OC Transpo inaction has real life consequences: Letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to the June 24, 2026 article by Randall Denley:
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/i-worry-about-the-competence-of-people-running-oc-transpo-opinion
As a carless senior, I have to rely on the OC Transpo public transit system.
My wife and I have lived in a number of Canadian cities and in Europe. When we moved to Ottawa just over two years ago, we were flummoxed by the unreliability of the bus system and the woes of the light rail project.
In the spring of 2025, my wife Anne was stricken with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive and unforgiving form of brain cancer. Her post-diagnosis life expectancy was 12 to 18 months. She lived for almost exactly one year.
Anne spent the last three months of her life in the palliative care unit of Saint Vincent’s Hospital, located a mere 15-minute bus ride from our home in Westboro/ Hintonburg. As her primary caregiver, I travelled back and forth twice per day seven days a week in the ferocious winter weather.
Frequently, the go-to 11 bus either did not show up or arrived at random times, entailing long, frustrating waits or expensive cab rides.
I am profoundly saddened that Ottawa’s bus system has become so unreliable that it stole from me an incalculable amount of precious time with my dear wife during the final stages of her life. No delay, apology, or explanation can restore those moments, and I will carry the weight of that loss forever.
Yours sincerely,
Robert McBryde
18 Hamilton Avenue North apt 311
Ottawa ON K1Y 1B6
613-612-3043
If you feel like reading more about Anne’s cancer journey, I’ve chronicled it in prose and poetry here:
https://robertmcbrydeauthor.com/news/
