OttawaBarrhaven West Coun. David Hill put forward a motion in September for staff to look at ways of increasing the transfer window as some OC Transpo riders’ trips were so long, they were paying twice. According to a Friday memo, doing so wouldn’t be cheap.Some residents pay twice per trip, citing distance and delaysEmma Weller · CBC News · Posted: Nov 23, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.OC Transpo offers transfers that are valid for 90 to 105 minutes, depending on the time of day — not long enough for some riders. According to city staff, boosting the transfer window to 120 minutes won’t be cheap. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)For months, Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill has been advocating for residents in his ward who’ve had to pay OC Transpo fares twice just to commute one way to work. Depending on the time and day, OC Transpo offers transfers valid for 90 to 105 minutes. But with the “New Ways to Bus” initiative — a sweeping overhaul of Ottawa bus routes that rolled out in April — and ongoing transit delays, that hasn’t been enough time for some riders to make a full trip.In September, Hill put forward a motion directing city staff to come up with options to temporarily increase the transfer window. But in a Friday memo, staff said doing so would come with a hefty price tag. If the current transfer window increased to 105 minutes at all times, staff estimate it would cost approximately $330,000 annually. If it were to increase to 120 minutes, they believe the annual revenue impact would be about $900,000. “It is not staff’s intention to alter the overall fare structure proposed as part of the 2026 Budget, as that scope of work and the resulting changes would require months of engagement with transit users and residents,” the memo said, referring to the city’s entire comprehensive review of the transit fare structure. The Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO) does have transfer window of 120 minutes, the memo notes, along with the Toronto Transit Commission.Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill believes there is a more economical way to add 15 minutes to the transfer window. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)Councillor’s counter proposal “When you think about this, your prize for having an excessively long commute one way is that you get to pay twice, right? So for anybody that is affected, it is just morally wrong and we need to fix it,” Hill told CBC on Friday. After reading the analysis, Hill believes there is a more economical way to give commuters more time to make one trip — even if it’s only by 15 minutes. “My counterproposal back will be we don’t need to do this all the time. We need to do this at peak [hours] in the afternoon and we need to do it from now until [the] LRT comes out to Algonquin College,” he said. “Nothing’s really off the table until we vote in December on what the budget looks like.”As the expansion of the O-Train system continues, OC Transpo said there will be more stations where riders won’t need to show proof of payment when connecting between services. In the meantime, the agency said it will provide refunds upon request to customers who paid twice for the same trip. ABOUT THE AUTHOREmma Weller is a reporter for CBC Ottawa and she’s also worked with CBC’s Your World Tonight. She can be reached at emma.weller@cbc.ca.
Boosting OC Transpo’s transfer window would have hefty price tag, city says
