Head of OC Transpo Rick Leary says he's comfortable with the city's ability to meet increased traffic this fall. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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Ottawa’s transit boss says he feels “very comfortable” with OC Transpo’s ability to handle an anticipated influx of traffic this fall, driven largely by the latest federal return-to-office mandate.

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“With the arrangements and the new structure that the team has put together, I am very comfortable,” Rick Leary said at an Ottawa city council meeting on Wednesday, July 15.

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At the lengthy meeting that stretched late into Wednesday afternoon, councillors unanimously approved a city plan to implement 48 “transportation, mobility, and operational enhancements” by the end of August in preparation for an anticipated spike in public transit ridership this fall.

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Although the increase is driven largely by federal workers commuting into downtown offices, it will also be influenced by students returning to school and employees of all kinds coming back from summer vacation.

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The city’s plan includes a mix of measures targeting specific federal workplaces, as well as general interventions to improve traffic flow and support for transit riders across the city.

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All told, items in the plan will cost around $30 million, with the city looking to recoup much of the expense from the feds.

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The costliest item, with a price tag of $20.1 million, seeks to accelerate the expansion of the Bowesville LRT park-and-ride, doubling its capacity by adding between 800 and 1,000 new spots.

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Bowesville, located south of the Ottawa airport along O-Train Line 2, is the park-and-ride site in Ottawa with the tightest capacity constraints, city staff said Wednesday.

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Another big-ticket item, a proposed 1.5 kilometre sidewalk connecting the new Moodie LRT station and DND’s Carling Campus, will only go ahead if federal funding is secured.

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With the LRT east extension to Moodie not yet operational — and no opening date confirmed — the city is also pursuing the more immediate intervention of deploying express buses to help get DND employees to the campus.

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Those buses will be in addition to several other new express routes and added service on existing routes from park-and-rides and other key locations across the city, such as Barrhaven Centre, Place d’Orléans, Kanata and South Keys.

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OC Transpo map showing new bus routes coming this fall. CITY OF OTTAWA Photo by City of Ottawa

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O-Train Line 1 will also operate more frequently this fall, with two-car trains running every four minutes (down from five) during peak periods. Meanwhile, O-Train Line 2 will start earlier in the morning to accommodate commuters.