Transit insights
Who is transit for, and what does it cost?
Official City budget figures beside Census commuting context, with years and limitations kept visible.
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These are different measures and periods. The budget is a plan, Q1 is a reported result, and the pandemic Census is commuting context. It is not a cost per rider or a forecast.
01 / City of Ottawa · adopted operating budget
The adopted funding plan.
These four City-published rows reconcile exactly. They describe the adopted plan, not actual spending, route costs, or a forecast.
- Net requirement
- $491,171,000
- Less: revenue
- -$413,589,000
- Less: recoveries & allocations
- -$33,048,000
The net requirement is planned funding after revenue and recoveries. It is not a profit, an overrun, or actual spending.
Show how the adopted Ottawa budget reconciles
City of Ottawa · adopted operating budget
What the City budgeted for transit in 2026
These four City-published rows reconcile exactly. They describe the adopted plan, not actual spending, route costs, or a forecast.
- Gross expenditure
- $937,808,000
- Less: recoveries & allocations
- -$33,048,000
- Less: revenue
- -$413,589,000
- Net requirement
- $491,171,000
STO · official 2026 budget summary
What STO budgeted for Gatineau transit in 2026
The published STO plan balances $183.0 million of revenue with $183.0 million of spending. These are system totals and projections, not actual results or route costs.
$183,000,000
The source labels this summary subject to approval by the Ville de Gatineau. Projected trips and service quantities do not prove actual delivery.
Show STO budget and service-plan details
- Total budget
- $183,000,000
- Operating spending
- $170,809,000
- Net financing
- $12,191,000
- Regular transit
- $160,600,000
- Paratransit
- $10,200,000
- Passenger revenue
- $40,000,000
- Ville de Gatineau contribution
- $88,300,000
16,700,000 projected trips · 800,000 service hours · 16,500,000 km · 366 buses
Open STO’s official 2026 budget summary ↗02 / Latest City result · January 1–March 31, 2026
The quarter, compared with plan.
This is a year-to-date result, not a year-end forecast. The City says its Q2 report will include the 2026 year-end forecast.
Latest City result · January 1–March 31, 2026
Q1 transit actuals versus budget
The net requirement was $7,159,000 above the City’s calendarized Q1 budget. Transit spent $2,688,000 less than budgeted, but received $9,847,000 less revenue, mainly because ridership and fare revenue were below budget.
- Expenditure
- Actual through March 31$203,384,000
- Calendarized Q1 budget $206,072,000
- $2,688,000 under budget
- Revenue
- Actual through March 31$47,458,000
- Calendarized Q1 budget $57,305,000
- $9,847,000 shortfall
- Net requirement
- Actual through March 31$155,926,000
- Calendarized Q1 budget $148,767,000
- $7,159,000 deficit
03 / Statistics Canada · Ottawa census subdivision
Commuting in context.
2021 was a pandemic census year. Work-from-home patterns and changed commuting conditions make this essential context, not a current ridership target or a prediction of 2026 behaviour.
Statistics Canada · Ottawa census subdivision
How Ottawa commuters usually got to work
Main mode of commuting among people with a usual place of work. Counts are randomly rounded and percentages may not sum to 100 because smaller modes are not shown here.
275,700
commuters in the published denominator
- Public transit31,015 · 11.2%
- Car, truck or van211,755 · 76.8%
- Walked19,395 · 7%
- Bicycle4,260 · 1.5%
Statistics Canada · Ottawa and Gatineau
How commuting changed between 2016 and the pandemic census
Compare the published counts and each mode’s share of the stated denominator. The 2021 census was collected during COVID-19, and the census universes differ slightly, so this is context, not proof that transit service caused the change.
- Ottawa2016Public transit90,690 · 20.6% share
Open other modes and source
- Published denominator
- 439,850
- Car, truck or van
- 300,870 · 68.4% share
- Walked
- 32,450 · 7.4% share
- Bicycle
- 11,465 · 2.6% share
- Ottawa2021Public transit31,015 · 11.2% share
Open other modes and source
- Published denominator
- 275,700
- Car, truck or van
- 211,755 · 76.8% share
- Walked
- 19,395 · 7% share
- Bicycle
- 4,260 · 1.5% share
- Gatineau2016Public transit21,840 · 16.4% share
Open other modes and source
- Published denominator
- 133,050
- Car, truck or van
- 101,325 · 76.2% share
- Walked
- 5,685 · 4.3% share
- Bicycle
- 3,135 · 2.4% share
- Gatineau2021Public transit10,260 · 10.7% share
Open other modes and source
- Published denominator
- 95,655
- Car, truck or van
- 77,880 · 81.4% share
- Walked
- 4,240 · 4.4% share
- Bicycle
- 1,115 · 1.2% share
Counts are randomly rounded. Do not treat the 2021 result as a normal baseline or a 2026 ridership target.
04 / Questions the evidence can answer
From totals to recorded trips.
A budget total cannot tell us which route failed or what a service change would do. Use the recorded history below to find a repeated day, time, route, stop, ward, or vehicle pattern. Every result opens to its dates, denominators, exclusions, and public source IDs.
Questions the evidence can answer
Start with history, then inspect the underlying trips
A budget total cannot tell us which route failed or what a service change would do. Use the recorded history below to find a repeated day, time, route, stop, ward, or vehicle pattern. Every result opens to its dates, denominators, exclusions, and public source IDs.
No route-cost or service-impact forecast is shown because no defensible public allocation model connects these system totals to each route.
Official feeds, calculated measures, civic data, and rider observations stay visibly separate. Missing evidence is unavailable, never zero.