Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles5
I want to elaborate a bit further on the ‘last mile’ problem that exists for regional rail within Ottawa. A regional network can be successful if it delivers its passengers to their final destination for the most part. However, if it cannot reach the end destination but the passengers are compelled to transfer to the municipal network, then it becomes a feeder line in essence. A feeder line that overlaps the line that is receiving the passengers creates a surplus capacity since the receiving network needs to have sufficient seats to accept the passengers from the feeder. This creates inefficiencies in the overall system.
I’ll try to illustrate the point with an example:
100 passengers need to travel from Arnprior to Downtown (A to D).
Another 100 passengers need to travel from Bells Corners to Downtown (B to D).
Regional Rail can only take passengers from Arnprior to Bayview (A to C) and passes by Bells Corners (B).
Municipal Rail can only take passengers from Bells Corners to Downtown (B to D).
Regional Rail needs to have capacity of 100 seats for the entire length of its run.
Municipal Rail would need capacity of 200 seats for the entire length of its run in order to accept the passengers that would transfer from Regional Rail either at B or C.
As a result, for that overlapping stretch from B to C, there would be surplus capacity of 100 seats.
There are two possible solutions to eliminate the surplus capacity.
1. Regional Rail extends to its final destination (D) thus allowing the Municipal network to reduce its capacity by 100 seats over its entire length. This is not possible in the Ottawa scenario as there are no rail lines leading into the Downtown core; or
2. Regional Rail stops at the earliest opportunity (B), the passengers travel the remainder of the way on the municipal network. This eliminates the duplication along the portion of the line from B to C.
Problem:
Passengers:
A--------------------------------100------------------------------------------- D
.............................B--------------------------100-------------------------- D
Capacity:
A--------------------------------100 seats-------------------- C
.............................B-------------------200 seats-------------------------- D
Result:
A--100 seats/100 passengers--B--300 seats/200 passengers (inefficienct)--C--200 seats/200 passengers--D
Solutions:
1. Extend regional line to D (NOT POSSIBLE IN OTTAWA) and reduce capacity on municipal line.
A-----------------------100 seats/100 passengers----------------------- D
........................ B---------------100 seats/100 passengers-------------- D
2. Regional line feeds into the municipal line at the earliest opportunity.
A--100 seats/100 passengers-- B--200 seats/200 passengers--D
|
What makes you think that the Confederation line would be any better at handling those same 300 people coming from bus transfers and Park & Rides than it would be at handling transfers at Bayview? How is this situation any different than riders who would commute using OC Transpo routes as well as rural partner routes coming from areas like Richmond, Vars, Navan, an Cumberland?
Also, considering the way O-Train stations are to be laid out, it's certain that MOOSE would need to strike a deal to allow for transfers to be made with essentially no (immediate) cost to the passenger. The positioning of fare gates simply wouldn't allow for that to work.
Would you also say that a 3 stop ride on the confederation line is really too slow to be considered efficient or comfortable enough of a ride for users who need to transfer from one train to another?
Threaded Mode