Feds working with City of Ottawa to ease public service transit woes: memo

A worker repairs overhead wires on a stalled OC Transpo train near Lees Avenue station in Ottawa, on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Officials managing the federal government’s return-to-office plans are concerned about the ability of Ottawa’s troubled municipal transit system to actually get public servants to their workplaces, an internal memo shows.

Canada’s top public servant, Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia, and Isabelle Mondou, the deputy clerk, met with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe on Feb. 19 to discuss the city’s readiness to support an increased onsite presence across the federal public service.

The meeting focused on how the city could help the effort succeed and addressed public transit, the road network, parking and availability of office space, said Tahera Mufti, the mayor’s director of communications.

In early February, the federal government announced back-to-office plans for executives and employees eligible for hybrid work.

Since May 4, executives have been required to work in the office five days a week. Other employees are expected to be onsite four days a week as of July 6.

The federal memo, prepared for Sabia in advance of the February meeting, says Public Services and Procurement Canada “proactively engaged” with the city because the reliability of Ottawa’s bus and rail system was one of the concerns most frequently cited by federal employees in the National Capital Region.

Public Services and Procurement and the city “are now meeting regularly to co-ordinate analysis and planning, including transit demand projections,” the memo says.

The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain a copy of the memo from the Privy Council Office. Significant portions, including suggested questions for federal officials to raise, were stripped from the memo before its release.

“The bus network is the primary source of frustration for commuters, consistently failing to meet its performance targets,” says a section of the document devoted to the service standards of OC Transpo, the city’s public transit system.

OC Transpo delivered approximately 97.8 per cent to 98.4 per cent of planned bus trips in late 2025 and early 2026, and failed to meet its 99.5 per cent target, the memo says.

“This results in hundreds of daily cancellations, particularly during peak hours,” it says.

Only about one in five buses on frequent routes arrived on time, while less frequent routes saw a failure rate of one in four, the memo adds.

The two north-to-south lines of the city’s O-Train were “consistently strong and running reliably,” the memo says. But the west-to-east Line 1 — plagued by various problems for years — continued to operate at reduced capacity.

This was due to technical problems with the axle bearings that forced the transit service to run single cars instead of double ones, the memo notes.

“While OC Transpo is working on solving the issues, uncertainty persists with regards to when Line 1 will return to full capacity,” it adds.

Users rated their satisfaction with the O-Train at about 3.29 out of five, while the bus network was pegged at just 2.91 out of five, the memo says.

Sutcliffe, who was elected mayor in October 2022, said at a recent news conference the city wants to show people it is making progress on transit.

“What’s it going to take to be successful? We need to fix the trains. We need better leadership. We need a stronger workforce. We need more reliable buses,” Sutcliffe said. “All of the pieces are starting to come together for that. We’re not all the way there yet. Nobody’s claiming that, but all of the pieces are starting to fall into place.”

Spokespeople for Public Services and Procurement and the city said they continue to work closely to support the federal return-to-office plans.

Privy Council Office spokesman Pierre-Alain Bujold said the federal government appreciates the efforts of the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, just across the river in Quebec, to improve the availability and reliability of transit.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2026.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press