Published in The BANAR November 1971
The Community Bus Service, which has been operating since 1st November, is winning new clients regularly.
Passenger loading for the second week had increased by about 11% over the first week’s operation. The number of passengers carried each morning is now running at 208 compared with 97 for the same period last week. With your continued support there is no doubt that the service will be self-supporting in a week or two. (120 passengers is normally considered to be adequate to be self-supporting).
Several changes have been made to the routing and timing so that an optimum service is now provided to meet the travel requirements of our passengers.
The tickets are sold on all buses and cost $3.50 for the regular weekly ticket (35c per trip) and $2.50 for the 5-trip-no-time-limit ticket (50c per trip). No cash fares are accepted for single rides as this places an unfair burden on the Ticket Agent (who volunteered for the job! ) and also makes estimates of passenger load more erratic. An up-to-date version of the schedule is included in this Banar for your retention.
The service now in operation is described below. There are 3 buses to downtown each week day morning which leave the Blackburn Terminal at 7:26, 7:40 and 8:25. To find the approximate time of departure at your nearest stop, refer to the table “MINUTES TO ADD AT YOUR STOP”.
The 7:26 bus leaves the Queensway at Nicholas and arrives at Ottawa U at 7:50 to 7:55, at Laurier & Elgin (Bell Telephone/DND) at 7:55 to 8:00, at Kent & Queen (Place de Ville) at 8:00 to 8:05 and at Besserer St. at 8:02 to 8:09. This bus then returns to Blackburn to make another run into town beginning at 8:25.
The 7:40 bus, after leaving Blackburn, passes through Pine View (Wimpey) and travels on the Queensway to Metcalfe. It follows Catherine to Kent Street, thence north on Kent to Queen, arriving at Place de Ville at approximately 8:20. It continues eat on Queen to Elgin thence Besserer and Nicholas (8:25) past Ottawa U (8:27) and returns to the depot (Capital Coach, Ogilvy Road).
The 8:25 bus follows the same route into town as the 7:26 bus, arriving at Ottawa U at 8:49, at Laurier and Elgin at 8:51 at Place de Ville at 9:00.
In the evening there are 4 buses from downtown at 5:00, 5:15, 5:45 and 6:15. All times are from the Place de Ville Terminal (northside of Terminal A on Queen Street). The 5:00 and 5:15 are identified Blackburn Express” and are “direct”. The 5:45 and 6:15 are identified “Beacon Hill” or “Charter” and require transferring at Shoppers City.
The 5:00 bus proceeds east on Queen Street and picks up on the south east corner of Queen & O’Connor (approximately 5:05), the south west corner of Queen & Elgin (5:07), the south west corner of Besserer and Nicholas (5:10) and the bus bay south of the traffic light at Nicholas and Somerset East, Ottawa U (5:13). This bus leaves the Queensway at the Orleans turn off and proceeds to drop off its passengers beginning at the Westpark end at about 5:30.
The 5:15 bus follows the same route through town and makes the same pick up stops as the 4:00, however it leaves the Queensway at the Blair Road turn off and loops through Pine ‘View then circulates through Blackburn from the Southpark end at about 5:45.
The 5:45 and 6:15 bus follows the same route and pickup points downtown as the other buses then proceeds along the Queensway to Shoppers City. Passengers for Blackburn transfer in front of the Animal Clinic (east end of IGA/Freimart) for continuation to Blackburn via Blair Road. Approximate transfer times are at 6:05 and 6:33 respectively.
Time schedule – All passengers should bear in mind that the times of Departure from the Blackburn or Place de Ville terminals are definite but that other times at intermediate points are approximations only. You are urged therefore to be at your pick up stop a few minutes early and avoid the disappointment of having to wait for the next bus.
To determine the approximate time of departure from your stop add the number of minutes shown below to the time of departure from the Blackburn Terminal (Westpark and Bearbrook, Quarry end):
Westpark/Bearbrooke (Terminal) nil
Westpark/Parlcridge 1
Westpark/Parkwood 2
Westpark/Bearbrooke 3
Centreparlc/Silver Aspen (Redberry Court) 4
Northpark/Ridgeburn 6
Eastpark/Beeehmont (Diceman end) 7
Eastpark/Innes Rd. (Wedgewood end) 9
Southpark/Woodburn 10
Southpark/Woodhill 11
Tauvette/Innes 13
Blair Rd./Beaverpond 16
Beaverpond, Hallmark (Appleton end) 17 (7:40 a.m. bus only)
The day-to-day operations of the service are organized by the members of the Transportation Committee on the Blackburn Hamlet Community Association.
The valuable experience gained by Beacon Hill’s Transport Committee during their very successful operations over the last 6 months was generously made available to us through our affiliation under the “North Gloucester Joint Transportation Committee.” You will be seeing more of this name on the tickets, etc. in the weeks to come. This affiliation now allows interchange of tickets, and transfer between buses but it is hoped ultimately to facilitate the establishment of an integrated Shuttle Bus Service in a way that neither community could afford to do alone.
Economics
Judging from the enquiries we have had it appears that many people are interested in the costs of running the service. The tariff can become complex depending on the number of hours of continuous use and other factors, however in brief, $35 buys one trip into town and one trip out. $40 buys two trips into town and two trips out. The cost of the buses now being run is $400 per week. This expense would be covered by 120 passengers at $3:50 per week.
Winter passengers
Contingency plans are now being made to take care of an anticipated increase in the passenger load when weather conditions become inclement. The plan most likely to be adopted involves running an additional bus through the latter part of the Hamlet, Pine View and possibly Beacon Hill South starting at about 7:30 a.m. Hence, if the weather is unexpectedly bad, aim to take the 7:26 bus. In this way, we should be able to absorb any extra passengers into the three early buses (7:26, 7:30, 7:40) without too much of a problem. As our winter load becomes more stable we will again be able to re-optimize the service.
In order to help us plan as accurately as possible we would ask all our regular passengers to please buy their weekly tickets on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the previous week.
Shuttle bus to St. Laurent
Plans are underway to introduce an “economic” Shuttle Bus Service between Blackburn Hamlet, Beacon Hill South, Shoppers City and St. Laurent Plaza possibly as early as November 22. It is aimed to help Christmas shoppers and, at the same time, determine to what degree the inhabitants would really use such a Shuttle Bus service before considering anything more comprehensive.
The service being considered would consist of one bus to St. Laurent in the morning, leaving Blackburn at 9:00 am. and returning from St. Laurent at 12:30 p.m. and one bus in the afternoon leaving Blackburn at 1:45 p.m. and returning from St. Laurent at 4:00 p.m. Additional return buses will probably be nm from St. Laurent at 5:50 p.m. and 6:20 with interconnections for Blackburn and Pine View at Shoppers City.
The fares (for this service only) will be $1.50 for a 5-trip ticket or $2.50 for a Weekly Pass. The 5-trip tickets are valid at any time and the Weekly Pass permits an unlimited number of trips during the week of issue. As further details on this service become established they will be made available to you through your local agent.
Now a word to the ladies! This bus, the Shuttle Bus, is principally intended for you, the ladies of the community, and will permit a couple of hours shopping at the Shoppers City or St. Laurent Plaza or, if you really want to get away from the house you can take a Number 52 OTC bus from St. Laurent (half hourly service from Dominion Store) to Downtown and stay there all day! Alternatively, if, after a while at St. Laurent you don’t find what you are looking for the same No. 52 bus can take you all the way to Carlingwood Plaza.
The success of this Shuttle Service depends on you, ladies. If you have young children, why not make an arrangement with your neighbour to leave the children with her while you have your day off and you can return the favour for her.