City says staff 'did not confirm the presence of bed bugs' prior to deep clean
Bedbug sightings were reported on three OC Transpo buses in Ottawa last month, but the city never warned transit riders and won't share which buses or routes may have been impacted.
CBC News asked the City of Ottawa about the possible bedbug treatments after a resident flagged that they saw staff spraying some areas in October.
The city initially told CBC in an email that they got reports the insects had been spotted on a trio of buses.
"Upon discovery, the buses were taken off their routes immediately and deep cleaned," wrote Rami El Feghali, the associate director of transit bus operations and maintenance.
"Since this occurrence, there have been no other reports of bed bugs on OC Transpo vehicles."
CBC then asked for specific details like bus numbers and the dates the bugs were reported, as well as why riders weren't alerted in October.
The city did not provide those details. Instead, it said reports of bedbugs do not always "result in a positive identification."
"In the case of the three pest reports received in October from customers, our team did not confirm the presence of bed bugs or any other insects," wrote El Feghali.
"When a report is received ... our team responds immediately to remove the bus from service and have the vehicle treated out of an abundance of caution, regardless of whether the sighting is confirmed."
Despite the fact the buses were pulled from service and deep cleaned, the city said it's hard to identify which routes were affected.
"On any given day, our buses operate on multiple routes in several areas of the city, which make it difficult to pinpoint the exact route and location of a bus at the time the report is submitted," El Feghali wrote.
Buses are also cleaned every night and get deep cleans every six months as part of standard procedures, OC Transpo said.
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