Unanimously Chosen by Peers

Cumberland City Councillor Stephen Blais calls it an honour to be chosen by Ottawa City Council to Chair the Transit Commission.

“I am honoured that the Mayor and my council colleagues have faith in my abilities to Chair the Transit Commission,” says Councillor Blais. “One of my first campaign promises when I first ran for council was the creation of a transit commission and I am honoured to now be charged with steering its direction over the next four years.”

The Transit Commission is responsible for ensuring the development of a safe, efficient, accessible and client-focused transit system and for providing overall guidance and direction to the Transit Services Department on all issues relating to the operation of public transit, including the O-train and the Para Transpo service delivery model.

“The east end has the highest ridership per capita than any other area in all of North America, which demonstrated public transit is a key priority for residents,” adds Councillor Blais. “As a result, in my four years on council, we’ve kept fares in line with inflation, built more than 300 park and ride spaces at Trim Road and Ray Friel, added new routes, additional runs on existing routes and higher capacity buses.”

With over 5,800 bus stops and roughly 400,000 weekday passenger trips, OC Transpo touches the lives of every Ottawa resident in a direct way each and every day of the week. Ottawa has a world class transit system and we must continue to be diligent and make improvements as our City grows and we transition to Light Rail.

“While significant progress to public transit has been made across all of Ottawa, there is a lot that needs to be done over the next four years,” adds Councillor Blais. “While there are many challenges ahead, the next four years will significantly improve public transit in Ottawa for generations to come.”