OC Transpo extends fare evasion crackdown to end of year

Passengers board an R1 replacement bus in downtown Ottawa. OC Transpo will extend a crackdown on fare evasion until the end of the year after inspectors issued more than 900 fines in September. (Guy Quenneville/CBC - image credit)
Passengers board an R1 replacement bus in downtown Ottawa. OC Transpo will extend a crackdown on fare evasion until the end of the year after inspectors issued more than 900 fines in September. (Guy Quenneville/CBC - image credit)

OC Transpo is extending a crackdown on fare evasion to the end of the year after seeing success during the month of September, telling the city's transit commission earlier this week that inspectors issued 904 fines and 15 warnings during the four-week blitz.

"With the results after the blitz, we have taken the decision to continue because we have seen that it added a lot of value to do so," transit chief Renée Amilcar told commissioners. "We will be very aggressive on that, because people need to pay."

The fines cost $260 each and are collected by the province, which remits part of that to OC Transpo. Amilcar said OC Transpo's share of the money collected will fund additional fare inspectors.

Twelve fare inspectors took part in the blitz from Sept. 3-30, asking passengers aboard buses and trains for proof of payment.

Amilcar said they patrol the entire transit system, but noted Hurdman, Blair and Rideau stations are hot spots for fare evasion.

A group of OC Transpo fare inspectors at Hurdman station in August 2024.
A group of OC Transpo fare inspectors at Hurdman station in August 2024.

OC Transpo fare inspectors wait for a train at Hurdman station in August 2024. (CBC)

'Continuous' fare evasion

Coun. Riley Brockington said he has personally witnessed "continuous" fare evasion at Rideau station, and challenged the notion that passengers are seeking free rides out of economic necessity.

"This argument from some that the poorest of the poor are fare evaders, it's not true. These are people who've just gone shopping, who've spent a significant amount of money, who are well dressed, evading fares because they can get away with it," he said.

Brockington said he's also concerned the trend could seriously hamper OC Transpo's finances, claiming on the social media platform X on Thursday that "we are losing millions of dollars due to fare evasion."

 

The ongoing fare compliance initiative started in January with just two inspectors, in response to concerns about a rise in fare skipping. Critics argued OC Transpo should focus on improving service rather than cracking down on fare evasion, and argued the blitzes harmed the most vulnerable.

Nevertheless, 10 more fare inspectors were added to the roster.

Renée Amilcar, OC Transpo's general manager of transit services, photographed at a transit committee meeting on June 29, 2023.
Renée Amilcar, OC Transpo's general manager of transit services, photographed at a transit committee meeting on June 29, 2023.

Renée Amilcar, Ottawa's general manager of transit services, told the city's transit commission that Hurdman, Blair and Rideau stations are hot spots for fare evasion. (Jean Delisle/CBC)

Coun. Marty Carr asked about the possibility of collecting demographic data about who's receiving the fines, but OC Transpo's chief safety officer Duane Duquette said that's not permitted.

Duquette also noted there's no point in "issuing a ticket to someone we know will not receive it. We try to use other means to solve those issues."

Amilcar said the transit commission will receive a detailed report on the future of fare enforcement once the current blitz wraps up at the end of the year.