The National Capital Region (Ottawa-Hull) has two transit companies. "OC Transpo" and "Societé de Transport de l'Outaouais". They have their origins in the public service bus system, and this can still be seen in their focus mainly getting government employees to work, a task they have been most successful at.
The situation is somewhat different when it comes to using public transit for non-government workers (high-tech, students, teachers, etc.), or for using it for day to day tasks. The problems run from "disappearing bus syndrom" and "windy shelters", to poor schedules, overlapping routes, unavailable customer service, lack of service, and do not stop there.
In an effort to increase accountability and reduce duplication, OC Transpo has recently been absorbed into the regional government. It will be a service of the new city of Ottawa. Yet, there has never been an independant voice where an average transit rider could put his two cents worth in. Other cities have very well organized transit associations, and they have often gotten good results by working with the transit authorities in a non-confrontational manner.
Thus, the Ottawa-Transit Riders's Association. In French, it might be called l'Association de transport-en-commun de l'Outaouais. We are not set on this name, so maybe you can come with a better bilingual acronym that includes both sides of the river.
The Ottawa Transit Riders Association is a grass roots, citizen run, membership driven, volunteer run association. The members of the organization recognize that public transit must take an increasingly important role in providing urban mobility. An explicit goal is to work to increase quality of service and therefore ridership.
The organization hopes to do this by discussing, planning, and organizing successful campaigns to advocate for better, faster, safer, cleaner and more reliable transit in the National Capital Region (Ottawa, Hull/Gatineau/Aylmer).
Although the focus of the organization is primarily on public urban transit, the role of private transit systems will not be overlooked.
If you agree with our basic principals, then we urge you to go to our sign up form. There are two mailing lists on which we recommend you subscribe: one is for announcements only, and the other is for discussions.
There is a monthly bulletin.
We are still in the formative stages as an organization. As such there are plenty of jobs that need to be done.