OC Transpo reducing O-Train service to every 10 minutes during midday periods this fall

The OC Transpo website says starting Aug. 26, the Confederation Line will run every 10 minutes at stations between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays. Peak-period service will continue to be every 5 minutes, according to OC Transpo.

OC Transpo is reducing midday service on the O-Train this fall from every 5 minutes to every 10 minutes, as tens of thousands of students and federal workers are set to return to the downtown core.

The OC Transpo website says starting Aug. 26, the Confederation Line will run every 10 minutes at stations between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays. Peak-period service will continue to be every 5 minutes, according to OC Transpo.

"This change adjusts Line 1 service during weekday off-peak periods to better reflect current demand and travel patterns," OC Transpo says on its website.

"Line 1 will continue to offer sufficient capacity to meet off-peak passenger volumes. This change will be closely monitored. Should ridership increase, adjustments can be made."

OC Transpo will reduce off-peak service to every 10 minutes this fall as thousands of students return to Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, and the federal government requires workers to be in the office a minimum of three days a week starting in September.

River Ward Coun. and transit commissioner Riley Brockington said he wants to see high frequency service on the line.

"I'd like to see us come back in early September with school and people back to work with a better understanding of what those passenger volumes are like before we make changes to the LRT, not the week before," he said. "You want your main artery for any transit system to run at a very high frequency. It is meant to be fast rapid transit that goes east to west."