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There is no difference between a Toronto and Ottawa Presto card. A Presto card is a Presto card. What products you put on your card is a completely different question.

I live in Ottawa and I use the Generation 1 Presto card that I bought at Finch station fifteen years ago. Ottawa never even used Gen 1, they didn't join Presto until Gen 2, but even so there are no issues.

Kyle Campbell said:
I always wondered if that it was because OC Transpo wants Presto to die off. I used to like the fact I could use my Presto in Toronto and vice- versa but the fact you can use Apple/Google pay in both cities now kinda makes it moot. I mostly still use presto because I have auto load on, and just stuck in my ways. But if I lost my Presto card I probably wouldn't get another
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Same. I once realized I forgot my Presto card while waiting for the OCT bus to take me to the train station for a weekend in the GTA, but after a second of panic I realized that it literally made no difference. I tapped my credit card on the bus in Ottawa, on the GO Train, the TTC subway and the YRT bus and in the end it charged me the same as it would have been on Presto anyway.
 
Kyle Campbell said:
www.ctvnews.ca

O-Train ridership up 54 per cent during free fare weekend, OC Transpo says

Transit Services general manager Renée Amilcar says the preliminary data shows ridership on the O-Train was 54 per cent higher during the free transit weekend than an average weekend.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca
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That's really impressive! I hope they did some on-the-ground analysis into why so many people felt the desire to take advantage of this, as it might be the case they have their understanding of the price elasticity for their fares totally off.
 
Fritter said:
CTV News article about planned transit and road projects in Ottawa, including extending O train across the Ottawa River using the former CPR bridge and new transitways
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goodcitywhenfinished said:
Only makes sense to do this. There is a pretty decently preserved ROW on the Gatineau side too if I remember correctly.
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Why is this seriously now being said??

My recollection says Ottawa deliberately got rid of that from their plans by converting it into a pedestrian bridge.

Wasn't the U-shaped crossing at Bayview (Line 2) deliberately built to prevent this?
 
Don't get too excited, it's added as part of the Ultimate Transit Network, quite long range and beyond the 2046 horizon.

You might be more excited for the Needs-Based Transit Network. Or the Priority Transit Network which is a subset of the Needs-Based Transit Network, focusing on the highest priority projects that are expected to be implemented by 2046 based on current funding assumptions.

The Needs-Based Transit Network includes approximately $4.5 billion in capital projects with an additional $8.3 billion identified to be provided by higher levels of government for Stage 3 O-Train extensions. The Priority Transit Network includes approximately $2.3 billion in City-led capital investment (It also includes the Stage 3 O-Train Extensions).

Ottawa Transit Network - Needs Based

OttawaTMPTransitNetworkNeedsBased.png


Ottawa Transit Network - Priority

OttawaTMPTransitNetworkPriority.png


Ottawa Transit Network - Ultimate

OttawaTMPTransitNetworkUltimate.png
 
It's a mystery why that TV report focused on using the bridge for a line 2 extension to Gatineau. That has been the official, long-term "maybe some day" policy for years. It's a complete nothing burger of a story. Meanwhile, the plan affirms median bus lanes for both Carling and Baseline are a priority, while the Cumberland transitway will proceed non-grade separated on a different route to reduce cost and conflict with the NCC. These are actually important developments but I guess not as important as the possibility of something that might happen in 21 years just as was decided years ago. More terrible journalism.
 
Fare capping for Presto users starts next month (already been in place for a while for OPay users)

www.ctvnews.ca

OC Transpo rolling out fare capping for Presto card users Aug. 1

Transit Services general manager Renée Amilcar said in a memo Tuesday that beginning Aug. 1, transit riders using a Presto card will not have to pay more than the cost of a monthly pass in any given month when tapping their cards to board a bus or train or when using Para Transpo.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca
 
NoahB said:
Freedom of information request by CBC shows that in 2023 Alstom blamed RTD for building the tracks below standard. Alstom recommends rail be changed around curves. RTD denies it and says it can be fixed by new wheel assembly design.
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Basically it's an endless game of finger pointing. The city blames RTG and Alstom, despite the weird requirements in their RFP that wanted an LRT to perform at subway levels.

Alstom and RTG blame the city for crazy requirements, yet both accepted them in the RFP

RTG blames Alstom and says it's the vehicles fault. Alstom blamed RTG and says it's the rails fault.

It was all in all a disastrous project. The worst seems in the past though. The line has been pretty reliable for a long time now.
 
The biggest problem of all of it is reputational damage to transit. All O-Train lines have a reliability (defined as arriving within 30 seconds of scheduled arrival time) of well over 98%, which is higher than the majority of urban rail lines in North America. But the initial problems were so disastrous that everyone assumes it's broken all the time.

It's kinda like how horrible quality Hyundai cars in the late 80s ruined their reputation for decades, long after their reliability was the same or better as other brands
 
Still to be resolved however are the unreasonable slow orders around some of the curves. As I have pointed out (ad nauseum, I fear) the trains are crawling around "tight curves" that are several times looser than the minimums for the vehicles and are on a par with some heavy rail systems. If everything were OK we'd be back to the original end-to-end times instead of 4 minutes slower.
 
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