OC Transpo to keep downtown express bus service as LRT resumes

OC Transpo will continue to offer a shuttle bus option that will run during morning and afternoon rush hours.

With single-car train service restored along the full length of the Confederation Line, OC Transpo is ending R1 andR1 Para service brought in as a replacement for the shuttered light rail system.

With some commuters praising the R1 Express service, OC Transpo has retained and re-branded the shuttle buses.

"OC Transpo has listened to and heard the positive feedback from customers on R1 Expressbus service and is responding," the agency said in a memo Monday.

Officials from OC Transpo and the City of Ottawadiscussed the expressservice at a news conference Monday afternoon. The fullconference is available in the player above.

The service, dubbedShuttle Express, will run every 10 minutesbetween6:30 a.m. and9 a.m., fromTunney's Pasture and Blair stations todowntown.

From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., it will run every 10 minutes from downtown toTunney's Pasture and Blair stations.

The servicewill useseven to 10 busesand is expected to run at least until the end of this year, OC Transpo said.

The R1 Express service began Monday, July 31, as Ottawa entered its third week without light rail trains. The system was shut down on July 17 after a routine inspection uncovereda problem with a train bearing similar to an issue that had previously caused a derailment.