Dr. John Hollins, Past Chair, CACOR,  writes:

The most recent annual report available on OC Transpo’s website is for 2017, but it does not provide as much data as the 2016 report. Here are some data from the 2016 report (OC Transpo 2016):

Fuel Consumption, 2016

Litres of diesel fuel used by active fleet		42.46 million
Passenger km carried		972.4 million
	L/100 pass km	4.37
	Fleet	978 buses
	Distance travelled/bus	63,162 km
	Distance travelled, total fleet	61,772,436 km
	Fuel consumption (average)	69 L/100 km 1

 

My calculations from OC Transpo’s data are in italics. By the way, I’m prepared to take the volume of diesel fuel at face value — there’s probably an accountant involved. But does anyone think that OC Transpo can measure passenger-kilometres to four significant figures (an implied accuracy of 1 in 10,000)?

Commentary

Transporting a passenger by bus in Ottawa produces roughly the same amount of CO₂ per passenger as one person in a Toyota Prius, two in a Lexus hybrid SUV, or three people and a dog in a Ford F-150 truck (the best-selling personal vehicle in Canada).

The total emissions by OC Transpo buses in 2016, not counting ancillary operations, were 106,150 Tonnes of CO₂. That’s about 5% of the emissions of CO₂ from transportation in Ottawa ².

The primary case for large urban buses is that more passengers can be moved on a given amount of roadway than with smaller vehicles. Although, if you ever tried the number 12 route through Vanier — a truly painful experience —you might legitimately wonder if that is so.

In case you jump to the conclusion that I am opposed to bus service, I hasten to advise that I was President of Blackburn Community Association (1971-1973) when the community launched its own downtown commuter service using school buses, the precursor to all express bus routes in Ottawa. This was necessary because the Transit Commission of the City of Ottawa (OTC) refused to run buses to the Township of Gloucester. The City then opposed a licence for buses from the Township to run on its streets; a provincial hearing overruled the City. And about 18 months later, the OTC woke up and took over our idea, using GMC “Jimmy” buses, like these:

A Social Service

OC Transpo is a social service that provides employment to many. It was not designed to move the citizens of Ottawa and their visitors with the minimum of emissions. Could it deliver its social service more efficiently? Could it at the same time reduce its emissions? Are there alternative business models?

In the dim and distant past— some four decades ago —the Ottawa Transit Commission ran a service to my suburban community using mini-buses to the front door. That service did not endure. Perhaps the original thinkers were replaced with conventional thinkers.

I think of this every time I see a 13-tonne, 40-foot bus trundling through my neighbourhood in the evening, emitting 125 kg  CO₂ /100 km with just one person on board, the driver. Sometimes it’s an articulated bus, which is even worse.

One might have hoped that by 2020, OC Transpo would have found at least a glimmer of the kind of imagination that inspired Uber et al. In fact, how about hiring Uber to run evening service on routes with minimal demand? The service would probably be better and the emissions almost certainly lower.

Or better yet, privatize the whole kit and caboodle. If you are hesitating about that, compare YOW Ottawa airport when the federal government ran it and since a non-profit community corporation took over in 1997 ^A. Night and day. And it was a former Mayor of Ottawa who chaired the board of the new Airport Authority—the institutional arrangement was critical to success. Consider also a non-profit corporation owned by the City of Ottawa that runs so smoothly that most citizens don’t notice it: Hydro Ottawa.

The issue is not people, rather the system in which they work, which could be changed.

Financial matters, 2016

OC Transpo is a big business.

Expenditures
Operations and maintenance	$361,400,000
Provision for reserves	$62,200,000
Total	$423,600,000
Funding
Passenger and other revenue	$183,400,000
Municipal contribution	$220,000,000
Gas tax funding	$20,200,000
Federal contribution	$0 in 2016 ($11.5 million in 2015)
Total	$423,600,000
Taxpayer share of operations and reserves	57%
Capital expenditures	$579,630,000
Taxpayer share including capital expenditures	82%

Commentary

The taxpayer paid 57% of the cost of operating OC Transpo and providing for reserves in 2016 (it was the same in 2015). Including capital expenditures, it was 82%.

The purpose of the capital expenses is not spelled out in this report; presumably it has been for the purchase of buses and now for the much higher cost of construction of light rail. Municipal, provincial, and federal taxpayers pay those expenses.

Considering the entire system, in 2016 the taxpayer paid more than four-fifths of the total cost of operating and building it. This situation will persist for more than a decade, as light rail is extended beyond the initial central track from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair. The dismal record of the construction of the first phase of light rail managed by the City government suggests much longer than a decade to build the following phases: another argument for moving the management to a new actor.

What would happen if the taxpayer paid the total cost, or the passenger only a truly nominal amount?

drafted 2019 January

Post script

2021 February 6

During COVID times, OC Transpo has continued to run its more or less established pre-pandemic schedule. The argument used is that some of the least advantaged citizens depend completely on OC Transpo. This also keeps drivers and mechanics employed and making normal incomes during this difficult time and it means that they will be available if and when OC Transpo has its pre-pandemic customers back, perhaps the most important feature for management.

OC Transpo revenues at the farebox in 2020 are not known to this author. But taxpayers must have paid almost the entire cost with revenues from passengers vastly reduced.

Given the lessons that employers and employees have learned during the pandemic, however, it is not likely that OC Transpo will return to this social service/business as it used to be. Is anyone at OC Transpo or on Ottawa City Council thinking strategically? If there is someone, it would be nice to hear from them.