The bus ticketing system in Ottawa (in the downtown area and surrounding suburbs) works like this:
If you pay cash, then it is $3 per trip. Exact change required. The bus driver does not handle the money - you have to put the money into a box at the front of the bus, and the driver issues you a paper ticket, which has some information printed on it.
If you purchase the green-and-orange paper tokens ($1 per token), then you only need two of them to get a paper ticket on the bus. Basically, you save a dollar per trip (compared with paying by cash). You can get these paper tokens from places like the Seven Eleven.
The paper ticket you are issued on the bus will have the expiry time printed on it. Passengers, after paying their fare, get 90 minutes to use the ticket on any of the buses in the downtown area and nearby suburbs. If they are organised and can complete their errands in 90 minutes, they can actually use that ticket for a round trip.
I have been using the paper tokens to catch a bus to the shopping mall, do my shopping quickly (within 90 minutes), and then hop on a bus to get back home. All for just $2.
If you want to make many trips on the same day, and you need more than 90 minutes, then the Day Pass is the best bet. You can get a red Day Pass Voucher from the Seven Eleven as well. It costs $6.50. With the voucher, you get on a bus and exchange for a paper ticket that allows you an unlimited number of trips for the day.
The traffic in Ottawa is not bad. I have not seen any traffic jams, even though the roads can get quite busy at rush hour. It sort of reminds me of Canberra. Everything moves along at a sedate pace.
