OC Transpo will offer passengers two fare-free weekends to make up for months of LRT service disruptions and poor bus reliability.

Council voted for the free weekends at a cost of $900,000 as part of a broader compensation package it approved on Wednesday. 

That money will come from reserves. So would $7 million to fund capital projects to improve service including two diesel buses, two Para Transpo vehicles and a new heating system that’s supposed to remove ice from LRT wires, reducing the risk of electrical flashes that shut down trains this winter.

Kitchisippi Coun. Jeff Leiper found it galling that the city — not its contractor Rideau Transit Group (RTG) — will have to foot the bill for that project.

“Why are they not installing the heat tracing at their own expense?” he asked. “Why are we not able to compel them to?”

The motion setting out the compensation package does ask OC Transpo to continue negotiations with RTG to recover costs. Transit services general manager Rick Leary said the company will pay for maintenance of the new system, so long as the city installs it.

WATCH | What riders think about OC Transpo’s offer of 2 free weekends of transit:

What riders think about OC Transpo’s offer of 2 free weekends of transit

City council voted on Wednesday to offer passengers two fare-free weekends to compensate for months of LRT service disruptions and poor bus reliability. Commuters say they have mixed feelings about the announcement.Free rides for Ottawa’s 200th

One of the free weekends is scheduled for Sept. 26-27, while the other will come after the launch of the LRT extension to Orléans, which has faced repeated delays and still doesn’t have an opening date.

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard, who moved the successful motion, said the September weekend will coincide with celebrations for Ottawa’s 200th birthday.

The vote came just days after Line 1 returned to full double-car service, ending five months of running single-car trains due to an issue with flaking metal inside a key component. That caused rush-hour crowding and sometimes left passengers waiting on platforms after trains filled up.

OC Transpo also kicked off the New Year with abysmal bus reliability numbers, as mechanical breakdowns from an aging fleet caused a shortage of buses, forcing the agency to cancel hundreds of trips a day.

No refunds offered

In February, council asked OC Transpo to suggest ideas to compensate riders for the pain, and transit staff came back last month with a slate of options. 

The package council passed on Wednesday didn’t include options from that list that would directly refund riders who suffered through the poor service. Staff had estimated that a 50 per cent refund for fares and passes over January, February and March could cost $8.2 million.

Menard said it would have been complicated to get that money back into the hands of the right people. In any case, he said riders are more interested in better service. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe agreed.

I don’t think the residents of Ottawa want a $4 refund if their bus isn’t on time. They want their bus to be on time.- Mayor Mark Sutcliffe

“I don’t think the residents of Ottawa want a $4 refund if their bus isn’t on time. They want their bus to be on time,” said Sutcliffe, who seconded Menard’s motion. “So we’re investing in better service and more reliable service, and I think that’s what our residents and OC Transpo customers expect.”

That’s what those capital investments are for. The two diesel buses, which will be 18-metre-long articulated models, will cost about $3.6 million. The Para Transpo vehicles will run at $480,000, and the heating system is expected to cost $2 million.

The compensation package also calls for $1 million worth of transit priority measures.

Leary said OC Transpo has a list of such measures, like prioritized traffic signals and queue jump lanes for buses, and the new money will help speed that up.

Finally, OC Transpo will also add two hours of service on Para Transpo for Friday and Saturday evenings on a pilot basis at a cost of $108,000 per year.

Menard said combined, these moves are a step in the right direction for OC Transpo.

“There’s so much more work to be done,” he said. “But I think if you combine this — the reliability measures here, the new double-car trains that have just relaunched, the new e-buses that are rolling out and on our streets to help with reliability, as well as the free transit for youth starting July 1 — this is good news.”