OC Transpo
 

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.

Bus Shelters: Bad Design
 

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

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

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:

Bus Shelter
 

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

Bad Design?
 

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

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

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.

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...

Escalators Heaters off
 

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.

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.