Egan: How to social distance on a crowded OC Transpo bus. Start the car?

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How does someone socially distance on a crowded bus?

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To state the obvious — not well, not easily, or not at all. Jamming passengers into a tight space is one of several issues that have cropped up with OC Transpo’s R1 bus service, which is attempting to fill the enormous gap left by our fleet of parked trains.

Social media has been percolating with individual stories and photos about riders in standing-room buses during morning and afternoon commutes. To be fair to OC, I suppose, what else can they do but run buses at or near capacity during busy periods of the day?

Still, there is the nagging idea that one arm of government — public health — is telling us one thing and another arm — transit — is telling us another. (As in, spread apart, get close together.)

When asked, OC didn’t provide much of an answer.

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“We recognize and apologize for the inconvenience the suspension of O-Train service is causing for our customers. The health and safety of all customers and staff remains our top priority as we work towards relaunching train service and providing reliable transit via the R1 buses,” reads a reply from customer service boss Pat Scrimgeour.

But what about over-crowding?

“Buses receive daily enhanced cleanings and masks are mandatory at all transit property and onboard buses. Staff continue to monitor demand and ridership on all routes and are making service adjustments as necessary. By following public health guidelines OC Transpo is able to continue providing service to all areas of the city with the current fleet and without capacity limits that will hinder the ability for customers to travel.”

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Nowhere in there, though, does OC Transpo acknowledge the additional health risk of riding on a crowded bus — maybe for an hour or two daily. Riders, clearly, need to make individual choices about whether it’s worth it — not, as we’re used to, blindly assume OC is providing an environment that won’t make us sick.

Stuart MacKay is a board member of Ottawa Transit Riders, a feisty group of users and watchdogs.

He’s taken the R1 routes several times since the Sept. 19 derailment and estimates travel times have probably doubled.

It’s fine for some to take cars, cabs or Uber, but there are plenty of students and service-sector workers — or moms with unvaccinated kids — who have no choice but to take the bus, he stressed.

“It’s forcing people to make some really difficult choices when it comes to transportation.”

He says LRT essentially “put all the eggs in one basket” because it’s a hub-and-spoke feeder system that can’t easily be replaced by a diminished fleet of buses that now has to deal with road and traffic conditions.

And there are side issues. Because the downtown stations are closed, he said he was unable to reload his Presto card on the weekend because access to the terminals was barred.

“We’re going to start losing people. I mean, I’m quite worried we’re going to lose a generation of transit riders from this stuff.”

Kari Glynes Elliott is another board member of the group. She’s long thought OC was not very good at communication with passengers and the R1 deployment has only underlined that weakness, she says, at a time when the service has downsized its bus fleet.

Schedules are more difficult to keep with surface buses and someone trying to get to work has no idea whether to skip a full bus and wait for the next one.

“I’m hearing a lot of people say that buses are bunching, that two buses will come by super-full and an empty bus will come 30 seconds later.”

She thinks OC can do a better job of alerting passengers to schedule changes by using texting, or billboards or phone apps. And she is concerned with the amount of time riders are spending together.

“When I hear that people are spending an hour on a bus, that’s also a risk factor.”

She did relate some good news that studies in places like New York City have found that moderate use of transit has not been found to be a big spreader of the virus that causes COVID-19.

“I don’t think it’s surprising that people are anxious,” she said of the reports her group is getting.

“I also think the city and OC Transpo have really underestimated how little trust people have in them,” a criticism that extends to assurances of safe travel.

Broken trains, broken trust, overcrowded buses in a pandemic. We get around, we run around.

To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-291-6265 or email kegan@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn