is a gaping hole in ridership to fill. And facing the squeeze themselves, property taxpayers are in no mood to keep pumping money into transit.
Consider this: You are losing money because there aren’t enough fare-paying customers to fill the coffers. You need more riders to generate more revenue. Your solution is to cut services and increase fares, potentially losing more riders? How does that make sense? Of course, there are no quick fixes, but something needs to change, and it has to start with re-visioning how transit is delivered.
Transit in Ottawa works best in straight lines: going downtown, east-west, north-south. For crosstown riders however, it’s a struggle. I was a transit user back when I started at the Citizen in the west end. It was a nightmare because it took me three buses, occasionally four, to get to work from South Keys. Woe was me if I missed one connection. After one brutal winter, I gave up and got a car. I’ve never taken transit since, expect when the Confederation Line launched and I took the grandkids for a ride.
People will find another way if the service doesn’t meet their needs. Sooner or later, the constant cuts will cost OC Transpo more riders. LRT will definitely help when it is fully operational across the city. But transit planners need to come up with something better than just cuts.
Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at nylamiles48@gmail.com
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Adam: OC Transpo can't keep charging more for less
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23.11.2023
Fare increases and service cuts: That’s the usual road travelled by struggling transit companies, but its effectiveness is questionable.
The picture emerging from OC Transpo’s budgetary struggles is one many transit companies across the country will find very familiar.
Faced with revenue shortfalls at the fare box — the result of decreasing ridership and consequently deficits — transit companies often respond with fare hikes and service cuts to try to balance the books. It rarely works, but it is a vicious cycle the companies can’t seem to escape.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
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This is what is happening in Ottawa as OC Transpo struggles to deal with lagging post-pandemic ridership and a mounting deficit. With ridership down 30 per cent since the pandemic, and facing a $49.8-million deficit, OC Transpo has responded with a 2.5 per cent fare increase across the board beginning Jan. 1. It is also cutting 75,000 service hours per year, or about 3.5 per cent of total service.
Transpo general manager Renée........
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