Cooperative Seating

What is Cooperative Seating?

All our vehicles have clearly-labelled Cooperative Seating areas, either in front of the bus or by the O-Train’s entrances. These seats are meant to make travel easier for customers who have a hard time standing in a moving vehicle or those who need to sit close to the entrance, including:

  • Persons with disabilities
  • Seniors
  • Persons with assistive devices (wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, canes)
  • Pregnant women
  • Customers with small children or open strollers

Cooperative seating logo

Look for this logo marking the Cooperative Seating area! OC Transpo’s Bus Operators are here to help. If you need assistance, ask for help.

Remember that many customers don’t have an obvious disability, but may need a Cooperative seat for reasons we can’t see. It takes courage to ask someone to give up their seat. If you are sitting in a Cooperative seat but don’t need to be, please offer your place to someone who needs it.

Priority Seating Card

If you have an invisible disability, you can get a free Priority Seating Card. Showing your card can make it easier to ask for a Cooperative seat without explaining further.

Steps to get a Priority Seating Card

  1. Get a note from an authorized professional (see list below) indicating that you need Priority Seating.
  2. Bring this note and photo ID to the OC Customer Service Centre in the Rideau Centre.
  3. Staff will take your photo and give you a Priority Seating Card at no charge.
  4. Staff will return the note from the health care professional to you. Keep it in case you lose or damage your card.

Authorized professionals

  • Physician / Surgeon
  • Nurse Practitioner
  • Physiotherapist
  • Ophthalmologist / Optometrist
  • Chiropractor
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Psychologist/Psychiatrist
  • Psychotherapist
  • Speech Language Pathologist / Audiologist
  • Social Worker
  • Registered Nurse
  • Mental Health Therapist
  • Recreational Therapist
  • Certified Orientation / Mobility Instructor
  • Certified teacher

Promoting Cooperative Seating

#Trainology

Posters

A man in an electric wheelchair in the train's Cooperative seating section. Image text: The train has a place for those who need the space. Each car on O-Train Line 1 has four cooperative seating areas.

Woman with a child in a stroller seated in the Cooperative seating area. Image text: The train has a place for those who need the space.

Busology

OC Transpo has ongoing cooperative seating campaigns to encourage customers to keep these seats open for those who require priority seating:

  • Grade 9 art students from Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School created posters