[eltodesukane]

OC Transpo Travel Planner

Can't find Elmvale station in Transit Stations and Park & Rides.
In which landmark should I look for it?
Can't find the Humane Society. In which category?

Overall I find the travel planner extremely difficult to use.
There are too many categories, and they are badly designed.
In fact it is useless to me as I can never find the places I'm looking for.

As it is, the OC Travel Planner should be scrapped. It is no good at all.

[eltodesukane]

Most Ottawa bus shelters have floor openings.
Those who select such a design are surely not the ones using it.

http://i41.tinypic.com/9qxul4.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/jze1wg.jpg

[gjhall]

OC Transpo Travel Planner

Can't find Elmvale station in Transit Stations and Park & Rides.
In which landmark should I look for it?
Can't find the Humane Society. In which category?

Overall I find the travel planner extremely difficult to use.
There are too many categories, and they are badly designed.
In fact it is useless to me as I can never find the places I'm looking for.

As it is, the OC Travel Planner should be scrapped. It is no good at all.

Just use Google maps and choose "Transit" as your way to get there.

[Tony]

Most Ottawa bus shelters have floor openings.
Those who select such a design are surely not the ones using it.


huh? :shrug:

I'm willing to bet that every bus shelter on the continent or even in the world has an open bottom. What is your complaint? :koko:

[eltodesukane]

huh? :shrug:

I'm willing to bet that every bus shelter on the continent or even in the world has an open bottom. What is your complaint? :koko:

My point is that I often have to wait up to 60 minutes in wet cold wintry weather for the next bus,
and I find most shelters to be inadequate (even the newest ones).
I am sure the OC Transpo administrators would agree if they would use them as I do.

Even the major shelters at Hurdman, Blair, Billings Bridge, South Keys, Baseline have major fundamental design flaws.
At Hurdman, why does the roof (with no wall) only 7 feet wide when it could be 40 feet wide?
Just go there wait for the bus on the next freezing sunday night.

Hurdman station from Google Maps:
http://i43.tinypic.com/xmo7ee.jpg

These shelters are in Longueuil and Brossard (on South Shore of Montreal):
http://i40.tinypic.com/28v6iaf.jpg

[S-Man]

Definitely the travel planner needs a revamp. It is frustrating.

[MountainView]

I always use the "advanced travel planner" which is essentially the old version of their planner before their website changed and it works a majority of the time for me.
Also, almost certain that there is a gap between the glass and the ground so wind can pass under so the shelter doesn't trap wind inside it and essentially explode from the pressure. Concrete bus stops would be more expensive and cannot be moved/expanded during construction or road modification.

[miketoronto]

I agree with the bus shelter issue. Open at the bottom bus shelters do not work in Canada, as the cold wind blows right through. Toronto has the same issue with the new shelters we have, where the older ones had closed bottoms and were much warmer.

[citizen j]

From what I've read about the open-bottom design, they're built that way to discourage the homeless from using them for shelter. In other words, they're cold and wet on purpose. Cruelly efficient.

[Davis137]

They have bus shelters like that one pictured above, out at Uplands...speaking of uplands, I think that is one area where you would have to wait upto an hour for your bus, if you miss the one before it by less than a minute...

[Kitchissippi]

Closed bottom bus shelters are difficult to keep clean and seem to always have water and trash pooled in the corners. The open bottom glass shelters were designed for ease of maintenance — a truck comes by with a power washer and spends less than a minute to spray it down and clean it. The frameless glass panels are also relatively easy to replace, less parts, less fasteners. The air circulation means they smell better, especially if some inconsiderate smoker decides to use it as a shelter.

[DarkArconio]

the bus shelters at the temporary baseline station have actually had what appear to be plastic inserts placed in the gabs at the bottom. i guess the wind gets a bit unbearable on a bug open field like at baseline.

[eltodesukane]

Is the middle arch of any use, except for transforming a 3-bench into a 2-bench?
http://i39.tinypic.com/23kspvl.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/25thngw.jpg

[Ottawan]

Is the middle arch of any use, except for transforming a 3-bench into a 2-bench?
http://i39.tinypic.com/23kspvl.jpg

It's kind of sad and cruel, but this is a very deliberate design to prevent people from sleeping on the benches.

[Kitchissippi]

I have not seen those benches up close but from the photo, the material looks like plastic wood, which flexes a lot. The arch seems to reinforce the middle and extends behind to a fifth leg for support. Strange design, but it probably cannot support three people safely without this reinforcing element. I imagine they had to factor in people with bags (and maybe obesity) in determining the width.

[Nick.]

I have not seen those benches up close but from the photo, the material looks like plastic wood, which flexes a lot. The arch seems to reinforce the middle and extends behind to a fifth leg for support. Strange design, but it probably cannot support three people safely without this reinforcing element. I imagine they had to factor in people with bags (and maybe obesity) in determining the width.

no, the guy above you was correct.

[c_speed3108]

Those benches are not very big. It isn't transforming a 3 bench into a two bench, it is transforming a one bench into a two bench and as mentioned above preventing sleepers etc...

[eltodesukane]

Since at least december 1st,
at the lower level of St Laurent station, on both sides,
the escalators and the heaters are off/broken.
(not that anybody cares at OC Transpo)

[Cre47]

Since at least december 1st,
at the lower level of St Laurent station, on both sides,
the escalators and the heaters are off/broken.
(not that anybody cares at OC Transpo)

The escalators have been like that for many years. Like 10 years ago, I was frequently reading about malfunctioned escalators there.

I'm sure the same thing will continue once there will be light rail.

[Uhuniau]

I have not seen those benches up close but from the photo, the material looks like plastic wood, which flexes a lot. The arch seems to reinforce the middle and extends behind to a fifth leg for support. Strange design, but it probably cannot support three people safely without this reinforcing element. I imagine they had to factor in people with bags (and maybe obesity) in determining the width.

Except that they didn't. The benches are too narrow to sit on if you have a backpack, and there's no point in taking your backpack off unless you want to be a douche and occupy the whole bench, or put it on your lap.

Me, I'll just stand.

Public seating generally is badly thought out, and the only good stuff tends to happen by accident. The planters at Hurdman station, for example, are much better seats than the seats.

[phil235]

The planters at Hurdman station, for example, are much better seats than the seats.

I'll have to try those!

[eternallyme]

Severe crash at Tunney's Pasture this afternoon between two artics, one running the 61 (number unclear) and the other the 98 (appears to be 6430). Sounds like the 61 bus hit a turning 98 getting ready to start the route.

I'm a bit surprised it wasn't an eastbound bus hitting a stationary bus - the entrance area is used as a common layover spot, and that is extremely dangerous. It was an accident waiting to happen. Hope no one is seriously hurt - some injuries reported. Transitway is closed there.

[Mid-rise]

Scott street is badly backed up with buses. Perhaps a foreshadowing of traffic woes during LRT construction? (not that I mind the LRT, but commuting over the next few years is going to be a pain in the arse)

[eternallyme]

Scott street is badly backed up with buses. Perhaps a foreshadowing of traffic woes during LRT construction? (not that I mind the LRT, but commuting over the next few years is going to be a pain in the arse)

They would need to use other streets like the Ottawa River Parkway as well.

[eternallyme]

Best way to bypass is to take routes that do not use that corridor, such as the 2 or 85, or a southbound route and transfer to 101 or 118.

[eternallyme]

It looks like 4 buses were involved - also 4337 eastbound on the 97, and an unknown stationary artic in the "danger zone" spot presumably out of service and possibly empty. They appear to have just been brushed by the unknown 61 bus that slid across and only have minor damage.

Update: it was 6621 that was the other artic badly involved.

Looking at more pics, I am GUESSING that 6430 misjudged the left turn onto the Transitway and hit 6621 (assuming that is the 61 bus) in the passengers side. Perhaps another bus was blocking the view, that is a very tough turn during rush hour and dangerously blinding with high speed buses at high frequencies. They should discourage left turns there, by extending the 98 to Lincoln Fields and running the 86 along Scott Street.

[Uhuniau]

Best way to bypass is to take routes that do not use that corridor, such as the 2 or 85, or a southbound route and transfer to 101 or 118.

Except that with zero elasticity in the system, many of those buses were frigged up as well. There were huge crowds at stops on Bank and Queen when I left work, waiting for local buses that didn't show and didn't show and didn't show.

[O-Town Hockey]

I wonder how Ottawa could eliminate this type of traffic nightmare in such a central location while, at the same time, promote development in central neighbourhoods???

L R T maybe?

If we can build a reliable system, people will flock to buy houses and condos along to route to prevent being victims of buses which are unreliable at best and full opportunities for human error.

[eternallyme]

I wonder how Ottawa could eliminate this type of traffic nightmare in such a central location while, at the same time, promote development in central neighbourhoods???

L R T maybe?

If we can build a reliable system, people will flock to buy houses and condos along to route to prevent being victims of buses which are unreliable at best and full opportunities for human error.

It may have been human error, but that left turn is very dangerous - probably the most dangerous on the entire Transitway due to heavy bus traffic, high speeds and poor sight distance. Westboro is just as bad, but only deadheading buses enter the Transitway there.

[Uhuniau]

I wonder how Ottawa could eliminate this type of traffic nightmare in such a central location while, at the same time, promote development in central neighbourhoods???

L R T maybe?

If we can build a reliable system, people will flock to buy houses and condos along to route to prevent being victims of buses which are unreliable at best and full opportunities for human error.

Too bad we can't compile all this stuff and email it back to 1974, before they decided to inflict Bus Crappid Transit on Ottawa for a couple of generations.

[lrt's friend]

Too bad we can't compile all this stuff and email it back to 1974, before they decided to inflict Bus Crappid Transit on Ottawa for a couple of generations.

I think we are too critical of what took place in the 1970s. At least Ottawa made a decision to build some form of rapid transit and it was truly innovative. Most other cities in North America just ran their transit systems into the ground during this time period. Also remember, Edmonton was the very first city to take the plunge into LRT. Nobody else was doing it. What they did was not an unqualified success either, so for a generation their decision was questionable. Also, Edmonton had the unique position of having oil royalties during a boom and were hosting the Commonwealth Games in 1978. We were not in a position to make such a risky decision and Ottawa did not have the tax base to build a LRT network comparable to the Transitways. It is clearly being demonstrated that we can't afford to build it today either.

[MountainView]

For everyone who 'dislikes' OC Transpo, you may find this video satisfying! (Uhuniau I am talking to you)


OFJiWTtoXP0

[Uhuniau]

for everyone who 'dislikes' oc transpo, you may find this video satisfying! (uhuniau i am talking to you)


bus go boom boom! Bus go boom boom!

[eltodesukane]

A new post at Rideau Mackenzie King Station, eastbound.

- stand near the middle of the platform
- watch for your bus route number
- proceed to where the bus stops

Those tips are all reasonable.

Too bad the indoor waiting area (in the National Defence building) is nowhere near the middle of the platform.
And the indoor waiting area is configured in such a way that the middle of the platform is not visible from it, nor the buses who might be there, nor their numbers.

So not to miss your bus, you have to wait outside. Not very convenient in bad weather.

A better designed boarding area would have gone a long way to ease boarding.

http://i41.tinypic.com/t7idj4.jpg

[reidjr]

The city has fired Alain Mercier i am not sure if this is good or bad i guess time will tell.

[MountainView]

I was never a fan of Mercier...

OTTAWA — Alain Mercier is no longer the general manager of OC Transpo, city manager Kent Kirkpatrick announced in a council meeting Wednesday afternoon.

He’s being replaced by John Manconi, who has been the general manager of public works.

It’s part of a reorganization at the high levels of the city bureaucracy that also sees OC Transpo taken away from the purview of deputy city manager Nancy Schepers and moved to the other deputy city manager, Steve Kanellakos. Schepers is generally in charge of city planning, infrastructure and public works; Kanellakos in charge of softer services.

Mercier appears to be the only manager left out of work.

Garry Queale, the president of OC Transpo’s union, said it’s always sad when someone loses a job, but he admitted that he and his fellow union executives began “grinning from ear to ear” when they heard the news. Queale, whose official job is as a dispatcher, sent word to his fellow dispatchers and they put it out on OC Transpo’s bus radios, he said.

More to come.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Mercier+Transpo+manager/6191654/story.html#ixzz1n95oURuc

[Cre47]

The city has fired Alain Mercier i am not sure if this is good or bad i guess time will tell.

I think it was very much needed, everything happening under his term was terrible from the strike, to the bus fleet, the scheduling, the cuts, the fare hikes, the poor communication (i.e the crash at Tunney's Pasture a couple of weeks ago).

It is definitely not a bad decision made today. Hopefully Mr. Marconi will put some order back in this chaotic business.

[McC]

I had to laugh, because yesterday, I was hoping we'd swoop in and hire up Webster, but I had no idea the City bosses were already planning to fire Mercier.

[jeremy_haak]

I guess there's an opening for Webster then?

[eltodesukane]

Lincoln Heights Galleria is a Shopping Mall just next to Lincoln Heights transitway station.
Yet there is no way to walk from here to there.
A pedestrian bridge would be useful.
Disconnected neighborhoods of a disconnected community.

[jeremy_haak]

I understand that when they were building the transitway, they wanted to have a connection between the mall and the station, but the owners of the mall weren't interested. So we have what we have now.

So, what do you like about OC Transpo.

[citizen j]

If Lincoln Heights (mall) is ever expanded, that might be an appropriate time to talk about linking it to the station. As it currently stands, it's no great tragedy the two aren't connected; the "Galleria" is relatively insignificant.

[eltodesukane]

I always wished there was a pedestrian path
from the transitway Train Station
-- across the 417 to near the Fat Cats stadium, Canadian Tire, Best Buy
-- across the train tracks to Terminal Ave. near the Train Yards shopping area, Wal-Mart
http://i39.tinypic.com/x2vxgi.png
(Google Earth image)

So I am happy to read of a planned pedestrian bridge connecting the Ottawa Stadium with the train station. But it's only half of what is needed.

Pedestrian bridge growing longer, maybe costlier
By Jon Willing,Ottawa Sun, First posted: Friday, March 02, 2012
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/03/02/pedestrian-bridge-growing-longer-maybe-costlier
A planned pedestrian bridge connecting the Ottawa Stadium with the train station is growing longer and it could get more expensive...

[Uhuniau]

What a wasted opportunity at Trainyards.

Wasted, wasted, wasted.

[jeremy_haak]

With the new location of the Train Station, the crossing of the 417 will be much less useful, but hopefully a connection to Terminal Ave. will be in the cards.

[eltodesukane]

I need to pickup a package at Purolator tonight.
They are at 3330 Hawthorne, an industrial park.
Of course no bus go there.
OC Transpo says I could take the 98 for 1 hour till it's last stop, then walk 1 km to Purolator's warehouse.
That's the world of OC Transpo...
There really should be a bus following Hawthorne and Hunt Club, maybe from Walkley to Riverside.

[jeremy_haak]

You're complaining about lack of bus service into an industrial area at night? A 650m walk to the Purolator place is pretty reasonable considering the location and you might complain to them about choosing an awful location for their business while you're there.

[eternallyme]

You're complaining about lack of bus service into an industrial area at night? A 650m walk to the Purolator place is pretty reasonable considering the location and you might complain to them about choosing an awful location for their business while you're there.

Indeed, it is only about 650m, not 2 km. For an industrial area, anything less than 800m is certainly reasonable and even 1,200m is acceptable during off-peak periods, and especially at night and on the weekends. Ridership outside of peak periods is generally fairly low in those.

The only reasonable all-day service that I can see extended into that area would be an extension of Route 86, and I would want to see some additional trip generator (like a large Park and Ride) before doing that.

[eternallyme]

What a wasted opportunity at Trainyards.

Wasted, wasted, wasted.

Totally a wasted opportunity, I agree.

HOWEVER, the setting of the area would make serving it by transit difficult no matter what. Unless VIA Rail would agree to allow a long crossing through the station (not likely), its setback away from residential areas means that the only way to serve it without inconveniencing more riders is a dedicated route, not a piece of an existing core route. A walking connection to Coronation (Route 86) would be nice as well though.

[Uhuniau]

I need to pickup a package at Purolator tonight.
They are at 3330 Hawthorne, an industrial park.
Of course no bus go there.
OC Transpo says I could take the 98 for 1 hour till it's last stop, then walk 2 km to Purolator's warehouse.
That's the world of OC Transpo...

I had a company purolate something to me once.

Once.

When they had to re-send it, it having been returned as undeliverable because the Purolator douchebags "attempted" to deliver it twice in about 10 minutes on a weekday afternoon, I made sure they did what they should have done all along: just put the damn stuff in the mail.

Will never, ever understand why anyone uses a courier for anything.

[Uhuniau]

Totally a wasted opportunity, I agree.

HOWEVER, the setting of the area would make serving it by transit difficult no matter what. Unless VIA Rail would agree to allow a long crossing through the station (not likely), its setback away from residential areas means that the only way to serve it without inconveniencing more riders is a dedicated route, not a piece of an existing core route. A walking connection to Coronation (Route 86) would be nice as well though.

It's not just transit service.

It's the layout of the place, the utter banality of the buildings, the pure suburban bigbox craptaculosity of it.

Has ANYTHING been built in Ottawa, since the last official plan, that in any way remotely lives up to the aspirations of that document? It's not dense, it's not walkable, it's not urban, it's not urbane, it's pure unadulterated crap.

We might as well be printing the plans on toilet paper, using randomly-generated ASCII gibberish, and saving the expense and bother of planning exercises that get ignored anyway.

[Kitchissippi]

When I miss a Purolator delivery, they take it to the PostNet store a few blocks away, right next to the #2 bus stop.

[eternallyme]

It's not just transit service.

It's the layout of the place, the utter banality of the buildings, the pure suburban bigbox craptaculosity of it.

Has ANYTHING been built in Ottawa, since the last official plan, that in any way remotely lives up to the aspirations of that document? It's not dense, it's not walkable, it's not urban, it's not urbane, it's pure unadulterated crap.

We might as well be printing the plans on toilet paper, using randomly-generated ASCII gibberish, and saving the expense and bother of planning exercises that get ignored anyway.

Who owns and who designed the area?

[waterloowarrior]

Who owns and who designed the area?

It is owned by Controlex, a local company. The development was originally approved in 2001, before the new Official Plan (although the guiding policies for this development emphasize transit, cycling and pedestrian friendly design). I'm not sure if he was the original consultant but Bill Holzman has done a lot of the planning work for this project.

[McC]

It is owned by Controlex, a local company. The development was originally approved in 2001, before the new Official Plan (although the guiding policies for this development emphasize transit, cycling and pedestrian friendly design). I'm not sure if he was the original consultant but Bill Holzman has done a lot of the planning work for this project.

Worst.company.name.ever.

[eternallyme]

Having thought about it, I figured out an idea for improving transit there:

* A new connector between Trainyards and Coronation is necessary. A small section of a parking lot would need to be acquired. Only buses and bicycles would be permitted to avoid traffic issues in the upper Alta Vista area.

* Route 86 would run onto the connector, then along Trainyards and Terminal. All 86's (from both Colonnade and Baseline) would operate to Elmvale, resulting in a 15 minute frequency at most times of the day.

* Route 121 would be revised to remain on Industrial rather than into the Trainyards. It would also be reduced to only operate every hour outside of peak periods due to lower ridership expected.

PROS: More frequent service to the Trainyards, better connection from downtown and Elmvale, more frequent service available on Russell and Coronation east of the connector

CONS: Reduced service east of the Trainyards (ridership is lower there anyway), longer walk for some customers (but the 8 is nearby and frequency would be increased)

[Uhuniau]

It is owned by Controlex, a local company. The development was originally approved in 2001, before the new Official Plan (although the guiding policies for this development emphasize transit, cycling and pedestrian friendly design). I'm not sure if he was the original consultant but Bill Holzman has done a lot of the planning work for this project.

Even the pre-2001 plan was full of the usual crap platitudes about controlling sprawl and pedestrian priority, and all the other stuff that gets completely ignored in practice.

[S-Man]

Worst.company.name.ever.

Agreed! It's about as imaginative as the layout of the Trainyards development itself!

Also agreed that there's nothing urban about Trainyards. It's a big peice of suburbia plopped right in the centre of the city. The first time I went there was while driving a friend to a doctor's appointment at a physio clinic. He'd never been there either.

His words: "What the hell is this place doing here?"

[lrt's friend]

I have just returned from San Francisco and for most of the trip, I did without a rental car. It was surprisingly easy to get around SF on transit and the service was quite frequent even in the evening. I even used transit to get to a small satelitte city over an hour from the city and it worked. I just marvel how Ottawa has let transit service go to pot in central areas of the city, making short trips difficult. I still contend that a lot of the issues is the policy of basically having one fare apply to the whole city. In the long run, this discourages use of transit for short trips because we keep jacking up the fares to pay for service extensions further and further from the city but charge exactly the same fare. In SF, regional service is separate and you pay much more but is easily justified by the distance travelled.

[eltodesukane]

When I miss a Purolator delivery, they take it to the PostNet store a few blocks away, right next to the #2 bus stop.
lucky you!

[Uhuniau]

I just marvel how Ottawa has let transit service go to pot in central areas of the city, making short trips difficult. I still contend that a lot of the issues is the policy of basically having one fare apply to the whole city. In the long run, this discourages use of transit for short trips because we keep jacking up the fares to pay for service extensions further and further from the city but charge exactly the same fare. In SF, regional service is separate and you pay much more but is easily justified by the distance travelled.

It doesn't help that the "splitter" party is now in charge of transit planning. BUT GOD FORBID YOU MAKE SUBURBANITES TRANSFER.

[DarkArconio]

octranspo bus location app posted today for iOS, you can find it in the app store under MyTransit - OC Transpo
I have not yet tested it out, though the reviews suggest a significant amount of issues. Still, better than nothing!

[Chris-R]

octranspo bus location app posted today for iOS, you can find it in the app store under MyTransit - OC Transpo
I have not yet tested it out, though the reviews suggest a significant amount of issues. Still, better than nothing!

iOS 5+. So those of us with an decrepit old iPhone 3G or iPod Touch 2G do not qualify.

[MountainView]

I tried out the app today on my iPhone and it definitely did have some issues. For example, I selected route 86 and it asked me if I wanted Baseline or Elmvale, so I selected Baseline, but it gave me the Elmvale direction (did this whether I selected Baseline or Elmvale). Also route 95 Barrhaven Centre wasn't giving me station times along the transitway from Bayview to Westboro. Also tested it out on the dreaded 111 Carleton... the up to date times seemed to be working and were updating every time I refreshed the app data, which I did about once every 30 seconds while I waited for the bus this afternoon. Overall there are some kinks as expected; but I think they are easy to resolve and I think this app should be successful. Now... they just need to make it for blackberries.

[Admiral Nelson]

Once they release it to open source developers (tomorrow) we should begin to see apps for Android, Blackberry, etc. About time!