Free transit in Ottawa for 1st weekend in May
No-charge OC and Para Transpo rides to promote Trillium Line, service overhaul
OC Transpo and Para Transpo service will be free the first weekend in May to thank customers and encourage use after both the Trillium Line relaunch and a massive service overhaul set to take place earlier that week.
The free rides May 3 and 4 were announced by Ottawa's transit general manager in a Friday morning memo.
The announcement comes after the launch of the expanded north-south rail lines earlier this year and ahead of the April 27 rollout of the "New Ways to Bus" initiative, which is designed to realign service with Lines 2 and 4 and will change nearly every route.
The changes will also reduce service by about 3.5 per cent compared to levels at the start of last spring, when the campaign launched amid budget constraints.
The city's transit committee heard plans about an unspecified free transit weekend last week.
Some details were not mentioned in the memo, such as whether free service starts at midnight Saturday or a few hours later.