Massive, sweeping changes to OC Transpo's bus network take effect this weekend, as the transit system fully transitions over to its post-Confederation Line launch reality.
The changes begin to take effect on Sunday, as parallel bus service through the downtown comes to an end. Riders will no longer have a choice but to transfer onto an O-Train if their trips take them beyond Tunney's Pasture or Blair station.
"We do hope that everyone's had a chance to get out and see how the O-Train stations work, see how the connections work," said Pat Scrimgeour, director of transit customer systems and planning, OC Transpo. "But if Sunday and Monday is a new experience for them, we'll be ready to help them when they're there."
Thirteen bus routes will be completely replaced by the Confederation Line of the O-Train. Bus routes that stretch from east to west, across the capital, will be spilt and/or truncated.
"Because we don't have cross-town bus routes anymore, the 95 that we've been familiar with for so many decades gets divided into the 75 on the west side, from Barrhaven to Tunney's Pasture, and the 39 on the east side, from Orleans to Blair," explained Scrimgeour.
Many of the changes affect the schedules of local routes that do not head downtown, so OC Transpo is urging riders to check the new schedules ahead of Sunday and Monday. Details are on OC Transpo's website.