Your Future Journey: Bus Stop Signs
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.
Not only is this a catchy lyric from the Canadian rock group Five Man Electrical Band, but it too can be said for one of the most important parts of our transit system.
Every trip you take on one of our buses starts with a sign.
Bus stop signage plays an important role in ensuring you know where to catch your bus. With more than 5,000 bus stops found across Ottawa serving over 100 routes, ensuring they display the right information is critical to ensuring you can use our transit system effectively.
Did you know that all our bus stop signs are printed in-house? At OC Transpo’s sign shop, thousands of signs are printed every year and receive a personal touch from a dedicated team.
With the opening of O-Train Line 2 and Line 4 in the near future, our bus network will be changing. New Ways to Bus includes more than 100 routes and is planned to launch as early as spring 2025, opening up new convenient connections across the city. Every neighbourhood and most customers will see changes to their trip. To prepare for our new bus network, we’re starting to make changes to our signage and maps at bus stops throughout Ottawa.
With thousands of bus stops requiring changes, we need to begin updating this information early so it’s ready in time for the launch of the new bus network. Since early July, you may have started to notice changes to signs or maps at bus stops. New signs are being installed and are covered to indicate that they aren’t in effect yet. When we are ready to launch the new bus network, the signs will be unveiled shortly before the launch.
Join The Next Stop Blog to come behind the scenes to OC Transpo’s sign shop to see how we’re preparing for New Ways to Bus to print and where the installation of thousands of new bus signs starts.
Every bus stop sign is unique
Our bus stop signs feature large numbers, colours and symbols that clearly show the bus service types offered.
Route destinations on the signs let you know whether you’re heading in the right direction.
How to read a bus stop sign
Bus stop signs are designed to make them easy to read and accessible:
- Big fonts and numbers
- High contrast
- Simple design with lots of white space
- Symbols and colours convey route types
- Double-sided
- Durable printing resists fading
With every stop in the city having a different stop number and routes, replacing each sign requires careful planning, coordination, oversight, and a personal touch.
Every bus sign is created and tracked in our bus sign creator. This database contains the service information of more than 5,000 bus stops across the network. When there are service changes that require an update to a sign, we update the database and use that information to create digital files for each unique sign before sending it to print. With thousands of signs changing with New Ways to Bus, careful work and attention is needed to ensure that each unique sign is updated accurately with the new service information.
Sign Shop
A majority of the signs that you see on our transit system are printed at OC Transpo’s sign shop. Bus stop signs, Transitway signage, A-frames, detour and special event signs all come from this one facility. A dedicated team is constantly busy printing, cutting, and proofreading every sign that gets installed throughout our transit system.
In 2023, the printshop handled more than 550 unique signage requests that range in quantity from 1 to 500 products. In the early years of the pandemic, the team was printing 2,500 safety stickers every week on top of their ongoing responsibilities. They are also responsible for printing and constructing custom signage for major events such as Canada Day and Bluesfest.
On average per year, our printshop and facilities team print and install:
- Approximately 2,000 bus stop signs
- 1,100 detour signs
- 1,200 A-frames
- 1,800 bus shelter maps
In 2024, the team will have to tackle their typical workload in addition to installing more than two years' worth of bus signs in one year.
The sign shop has specialized equipment, including printers, plotters, and other hand-held tools that help us put the finishing touches on each individual sign.
What’s the process for creating bus stop sign?
When a new bus stop sign is needed, here are the all the steps we take:
1. Design: Every bus sign starts as a digital file in our bus sign creator database. A mockup design of the bus stop sign will be created and proofread by our quality assurance team to ensure the location, stops, and other key details are correct.
2. Printing: Using one of our printers, the sign face will be printed on vinyl and then cut to match the shape of the sign base. Two sign faces are printed for each sign that will be affixed to the front and back.
3. Facing: Once the printed sign is ready, it is mounted on a pre-cut aluminum base. The vinyl face is weather resistant and has an adhesive back that sticks to the aluminum bases. The sign shop team have various handmade squeegees that are used to smooth out the vinyl sign against the aluminum base.
4. Finishing: Once mounted, the sign shop will ensure the sign is smoothly affixed to the base, cut any excess signage material with a box cutter, then file down the edges to make sure the final product is complete and correct. The final step is adding a reflective sticker at the bottom of the sign that encourages customers to text or call for further stop information. It is also used to help bus stop signs standout for bus operators when travelling at night.
5. Staging: Once the sign is complete, it is sorted into groups based on the location where it will be installed.
During a typical day, the print shop team will print, mount, and complete 100 new bus stop signs. Their work is critical to ensuring we are ready to launch New Ways to Bus after the opening of Line 2 and Line 4.
Sign Installation
Once a bus stop sign is printed and grouped according to location, the installation team takes over.
Completed batches of signs are handed over to an installation crew that will strategically travel the transit system every day installing the new signs. There are typically three to four trucks out on the road during the day installing signs in the south, east, west and central areas of Ottawa. Not only do they install bus stop signs, but they also update shelter maps, schedules, notices and other posted information.
A crew of two will take batches of signs and install them one by one. Given each sign is unique, they ensure the bus stop sign matches the bus stop number where it is being installed. When crews are ready to install, they will turn on their truck’s safety beacon and set up pylons around the stop to ensure they can safely install the new sign.
Crew members will climb a double-sided ladder and attach a bus sign to a pole using aluminum bands. Once the New Ways to Bus sign has been installed, it is bagged to ensure there is no confusion between the current and future bus service. This is the first phase of our major effort to ensure we’re prepared for the future New Ways to Bus network. In total, there will be a total of 5264 sign changes. This includes symbol updates, route changes, destination changes, decommissioned stops, and new stops.
The next phase of the installation process will kick off right before the new bus network is launched. This is when our Facilities Maintenance team will visit every stop in the city again to remove the cover of the new sign and indicate that the old sign is retired. The team will act quickly in this phase visiting thousands of bus stops across the city as we transition to the New Ways to Bus network.
The final phase of signage work will take place after New Ways to Bus has been implemented when the old sign is removed. The aluminum base of every old bus stop sign will be recycled and stored for future use.
While we know that New Ways to Bus will be implemented as early as spring 2025, ensuring that all the future signage is in place is an immense undertaking. We’re working at a relentless pace to ensure your future bus stop sign is correct from day one.
Where can I find more information?
New ways to bus are coming to Ottawa and so too are new bus stop signs.
If you have questions about the installation of new bus stop signs or want to learn more about your future bus network, please visit octranspo.com/NewWaysToBus, reach out to us by email at NewWaysToBus@ottawa.ca or call us at 613-560-5000.
