OC Transpo general manager Rick Leary is hoping to “change the narrative” and steer clear of the negative media attention surrounding the organization he was tapped to lead two months ago. Leary highlighted some of the positive progress OC Transpo has made in recent months amid headlines about unreliable bus service and cancelled trips through the winter, an unresolved “spalling” issue that forced 41 O-Train cars out of service in January, a maintenance backlog with its aging diesel fleet and the delayed delivery of e-buses, a mounting deficit and a recent auditor general’s report that found some “blatantly obvious” contraventions in hiring practices during his predecessor Renée Amilcar’s tenure from 2021 to 2025.
On Day 60 of his tenure on May 26, Leary sat down with the Ottawa Citizen to talk about early momentum, while acknowledging some of the challenges ahead. Far from OC Transpo’s biggest challenge, though perhaps in a twist of irony, halfway through the interview — and unbeknownst to Leary or the Citizen at the time — a double-decker OC Transpo bus slid off a tow truck and rolled into the exterior of a Farm Boy grocery store some 500 metres from Leary’s corner office at OC Transpo headquarters. (The decommissioned bus was on its way back to the maintenance garage at 1500 St-Laurent Blvd., no one was hurt and damage was minimal.)
OC Transpo, meanwhile, has recently been hitting its target of 99.5 per cent bus reliability and onboarding more e-buses to its fleet, and Leary said the transit authority is “on track” to restore double-car train service to Line 1 by June 8. “I was really tasked by the city manager (Wendy Stephanson) to focus on a couple of things to begin with while I do a review of the whole organization, so I’ve been enjoying that, really focusing on getting the two-car trains back on the LRT, getting Line 1 back up and operational,” Leary said.
“I’m really pleased being here at this time, because I believe that the council, the committee, the mayor, the city manager have established the foundation to get us out of the challenges that we have today.”
Here is what Leary had to say during his sit down with the Citizen, edited for length and clarity.
What are some of the positive signs you’ve seen in your first two months on the job?
I’m looking at that foundation, saying there’s some positive things to happen… This is a great organization, it’s very helpful to the city. I’ve been taking Line 1 almost every day for two months and it comes every three to four minutes. It might be a single-car train, but everybody’s looking at the glass half empty, I’m looking at it half filled. It’s very reliable. Now we’re going to get the two-car trains back. You’re going to hear me talking a lot more in the future about the positive aspects of this organization and the impact it has on the city as we get more new (e-buses), much more environmental friendly, less fuel consumption, the emissions near zero… A year from now, we’re going to have 400 new buses in the fleet. Think about the reliability of a new bus compared to those that are 17 to 20 years old. You don’t see many 20-year-old cars on the road.
