OC Transpo's massive bus route overhaul that rolled out in April 2025 was based on outdated data with inaccurate run times, according to a scathing report from the city's auditor general. The audit, released on June 18, found numerous gaps in bus service planning and scheduling.
Budget-Driven Redesign
The New Ways to Bus route overhaul was mainly driven by budget considerations, the auditor general found. The redesign focused on reducing annual operating costs by $10 million, equivalent to a reduction of 70,000 bus service hours per year.
Outdated Data and Inaccurate Run Times
The audit found that OC Transpo's run times were last holistically updated for implementation of New Ways to Bus, based on data collected in 2023. Due to delays in launching the overhaul in April 2025, run times became inaccurate because of evolving traffic patterns throughout the city, including increased road congestion and other factors, impacting on-time performance.
While weekend and off-peak service has been approaching reliability targets, the audit found that weekday peak service has been consistently underperforming. The evolving transit patterns in a post-pandemic landscape, delays in both LRT line openings and delivery of zero-emission electric buses, as well as reduced fleet availability have added complexity to planning and scheduling processes.
Run Time Adjustments
OC Transpo senior staff have made some adjustments to run times by adding run time to seven routes with the poorest on-time performance. However, the audit found that 29 per cent of weekday routes that are 30 minutes or longer had scheduled run times that varied by 10 per cent or more from the actual run times. Of the routes flagged during a review of fall 2025 service booking, 86 per cent did not have enough scheduled run time and 14 per cent had too much run time.
The auditor general recognized that OC Transpo adjusted run times for two routes in the winter of 2026 and another seven routes in April, but said 35 routes remain with deviations of more than 10 per cent from their allotted run times. OC Transpo management told the transit committee on June 11 that another 22 routes are being analyzed for run-time adjustments in September. Challenges with operational resources, however, have placed constraints on the number and type of adjustments that can be made.
Fleet and Staffing Challenges
Bus service has consistently fallen short of reliability targets due to fleet shortages, aging buses that are past their useful service life, a shortage of mechanics, staff recruitment challenges, regulatory changes and increases in traffic congestion that have placed significant pressure on service reliability.
