Updated projections of the long-term financials for Ottawa's transit system present a bleak picture that suggest the city needs to consider drastic changes — from increasing fares and adding a new tax to giving up on expanding light-rail beyond Stage 2.
The latest financial projections for OC Transpo present a bleak picture that could scuttle plans for Stage 3 of light-rail transit.
"People often say to me, as they may say to you, you inherited a mess," Sutcliffe told councillors. "And I'll be honest. I'm not thrilled about this financial picture, nor some of the decisions that led to it."Throughout the pandemic, OC Transpo has been comparing ridership numbers to 2019, the last time city staff mapped out its long-term fiscal future.
City staff now project that ridership will not reach pre-pandemic levels until 2030. The black line represents the ridership numbers expected when the 2019 long-term financial plan was written. "We are building a public transit system for the next 25 years," he said. "In a few years from now when the city has grown even more … it will be looked back upon as something that had some stumbles but was an important city-building project."The city must either find new funding sources by lobbying the provincial and federal governments, or decrease costs by reducing services or deferring capital projects. Most likely, it will need to do both.
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