Voice of Ottawa transit wants Seth Rogen to stay in his lane

The current voice of Ottawa's transit system hopes the new trend of having celebrities voice transit announcements stops at this city's borders.

Julian Doucet, an actor who lives in Toronto, is the voice you hear on buses today and will be the voice of the new LRT line once it opens.

Vancouver-born actor Seth Rogen offered to give his voice to his hometown transit system earlier this week, and has now also voiced public service announcements for the Toronto Transit Commission.  

"Competition is healthy, but at the same time it's like dude, really, stay in your bus lane," Doucet told Ottawa Morning Thursday.  

When the Rogen news was announced, Doucet said his phone was buzzing constantly.

City not making a change

But the city appears to have Doucet's back. 

"For now, the City of Ottawa is focused on launching a safe, reliable, efficient and environmentally friendly LRT system later this year," said a statement from David Pepper, the city's manager of customer services.

"The timing is unfortunately not right to explore, develop, and implement any new announcement program or courtesy campaigns." 

He said Doucet was picked through a process that included focus group testing and other steps.

Doucet said the announcements can have a little humour built into them, but mostly they just have to be clear.

"You are working a little bit harder on your diction to make sure people can hear."