December 15, 2021 – Memo from The General Manager, Transit Services
Customers have experienced an overall service delivery of 99.1 per cent on O-Train Line 1 since service resumed. On November 12 seven trains were in service, and train counts continued to increase on November 18 (eight trains) and November 23 (nine trains). Full service with 11 trains was launched on November 29. Line 1 service remains stable.
Since service resumption on November 12, O-Train light rail vehicles (LRVs) have travelled more than 277,000 kilometres with nearly 11,000 trips completed.
In November, buses and trains carried 3.8 million customer-trips, 1.4 times the number from November 2020 and 41% of the November 2019 pre-pandemic level. Para Transpo carried 47,000 customer trips, 1.6 times the number from November 2020 and 57% of the November 2019 pre-pandemic level. All Para Transpo booking requests were accepted and no Para Transpo taxi trips carried more than one customer.
Winter Operations
O-Train Line 1 winter preparations occurred earlier in November. Prior to the first snowfall, Rideau Transit Maintenance staff inspected all light rail vehicles, adjusted their settings for winter operations and all switch heaters have been tested. These preparations were tested by recent snowfalls, and train service ran well.
Additional Oversight
In addition to the oversight and work already in progress by TRA, OC Transpo continues to exercise additional oversight of rail operations including enhanced observation of RTM’s work on track and station infrastructure, issues monitoring, maintenance and preparedness, and documentation. OC Transpo meets daily with RTM to review the status of long-term action items, including daily service performance, and ongoing issues.
While we are satisfied with the overall performance of Line 1 since it re-opened, the true test of its reliability requires months of consistent service, rather than weeks. We will continue to diligently monitor and oversee RTM’s work to ensure service runs as expected and longer-term issues identified by TRA are resolved in a timely manner.
