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Originally Posted by lrt's friend
You would never run it in true 'mixed' traffic but I know what you are saying. What should have happened is that you run the trains in an exclusive left lane and the buses in an exclusive right lane.
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Unfortunately, that wasn't the final plan that was approved for the N-S LRT (oddly, it was eliminated as an option early on). Instead, we would have had buses and trains sharing the second lane out, with bus bays and light rail platforms in the right curb lane, meaning that buses would not only be sharing the same lane as the trains but would also be turning in and out of that lane. A knock-on side effect of this design decision is that the BRT platforms, which are currently built as bulb-outs in the first lane allowing place for passengers to sort of organize themselves, would instead be pushed back into the sidewalks (generally speaking, the current BRT platforms would be converted to LRT platforms while the intervening spaces in other blocks that are currently loading/parking zones would have become bus bays). The net effect of this would be to increase dwell times.
On top of all that, the LRT platforms were only going to be two cars long so even if someone decided to extend the track down to Hurdman and remove the buses, we'd soon run out of train capacity and fixing that problem would not be easy since the planning had not considered future platform lengthening.
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Now that we know that this will be the busiest LRT system in North America from day one, the original plan of having surface rail on Albert and Slater would have taken the pressure off a tunnel that is going beyond normal useage.
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We might become the busiest LRT system in North America, but I have my doubts. I'm pretty sure that Calgary's CTrain is already operating at a higher capacity than the Transitway in peak periods, and that's before the West LRT line opens up early next year and it's before Calgary starts running 4-car trains.
Ridership growth is on Calgary's side, both in terms of population and employment growth (relative and absolute) as well as the fact that since ridership per capita is lower in Calgary it has more "room" to grow faster than in Ottawa (i.e. it can "catch up"), resulting in more riders in absolute terms. We'll probably retain a lead in ridership per capita for some time, if not indefinitely - and as it is, Calgary is in fact ahead of Vancouver so for a smaller city to have higher ridership per capita is quite possible.
For these reasons, I expect that by the time Ottawa finally gets around to operating LRT downtown, Calgary will be well ahead of us in absolute numbers and there's little chance we'll ever exceed them again once they do get past us.
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As someone living in the south end, why should we be penalized with second class service and forced permanently to transfer either at Hurdman or Bayview?
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People in Kanata can fairly ask the same question: as things stand right now, they will be getting second class service compared to their fellow suburbanites from Nepean once the West LRT is built. Worse still for them compared to those from the south end, Kanatans actually outnumber Nepeanites in transit volumes so the decision to favour Nepean is not even "fair" on a pure numbers game, which at least it is for southerners versus easterners.
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I know this is the way things appear to be going, but how will this make transit attractive particularly during off-peak hours? As it stands, neither route is a direct route towards downtown (look at a map) and both will require two transfers to reach a local neighbourhood. I can tell that this is not appealing in the least. Why would I use transit for my occasional trips downtown unless I expect problems finding parking? I won't. This plan will be too slow and too unreliable. Two transfers and then find out that you missed your local bus by 1 minute. No way. This is a prescription for permanently low ridership.
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I agree there - the Southeast Transitway should be slated for conversion, and provision made at Hurdman to facilitate it. In the longer term, the western approach to downtown will be busier than the eastern approach due to the fact that Kanata and Barrhaven are growing faster than Orleans, so adding people from the south (as nominally planned) over the long term is sheer folly - and that's before we deal with people from Gatineau.