How to get to Gatineau Park from downtown Ottawa by public transport?

Question

I tried to find a way to use public transport to get from downtown Ottawa to the Gatineau park. But neither Google Maps can found a route nor is anything about public transport mentioned on the official park page.

So is it not doable at all? If it is possible what are my fastest options?

Answer 1

I can't tell you why you get no results with a Google transit search, but I can tell you that you won't find anything useful searching the OC Transpo web site unless you already know exactly where you're going, and it won't show you what you need to know anyway since OC Transpo doesn't really go into Gatineau.

So, here's the kind of so-so news.

There are buses which reach the southermost edges of the park boundaries, but they do not go into or around the park, and do not reach as far as the visitor centre or many of the places within the park you might want to go. You'll have a bit of a hike ahead of you. Fortunately there are plenty of hiking trails...

So, Société de transport de l'Outaouais routes 27, 35 and 48 reach the southeast and southwest boundaries of the park respectively, and you can get either of these in downtown Ottawa. They enter Wellington Street at the Portage Bridge and travel to their last Ottawa stop at Rideaux and Cumberland, before returning to Gatineau via King Edward Avenue. Depending on the route you take, expect 40-45 minutes between Ottawa and the park boundary.

The STO system map shows a few other routes which overlap those at some points, in case those might also be useful to you. (For instance, routes 35 and 48 only run Monday-Friday, and you may want to find a weekend bus.) Cash fare is $3.90, and some discounts are available.

Answer 2

Gatineau Park is big and you there are multiple entry points. There are 4 starting points accessible via public transit:

1. parking lots P1 and P2 via STO buses (daily)
2. parking lot P17 and the Visitor Centre via Transcollines (weekdays)

To buy passes with student discount, rent equipments, you will have to go to the Visitor Center. They donot seem to be are not accessible by STO busses.

Downtown Hull to Gatineau Park Visitor Center

There are 3 Transcollines busses that travel between Gatineau and Visitor Center. But only one of these lines have a good connection.

These bus lines are:

1. Line 921
2. Line 923
3. Line 925

Bus schedules while going from Hull to the Visitor Center

Start: Station des Galleris de Hull

Destination: Scott | Old Chelsea

Monday - Friday

1. Bus 921: 7:16, 15:37, 16:35, 17:33
2. Bus 923: 16:28, 17:27, 18:01
3. Bus 925: 11:59, 15:52, 17:15

Going back to Hull

Start: Scott | Old Chelsea

Destination: Station des Galleris de Hull

Monday - Friday

1. Bus 921: 6:00, 6:30, 7:23, 8:27, 16:54
2. Bus 923: 6:55, 7:45
3. Bus 925: 7:25, 11:35

Looking at these schedules, if you want to go during weekdays, You should take Bus925 (11:59 from Hull) and return with Bus921 (16:54).

Getting from downtown Ottawa to Station des Galleris de Hull

To get there, you can either take the STO line no. 400 downtown Ottawa on Wellington St. get off at Station Galeries de Hull and walk across the Rapibus corridor to the Transcollines stop on the east side of boulevard de la Carrière. You can also take OCTranspo line no. 44 on Albert or wherever that’s closer to you downtown along the Transitway, get off at Terrasses de la Chaudière and take any of the STO lines that will take you to the Galeries de Hull shopping mall and walk to that same stop

Is described in detail on Reddit

Answer 3

Update: Transcollines offers services to Old Chelsea during weekdays.

This is within walking distance to the Gatineau Park Visitor Center on Scott Rd.