OC Transpo - Fares

Fares

OC Transpo fares can be paid in coins or bus tickets, which are must be purchased in advance at various retail outlets or bus stations for a lower fare ($1.30 each). Transfers are given to passengers upon boarding and are valid for minimum 90 minutes in any direction, with stopovers allowed.

OC Transpo has 2 levels of fares for its buses:

• Regular fare ($3.30, or 2 tickets)
• Express fare ($4.65, or 3 tickets)

Additionally, children 6 to 11 can ride for $1.10, or 1 ticket, and children age 5 and younger ride free. Full-day passes are $7.75 and can only be purchased on the bus.

Tickets for the O-Train light rail line are $2.85 each, and are sold at O-train stations. They can be exchanged for bus transfers.

Monthly and annual passes are also available for all route classes with cost differences for adults, students, and seniors. Passes require OC Transpo photo ID card, which available at extra cost. Additionally, Ecopasses (reduced-rate monthly passes) are available through participating employers in the city, providing applicable OC Transpo riders with single-card indefinite passes in exchange for a flat bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly payroll deduction.

As of the December 1, 2005, fare increase, OC Transpo had the highest basic cash bus fares of any major transit service in Canada. This fare was matched by STO, the transit operator across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Québec on January 1, 2006. OC Transpo & York Region Transit have the highest cash fares in Canada, at $3.50.

On July 2008, fares were increased by 7.5% because of a shortage in funding for the City of Ottawa. This fare hike wqs supposed to be in effect until 2010 including a 6.5% hike in 2009. This meant Ottawa residents saw regular adult passes rise from $73 a month to $81 and adult express passes from $90 to $101 a month. However, cash fares remained the same.