Charging issue sidelines some electric buses from Saturday morning service, OC Transpo says

An electric zero-emission OC Transpo bus is seen in this undated image. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)

Passengers riding on OC Transpo were met with disruptions after some electric buses were not charged enough to be ready for service on Saturday morning.

According to an email to CTV News Ottawa from Transit Services associate general manager Troy Charter, a software issue caused several zero-emission buses at the St. Laurent Boulevard garage to charge at a slower rate than normal overnight.

OC Transpo didn’t provide the exact number of buses affected by the issue.

Charter says a contingency plan was implemented to minimize service disruptions, including using backup diesel buses at the Pinecrest Road garage and shuttling drivers to get to their assignments.

Charter says a mix of buses not typically deployed for weekend service were used.

“This quick action minimized customer disruptions, and we appreciate the flexibility and responsiveness of our maintenance teams and operators to keep customers moving,” Charter said.

“The software issue has now been addressed with the on-site support of the contractor and maintenance teams, and the charging of electric buses has returned to normal. Ongoing monitoring is in place and no further impacts to service are expected.”

Charter says the city will be conducting a review of the software issue and its operational response.

Noah Vineberg, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279, says it left about 100 to 200 bus drivers scrambling to start their shifts on Saturday and may have led to disruptions for early-morning commuters.

“There was a scramble in the morning trying to get operators to every different location, traveling either on their own or being transported in a shuttle and those that are affected in that capacity need to then be shuttled back at the end of their day, so it just adds work to everybody’s day,” he said.

Vineberg says he hopes the incident becomes a learning experience as the city continues to roll out its fleet of zero-emission buses.

“We’re dealing with a lot of new technology, we’re dealing with a lot of new logistics with this entire system with an electric fleet, so this will be a learning experience, and hopefully there’ll be better contingencies in place if and when these things occur in the future,” he said.

OC Transpo is undergoing a large refurbishment of its fleet as it seeks to retire its aging fleet. The transit service is aiming to have half of its bus fleet powered by electricity by the end of 2027.

Bus shortages because of delivery delays of the new zero-emission buses have plagued the system’s reliability figures this year.

OC Transpo says it is looking to boost bus capacity and reliability ahead of July 6, when employees in the core public service will need to be in the office a minimum of four days a week.

So far, the transit service has onboarded 131 of 228 electric buses 2026, and the first new 60-foot articulated bus is scheduled to arrive this month.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Kimberley Johnson

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