Has Ottawa become timid?

[lrt's friend]

I am bringing this up after reading an article in another blog on how to build great transit system. Some of what was considered important was service frequency and improved connectivity of the transit system. Those two things would make it much easier to use transit to navigate around a city.

I look back to the 1970s and 1980s. It was a time of great transit innovation and the public responded to it with a surge of ridership. During this period, the system went regional, express buses were inaugerated, bus lanes were created and the Transitway was started.

Then at the end of the 1990s, Bob Chiarelli brought the idea of rail transit to Ottawa and started the O-Train that has proven more sucessful than anybody anticipated.

Since then, the city has gone into a massive lull and is totally consumed in planning the downtown tunnel while service has faced rounds of cuts. Maybe, the tunnel will produce the next wave of innovation but I am not convinced of that. What I see is a play it safe approach and using very traditional approaches to transit design. The O-Train's success has not produced other experiments using existing rail tracks but why?

So where is the true transit innovation? Why are we not considering new bus lanes, for example, on Carling Avenue? Faster bus service is a win, win. People get to their destination faster and we can actually deliver more frequent service at the same cost. Where are strategic plans to deliver better service where it counts? For example, guaranteed service frequency on key routes and streets.

Have we become so timid to not even consider removing parking or a traffic lane to turn it over to transit?

I see no bold moves to try to make our transit system run better and make it more attractive.

The days of Ottawa being an innovative transit city seem to be over.

[kwoldtimer]

Timid, or just inept? LRT should have been up and running by now, with expansion planning well underway.

[sonysnob]

Does anybody else see the conversion of the CFQG railway to a busway in the City of Gatineau as a hugely wasted opportunity to better integrate the two cities transit networks?

I certainly do. (but I am arm-chairing from Toronto).

[m0nkyman]

I hope we've become more timid. The bus based transitway was a stupid mistake in the first place, and we should have gone with tried and proved LRT back then, instead of creating the transitway with a plan from day one to convert it. It was a waste of time, money and potential. If we had done it right back then, the tunnel would be paid for by now, and we'd be talking about extensions and cross town routes.

Instead, we did this 'cool' thing with buses, and now have a congested system that fails to do anything well except transport people on express busses from ever more remote suburbs to the downtown core and back.

I want a timid system that creates an LRT tunnel through downtown that we can expand over time to cover most of the city.

[lrt's friend]

and we should have gone with tried and proved LRT back then

In the late 1970s when decisions were being made, LRT was not tried and proven. Really in those days, you basically had ancient streetcar systems (the TTC was using 30 and 40 year old PCC cars as no other was available), heavy rail commuter trains and subways. Nobody was building LRT and Edmonton was a pioneer and really that type of train was in its infancy in development. The only reason why Edmonton proceeded was because Alberta was swimming in oil royalty money at the time and Edmonton was hosting the Commonwealth Games in 1978. And the system that Edmonton ended up with was not particularly successful. Sure, they got a tunnel but ridership was poor. Edmonton put all their money into the tunnel but couldn't afford to run it to where people lived. Instead, they ran it along a rail line. Sound familiar? Just substitute 'Queensway' for 'rail line'.

Ottawa simply did not have the population or tax base to build a LRT system in the early 1980s and we created an alternative that was effective for a generation. Just remember the initial Transitway network cost $400 to $500 million. Compare that with the cost of the tunnel, even taking inflation into consideration.

It is pointless to lament decisions made 30 years ago and especially when financial realities were substantially different. Really 30 years ago, it was build busways or build nothing. A tunnel would have not been built any earlier.

[S-Man]

I guess the good thing the bus Transitway did back in the 80s was make a dedicated surface corridor (minus centretown) for future east-west LRT. All I now is if it isn't done now, it won't be touched for years.

People bitch and moan about how we should have already had LRT by now, which in some bizarro world logic forms their reason why we should cancel the LRT project and start over (possible by going back in time?).

With the feds and province saying "ewwww" at the thought of giving Ottawa $ for transit, it has to be done now. A phase 1 line has to be built, and yes, it has to be the downtown, technologically complex one.

[Ottawan]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

Does anybody else see the conversion of the CFQG railway to a busway in the City of Gatineau as a hugely wasted opportunity to better integrate the two cities transit networks?

I certainly do. (but I am arm-chairing from Toronto).

I absolutely see it that way. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I would say that pretty much everyone in Ottawa and most people in Gatineau see it that way.

Gatineau had the opportunity to do it right the first time by creating LRT, and could have had that LRT directly connected to Ottawa's system. Instead they are making some huge, costly mistakes.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by S-Man

I guess the good thing the bus Transitway did back in the 80s was make a dedicated surface corridor (minus centretown) for future east-west LRT. All I now is if it isn't done now, it won't be touched for years.

People bitch and moan about how we should have already had LRT by now, which in some bizarro world logic forms their reason why we should cancel the LRT project and start over (possible by going back in time?).

With the feds and province saying "ewwww" at the thought of giving Ottawa $ for transit, it has to be done now. A phase 1 line has to be built, and yes, it has to be the downtown, technologically complex one.

I am not a big fan of the current project, not because of the tunnel, but because it is going to be so disruptive to our entire transit system, but I also understand that we cannot keep pressing reset buttons. We need to keep moving forward in a linear direction and build on what we have. That's why I shake my head at the 2006 decision. We lost so much time and so much money and we lost so much momentum. We will never recover the lost money or effort and we will never recover what we could have had, despite its flaws.

You look at Toronto now, making exactly the same mistakes. I just read that Toronto has lost $65 million on the Sheppard LRT line cancellation and now city council has voted to reinstate the project. Pressing reset buttons after contracts have been signed is pure madness.

Live with the limitations of past decisions and move forward instead of second guessing oneself constantly.

We cannot press the reset button on the tunnel after 5+ years of working on it but we better make sure we do it as well as we can.

Nevertheless, pressing reset buttons is probably an excellent example of timidity. And going forward, where is the real innovation? The opening of the tunnel is a perfect opportunity to show some innovation in transit and I am not talking about replacing expresses with shuttles. That is obvious. But somehow, I doubt that we will see anything implemented that will truly make it easier to get around the city using transit at that point.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Ottawan

I absolutely see it that way. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I would say that pretty much everyone in Ottawa and most people in Gatineau see it that way.

Gatineau had the opportunity to do it right the first time by creating LRT, and could have had that LRT directly connected to Ottawa's system. Instead they are making some huge, costly mistakes.

Do you really think they could have connected to Ottawa's LRT system? I don't think it would have been that simple. Just remember the studies stating that the tunnel would not be able to handle Gatineau passengers in the long term. When its looking more and more like we cannot even get the O-Train line connected into the tunnel, how would we ever manage to do this with trains from another jurisdiction? Also think of the political implications as well. While Ottawa passengers (who are paying for the tunnel) will have to transfer at Bayview and Tunney's Pasture, why are Gatineau passengers getting direct service? It amounts to preferential treatment.

Sounds easy, but it wouldn't be.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Do you really think they could have connected to Ottawa's LRT system? I don't think it would have been that simple. Just remember the studies stating that the tunnel would not be able to handle Gatineau passengers in the long term. When its looking more and more like we cannot even get the O-Train line connected into the tunnel, how would we ever manage to do this with trains from another jurisdiction? Also think of the political implications as well. While Ottawa passengers (who are paying for the tunnel) will have to transfer at Bayview and Tunney's Pasture, why are Gatineau passengers getting direct service? It amounts to preferential treatment.

Sounds easy, but it wouldn't be.

Other points to ponder as well:

Although I am not convinced that the Rapibus will be the resounding success the STO thinks it will be, saying that LRT should simply have been built on the CFQG line is a bit simplistic, for a number of reasons.

First, population density along most of the CFQG line is generally very low. The line mostly runs through industrial and commercial areas. There are only a few decent population centres along the route and most of them are on the far eastern end (east of Montée Paiement) and are fairly low-density. Population has increased along some of the route between Gréber and Paiement, but there is still a way's to go before you have a lot of people within walking distance, which is a critical success factor for a rail-based system. I know that people say that passengers can always take feeder buses to LRT stations, but this is not ideal - you really need a lot of people within walking distance. Or have huge park and ride lots I guess - which is not always feasible given space limitations.

Also, the existing line crosses the Ottawa River well west of downtown Hull and downtown Ottawa, which are the two main destinations for transit users that live in the areas adjacent to the line. There is a spur that runs (or ran?) from near the corner of Alexandre-Taché and St-Joseph to the former EB Eddy (Domtar) plant which is next to les Terrasses de la Chaudière, the Chaudière Bridge, and is close enough to Portage. But you would still be missing the vital link to downtown Ottawa.

Given historic development patterns and several other factors, there is no "low hanging fruit" that can provide quick wins when it comes to rapid transit planning in Gatineau.

[Dr.Z]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I am bringing this up after reading an article in another blog on how to build great transit system.

Where are strategic plans to deliver better service where it counts? For example, guaranteed service frequency on key routes and streets.

Have we become so timid to not even consider removing parking or a traffic lane to turn it over to transit?

I see no bold moves to try to make our transit system run better and make it more attractive.

The days of Ottawa being an innovative transit city seem to be over.

I disagree with your conclusions as I have different benchmarks. First, building a great transit system does not happen overnight. Nor even a decade in this day & age.

Strategic plans cannot guaranteed service frequency on any route. I'm sure there is a statement somewhere that says this must be so, but that don't make it so. This is an operational and personal issue. What is your benchmark for 'guranteed service frequency'? If even one bus is 30-seconds late in a whole year is that a fail?

LRT, especially a tunnel LRT is a HUGE deal. It wouldn't have even happened without the senior gov't funding. Surface lane acquisition is actually a slower process as expropriation would be required. That is a LONG and cumbersome process. Ask York Region. I predict Ottawa will have LRT running before the surface model in York and they both started at roughly the same time.

From what I have seen Ottawa is building a good 'core' transit that can be built upon in the future. It certainly slots in within the top tier canadian municipalities IMO. I have no major criticism of Ottawa transit; there are barriers to many of the alternatives and the lack of revenue powers to fund above and beyond is a reality. There are a lot of responsibilities that cities have to look after without going into debt to be only funded by property taxes and parking tickets.

[lrt's friend]

What is your benchmark for 'guranteed service frequency'? If even one bus is 30-seconds late in a whole year is that a fail?

No, what I am talking about is frequent service on strategically chosen routes during most service hours. That would be a minimum of 10 minute service, generally regarded as the point at which passengers feel they don't need to refer to schedules because they will not have wait very long. This would also facilitate easier or more reliable transferring on more corridors beyond the Transitways where frankly, most people do not live.

[Uhuniau]

Has Ottawa ever been anything but timid?