Interlining

Saves money interlining and increases efficiency when used on various routes operating out of a common transit hub (say Place D'Orleans, for example), provided that none of the routes involved has chronic delays that could affect the rest of the routes interlined with it (domino effect.)

As far as I know, the whole point of interlining is to do more work with fewer buses, and to keep the buses moving (if a bus is only operating on one route, it may sit at the end of the line for longer than is desirable due to the headway of that particular route.)

As soon as any deadheading is involved in interlining, efficiency is lost (time wasted and fuel burned while driving empty).

Now (for its latest experiment with the lives of its riders and employees) OC Transpo is interlining everything, including routes that do not operate out of a common transit hub (wasted time and fuel) and routes that are subject to significant delays at times (will be interesting once construction season fully hits.)

Since these interlining practices are fairly random, inappropriate curtain interlining equipment is being used on many routes at times (Hybrids on Transitway or long haul express routes, articulated buses on local routes, 40 footers on the 95, etc.) which impacts passenger capacity on certain trips, fuel costs and wear and tear on the buses.

Many of the drivers I spoke to mentioned that they seemed to have more recovery time (downtime at the end of the line) than usual on their runs as well. So much for keeping the buses moving.

Why, as taxpayers and customers, are we continuing to tolerate this kind of thing from OC Transpo management and the city while our taxes and fares are going up and our services are being cut?

When are the savings going to materialize from all interlining fabricof this disruption?