Société de transport de l'Outaouais

Société de transport de l'Outaouais
Founded 1971
Headquarters 111 Rue Jean-Proulx
Locale Gatineau, Quebec
Service area Gatineau and Ottawa
Service type Bus service, paratransit
Routes 66
Stations 11
Fleet 302 buses
Annual ridership 19.4 million (2010)
Chief executive Gilles Carpentier [1]
Website sto.ca

Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) is the transit service of the Outaouais region of Quebec. It operates public transit routes in Gatineau, Quebec, including the districts of Hull, Aylmer, Gatineau, Buckingham and Masson-Angers, plus limited service to suburban communities such as Chelsea and Cantley. STO is located on the Quebec-side of Canada's National Capital Region, and operates several bus routes through Downtown Ottawa, Ontario.

History

Prior to 1971, public transportation in Gatineau was operated by private sector companies. In 1971, these companies had a total of 42 buses and 2.5 million clients.[2] This same year, the Outaouais Regional Community Transportation Commission (CTCRO) was created for the purpose of pooling regional transportation services that would otherwise exceed the means of the constituent cities.

In 1972, for $2.25 million, CTCRO purchased 3 private transit companies in the region; Transport urbain de Hull, Transport Hull métropolitain, Transport d'écoliers du nord de l'Outaouais. A year later, the CTCRO created an agreement with OC Transpo, to make the transfers between the two services easier. The CTCRO introduced its first fleet of air-conditioned buses in 1990. From this year forward, the company purchased only air-conditioned buses. The following year, CTCRO changed its name to Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO)

In 1998, the STO was named the "Canadian public transit operator of the year" by the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA). From 2001 to 2006, in order to satisfy growing demand, the STO purchased additional older buses from the Société de transport de Montréal, Société de transport de Laval, Société de transport de Sherbrooke and OC Transpo. These older buses have since been retired.

The STO introduced its first fleet of low-floor buses from NovaBus in 2002, and has only purchased these types of buses since then. The following year, the STO announced plans to build a bus-only roadway called the Rapibus. The project was initially expected to be completed by 2011, and was finally opened in 2013.

In 2005, the STO announced a strategic plan for the period 2005–2015 in which they projected a ridership of 21 million by 2015 up from 16.3 million in 2006. Ridership from 1995 to 2006 had grown about 50%. In addition to the Rapibus, the STO planned to increase the number of park and ride facilities across the city as well as introduce bike racks, expand or add garages, and expand the fleet.[3]

In 2012, STO introduced its fleet of Novabus LFS articulated buses and the following year they unveiled their new visual identity - L'avenir en commun (in English: the future in motion), as well as a new logo.

Operations

According to its 2014 annual report, STO employed a total of 780 employees, of which 479 were drivers. It also has a total of 310 buses, 70 routes and 284 shelters. It's ridership in 2014 was approx. 19.8 million, a slight decrease from previous years. Similar to other cities, it also paratransit service (about 60 vehicles of various sizes) as well as Park-n-Ride service (23 locations as of 2014).[4]

Fleet

A NovaBus low-floor bus

Accessibility

The STO planned to convert half of its total bus fleet into low-floor, LFS model NovaBus by 2012,.[5] Unfortunately the more recent models had a decreased seating capacity (room for 37 rather than 40). Another issue that was discovered with this model were the unreliable telescopic ramps that prevented wheelchair access to the bus. As of 2014, the fleet had 115 wheelchair accessible buses. These were of the 2009 third-generation LFSs, which have the more reliable flip-out ramps.[4] Aside from these buses, wheelchair users rely on the paratransit service.

Technology

A number of significant technology improvements and studies have been made over the past few decades by the STO. In 1998, The company introduced a smart-card fare system, making it the first company not only in the Americas but the entire Western Hemisphere to have a smart-card system. Paper card bus passes were gradually phased out until its official end in 2004 when smart cards became the exclusive bus pass.[6]

In 2006–07, fishbowl buses had their rollsigns replaced with LED signs. In 2002 and again in 2007, the STO tested new hybrid buses for feasibility. During the summer of 2008, the STO has started a test trial of a prototype NovaBus articulated bus on several of its routes. The bus has 58 seats and a total capacity of 115 passengers.

In 2014, STO added WIFI to several of its lines, including all buses and stations associated with rapibus.[1] In 2015 STO announced plans to introduce the bus planning App called Plani-Bus [1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 STO.ca. "Users guide (French only)" (PDF). Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ About the STO – Looking Back
  3. ↑ About the STO – STO's 2005–2015 Strategic Plan
  4. 1 2 "Mission" (PDF). Sto.ca. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ 2002 User's Guide
  6. ↑ About the STO -Kudos
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