As OC Transpo struggles to meet service demands, police agencies have appropriated almost two dozen buses for security teams during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit today.
According to OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier, police agencies needed 12 buses on Tuesday, 10 buses yesterday and 23 today in preparation for Obama’s visit.
Since OC Transpo is still running at reduced capacity due to a lack of road-ready buses, Mercier said it initially offered only 10 buses during the off-peak periods.
However, “the plan” Mercier said, has become a little bit different than what they had expected and some of those buses were signed out at 6 a.m. yesterday morning and 23 would be signed out early this morning as well.
“I don’t know where the buses are being directed to,” he said.
Mercier said security officials have advised him that O-Train service may have to stop “for a couple of hours” during Obama’s visit.
“My staff does not have information as to the reasoning,” he said. “We do understand that in these events there is more than one (motorcade) route established and we have been advised to prepare for service deviation.”
