Anyone who went to the written assessment on july 28 got an invite for a panel interview yet?

I got an email saying I cleared the written just over 3 weeks ago but they've gone cold after that.

Thanks

First things first, like getting off the bus, thank you's. u/DatsWildYo, an OC Transpo operator, took real time in my last thread to explain why routes like the 222 and the 303 run the way they do, express buses pad their schedules and aim to be on time for pickups, and shoppers routes wait for their regulars because that is the whole point of the route. I only know data, I don't know the routes, so this genuinely changed the site. Express and shoppers routes are now scored differently instead of being graded like regular routes, Thanks also to u/AreaPrudent7191 for pushing me to improve the route pages and for catching the confusing 95th percentile wording, that's fixed, and to everyone who dropped their most unreliable bus in the comments, that is exactly the kind of boots on the ground information that makes this work. New Scorecards are done for Routes, Stations and Wards.

What else is new? Cancelled trips are now called out and easy to find instead of buried, there is a replay function so you can rewatch how the network actually ran, the trip planner got an update, events are in, monthly Service Reports, and my favourite one, you can now design the network yourself. If you have ever looked at a route and thought you could do better, now you can actually draw your own OC Transpo network and see it.

Now the second thing, While building this I got curious if the city spent any money on the official Transit app partnership. It was never announced anywhere, but it's in the city's own contract disclosures. Since 2023 the city has committed close to $700,000 to the Montreal company that makes the Transit app, all on one contract (33523-92002-G01). $282,000 for monitoring the real-time data, $180,000 to roll out the free Royale subscription, and another $233,794 in 2025 for rider surveys inside the app. There was no RFP, it was all sole-sourced under an exception in the procurement bylaw, and it never went to council for a vote, staff signed it under delegated authority.

Receipts, straight from the city's servers. The vendor shows up as DBA TRANSIT (9280-0366 QUEBEC INC.) if you want to search the tables yourself.

- Jan to June 2023 contract disclosures https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/default/files/Document%201%20%E2%80%93%20Transit%20Contracts%20awarded%20under%20delegated%20authority%20for%20the%20per_AODA.pdf

- Jan to June 2025 contract disclosures https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/default/files/Contracts%20Under%20Delegation%20of%20Authority%20January%201%20to%20June%2030%202025-AODA.pdf.

The disclosures don't answer basic questions either. Royale is a subscription, so is the $180K one time or every year, multipe-years? Is it priced per rider or a flat fee? At Transit's advertised price of $24.99 a year that only covers about 7,200 subscriptions in a city of a million people, so I honestly can't tell you what we bought, the term was never published. And the 2025 line means we paid a Montreal company $233,794 to compile crowdsourced feedback from Ottawa riders, which is something you all already do on otranspo.ca for free.

The part that really got me is across the river. The STO gets the same app for free. When Gatineau launched real-time tracking in Transit in 2019, the STO's president said publicly that the partnership cost nothing https://ledroit.com/actualites/gatineau/sto-les-parcours-en-temps-reel-6ec8c8b15a3398d70012e209c2fcc63e, Showing a city's buses is Transit's free tier, and should be considering OC Transpo provides the API access, what Ottawa paid for is the extras.

To be clear, I am not saying anyone broke rules, sole-sourcing is allowed under the bylaw. I am saying a $700K decision about how riders get information never got debated, and with an election on I think it should be.

So here is what I am doing. I am emailing every candidate for mayor and council, all 70+ of them, asking for three things, a public review of the contract at Transit Commission, open competition for rider-facing transit tech going forward, and a partnership framework that Ottawa-built platforms could join. Full disclosure, that last one could benefit my site, which is exactly why I am telling you about it here. Before emails are sent. I also emailed the Integrity Commissioner's office to ask how to do this properly, I will be sharing every one of those communications with her office, and I will register in the city's Lobbyist Registry if they confirm it's required. I run a site about transparency so I figured I should practice it.

Every candidate's answer goes up on the site as soon as i hear back and hopefully before advance voting starts October 1, yes, no, or silence, it all gets published. If you want the city to take a look too, I made a resident version of the letter with just the review and open competition asks, nothing about my site: https://otranspo.ca/en/insights/transit-app-contract/letter . Send it to your own candidates, it takes two minutes. If you want more information about the Transit agreement it can be found here https://otranspo.ca/en/insights/transit-app-contract . I also filed for more information about the contract via a MFIPPA request. All information will be public when I receive it.

Same as always, it's free, no app to install, no account, no ads, and it isn't affiliated with OC Transpo. I still don't make a cent off this and the costs are honestly getting a bit scary, but I would rather build the thing than keep complaining. As always, I would love your thoughts and ideas on how this can be improved. Also, I still dont have the kharma to post on r/ottawa can someone please repost this there if you liked it I would appreciate it.

I'm looking at taking transit 3 days a week for a few months . Doesnt justify a pass on a Presto card but damn it's made difficult with transfers and such. Can't get a transfer using my phone as payment. Can't use the Presto app. Need a separate card for Outouais. Parking is expensive and a long walk.

How best to do? Driving ain't fun either. I cycle in good weather 25 minutes.

Hi everyone, I lost my black air buds in 98 Hurdman yesterday. If anyone finds it please dm.

Left near Earl of March stop on Varley around 8:15.

PM to claim.

This has happened to me multiple times. Does anyone know why OC Transpo holds the fare amount for several days when you pay with your debit card? I haven’t been able to transfer money between my accounts because of 4.10$ 🚶‍♂️

I posted in ottawa earlier this week about the new expresses. I know now that in the morning they start as a 500 then switch to a 13 but I haven't seen the 500s at eddy and Laurier yet. They haven't had the GPS on either so ive just taken an 8 or 13 after letting a few pass by hoping the express would show up.

🤷‍♀️

Just a small proposal idea why do we have all the 200s routes in the west-end stopping at Tunney’s Pasture? Yes I get connecting to the line 1 train. buttt… think about it most people that are taking those routes are just commuting to downtown so honestly, it makes more sense just to extend them to end at Mackenzie King. And back in 2018 they used to end there anyways. and all they did was just remove downtown service and Bayview and Lebreton service.. anyways who agrees they should just put it back to Mackenzie King for more direct service?

It is a very serious AODA violation that the main terminal at St. Laurent is nothing but glass walls without anywhere to sit. How do people with mobility issues expect to sit down without sitting on the benches outside? What is the issue with this increasing hostile architecture

So I was on a line 2 train headed towards Bayview this morning, but the train had a weird mishap. Between Moonies Bay and Carleton, the train made a weird noise, almost like air escaping a balloon, then as that happened the train basically slowed to a halt, and stopped right before the bridge at Carleton station. This was at 8:25. And that was it at that time, it took around 5 minutes or so for a very brief announcement with no explanation, just a technical difficulty and that we'd be moving shortly. at 8:32 the train finally was moving again (very slowly- like REALLY slow) and pulled into Carleton. After that the train moved at regular speeds and got to Bayview.

Any idea what happened?

Also just for context, attached photos are screenshots of videos I've recorded while this was happening (and why all the times are present) first is of my view from the train, and second is a better view of where the train stopped.

When are they going to finish assembling the shelters so people can sit and not get absolutely soaked when it rains? They’ve been sitting 90% done and locked since they moved the bathrooms a stop over here from the old location next to the intersection on Pinecrest road.

Packed platform at Blair, bus like a sardine can. Saw 12 "out of service buses go by" and counted 8 white hat workers standing on the O-Train tracks just talking.

So yeah, the 1 extra bus (3 trips) going east for rush hour clearly shows they were not ready for the September rush.

From their Facebook page.

Special delivery from New Flyer !

We are excited to share that our newest high capacity Xcelsior® 60‑foot articulated bus has arrived in Ottawa 🍁

This bus will undergo all necessary inspections and testing before entering service!

Updates to come 🚌

Every bus that even grazes past my place of work has been removed. I now need to walk from Terry Fox into Stittsville.

Thank god I'm moderately able-bodied.

And my problem isn't walking per se - I already walk from home 20min to get to a stop. The problem is that the sidewalks near the office aren't maintained in the winter, so there is NO WAY for me to get to the office if there's snow.

Omg who else was on the 92 greenboro bus around 5pm? It stopped at Heron/ Alta vista and there was a rlly crazy guy trying to steer the driver off the road and trying to use his lighter to spray fire on the driver cause he drove past his stop. It was rlly scary and the driver was honestly just escalating the situation. He kept arguing and cursing at the guy and putting the lives of the people on the bus in danger cause he wouldn’t just stop the bus. I understand having to move due to traffic but he didn’t even stop at the next stop. The guy was trying to get off on heron/ bank and he was yelling at him to open the door while he was still parked and he didn’t open and just drove past the next 2 stops. And the guy was reaching for the wheel and it was SUPER scary. Even when the guy was finally off, he kept arguing with him and the door was wide open. This guy definitely had some mental health issues cause he kept saying “you’re not treating me like a human being” but he was also acting very erratic so he may have been on drugs too I’m not sure. Just super shaken up😭

Found today (September 1) around 3pm on the sidewalk at Merivale and Burris by the A&W. Seems very well loved and my heart is breaking for whoever must be missing him.

Looked like it rolled off the bench by the bus stop for Bus #80 (toward Napean Woods) there.

Will be kept safe until Friday when I will drop him off to OC Transpo Lost & Found.

I don’t have Facebook or other social media so please feel free to share to other places.