Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

With so many closures and greatly reduced ridership, is there a successful business case for coffee shops/convenience stores at even the busiest Confed Line stations?

If you count the cost of building the space in the first place it never makes sense. If you have the space with utilities already maybe it could. Have to lease it as an amenity more than trying to make a profit though. The goal being another set of eyes in the station open most hours the station is.

If you have a washroom in the station and a bit of floor space can do a News stand. Even in the 90s Calgary shut theirs as they cost more to service than the rent. Penny wise pound foolish imo.

For the more suburban stations I’d consider space for a food truck with shore power before I did space inside.

[SidetrackedSue]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

For the more suburban stations I’d consider space for a food truck with shore power before I did space inside.

I was wondering about a mobile 'cafe' that could be moved outside when the stations are closed due to it being Ottawa LRT, and inside when the LRT is actually running. Make shore power and water access available on both sides of a wall and the cart could be moved inside and out.

Of course, that assumes they can plumb something that won't freeze in winter. Given they couldn't get the heated floors right, let alone water fountains, I'm expecting the impossible.

I find it frustrating that I've bought hot nuts and pretzels in NYC parks, and ice cream in parks in Denmark. Food carts exist that wouldn't take up a ton of space but would add some calories or caffeine to the wait for one's bus as well as add those much needed additional eyes in the stations. No need for cash, everything could be electronic payment, bonus if they can use your Presto Card balance.


Q: Why can't we have food carts selling hot nuts in winter, ice cream in summer, hot dogs and cold drinks year round?

A: Because OC will end up with carts selling ice cream in winter and hot nuts in summer due to messing up the spec in the RFP.

[ponyboycurtis]

Originally Posted by Nowhere

There's finally one washroom that's not out of order at Hurdman, first time in a year maybe ? But there's no toilet seat however lol. If we can't even keep the most basic things like washrooms, water fountains, escalators and suicide hotline phones in working order, something tells me that the whole line was going to be doomed no matter the technology used.

This is it right here. Most of my friends know me as the lunatic who yells at buildings and stationary objects. But ... this .,.. is why.

We cant even have a working washroom after all this time. To heck with this city man. For real. So sad.

I stopped paying for OC Transpo a long time ago. I either walk on the bus or dip my bag over the fare gate and open it. I'm not paying for this service.

I have my giant shitty rectangle Chevy Express back on the road now. It gets horrendous gas mileage. 30 dollars a day in gas is fine by me. Every time I goto the pump now I just have to think of the loser cruiser.

When I first moved to South Keys it was nice to be able to take a train to bayview. Now we can't take a train anywhere in the city with no end in sight.

I'd love to be able to ride my bike up the SE transitway rather than doing endless loop de loops trying to take me where I need to go.

[Admiral Nelson]

Saw a Line 1 train out for testing heading east from the tunnel toward uOttawa this evening. Seemed to be going at normal service speed.

[Admiral Nelson]

Sutcliffe just announced that due to work done so far, some train service between Tunneys and uOttawa will begin tomorrow. Still planning to resume service on the rest of the line in a week.

[rocketphish]

Partial LRT service slated to resume Tuesday morning
Starting at 5 a.m. transit users will be able to take the LRT between Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations.

Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
Published Aug 07, 2023 • Last updated 3 minutes ago • 4 minute read

Partial Line 1 service is to resume Tuesday morning, after a 21-day shutdown, OC Transpo announced Monday.

Starting at 5 a.m., transit users will be able to take the LRT between the Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations. Five single-car trains will be in operation, running every five minutes. Each train can carry 300 passengers.

Single-car trains only use half the platform. Transit users are being asked to board in the area of the platform marked with decals.

R1, R1 Express and Para R1 services will continue to operate with no changes. There’s an additional train available that can be used during peak periods.

“We are very, very confident that with single cars and the level of ridership we have we can easily handle everything,” said Renée Amilcar, Ottawa’s transit services general manager.

The $2.1-billion Confederation Line was shut down on July 17 after excess grease was found on the axle of one light rail vehicle during a routine inspection.

The original plan was to return to limited service on July 31, using single cars. But that plan was cancelled on July 28 to allow for a risk assessment to be conducted to protect the rails and the vehicles.

Last week, the city announced that it would open Line 1 in its entirety on Aug. 14 after the restraining rails, a passive safety device used to prevent derailments, were repositioned to prevent contact with the wheels of the train. The job requires doing this exacting work on 16 curves on the line.

However, the required work between the Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations has already been completed. After trial running in this section to confirm that it is safe, OC Transpo decided to open that stretch, the city announced Monday.

“The decision was made once we knew we had sufficient documentation to support the partial opening,” said Richard Holder, Ottawa’s director of engineering services.

Typically, at this time of year, 11 double-car trains would be in operation on the system. OC Transpo is working with the Rideau Transit Group to maximize the number of trains available.

Train riders may notice slower train speeds in the tunnel, due to a speed restriction as part of safety requirements.

At the same time, workers will continue to work on the restraining rails on the curves on the eastern portion of Line 1, where there are more curves and more restraining rails to be adjusted, Amilcar said.

It is expected that all of Line 1 — including more trains — will be in service starting Aug. 14.

What about those troublesome tight curves?

Holder said straightening the rails is not in the cards.

“We are experiencing issues right now. But it’s not a case that we need to eliminate those curves,” said Holder. “And it’s not the situation that we could have avoided those curves.”

The restraining rails have to be repositioned a very small amount, between one and two millimetres, so the wheels are not in contact with the restraining rails.

The question of whether the curves are a design flaw has come up a number of times. Holder said the city has received a number of public inquiries about straightening the tight curves.

“If we had a lot of engineers designing a light rail system, we would make it straight. But we had to build a system in Ottawa. We had to connect a lot of infrastructure together,” said Holder.

The stretch on Line 1 with the tightest curves is around the Lees, Hurdman and Tremblay stations, he said.

When the system was being designed, it had to connect a number of significant pieces of infrastructure, including a crossing of the Rideau River and a large watermain pumping station just east of Hurdman that supplies the east end of the city with water, which would have been expensive and difficult to move. East of that is a bridge adjacent to the rail. At one spot, the LRT line runs next to a VIA Rail line.

That meant that the design of the system had curves that are considered relatively tight, said Holder. “But this is well within the realm of a light rail system,” said Holder.

The infrastructure and the specifications for the light rail vehicles were common for light rail systems around the world, he said.

“These systems are designed for urban areas for vehicles to actually run on downtown streets where the radius of the curves is much tighter than the curves we have around Hurdman and Lees,” said Holder.

What about the axle hub assemblies?

In the long run, the plan is to redesign the axle hubs. The process, including creating a prototype and testing it, could take two to three years. In the meantime, the axles will be replaced more frequently. Other measures are also under consideration, including lubricating the rails.

“We’re dealing with maintenance issues right now. And the fixes that we’ve talked about and that we’ve outlined will ultimately resolve those issues,” said Holder.

The restraining rails on the tight curves are a contributing factor, but there are a number of issues to the “root cause” for the problem of the fatigue on the bearings in the hub assembly of the train.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/partial-lrt-service-to-resume-tuesday-morning

[Richard Eade]

OK. So, in the Citizen article, above, it states:

Last week, the city announced that it would open Line 1 in its entirety on Aug. 14 after the restraining rails, a passive safety device used to prevent derailments, were repositioned to prevent contact with the wheels of the train. The job requires doing this exacting work on 16 curves on the line.

However, the required work between the Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations has already been completed. After trial running in this section to confirm that it is safe, OC Transpo decided to open that stretch, the city announced Monday.

“The decision was made once we knew we had sufficient documentation to support the partial opening,” said Richard Holder, Ottawa’s director of engineering services.

But in a CTVNews article, it says: [from: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/partial-lrt-se...m-tunney-s-pasture-to-uottawa-1.6509627]

There will also be a temporary speed reduction in the tunnel near Rideau Station. RTM general manager Enrique Martinez Asensio said it was due to needing new brackets for the restraining rail in that part of the track. For the time being, those restraining rails have been removed and the speed reduction has been put in place.

Asensio says since the location of the track in question is close to the station, he does not anticipate any service interruptions because trains approaching the station would already be braking. The restraining rail in that area will be replaced when new brackets to hold it arrive in the next week to 10 days, he explained.

And we have conflicting information: Either the work in the area east of Rideau Station is completed; or the SAFETY restraint rails have simply been temporarily removed while they await new brackets – which will, likely, mean another shutdown to reinstall the rails on the new brackets, in 7 to 10 days.

I suspect the latter; that brackets are on order. In the meantime, ignore the fact that a safety feature has been removed. It hadn't really been used for safety so far anyway - although we really don't know since the restraining rail was taking part of the turning force.

There is a purpose to the restraining rails in the corners. They are mounted close to the running rail on the 'low' side. The idea is that if the wheels on the 'high' side (the outer side) of the curve start to climb over the high rail, then the inside of the opposite wheel would catch on the restraining rail, preventing further sideways movement, and a derailment would be prevented. Under normal conditions, the wheel would not touch the restraining rail - only doing so if the flange of the outer wheel climbed on top of the high rail

The thing that turns a train around a fairly tight curve is the flange of the outside wheel bumping against the high rail. This causes a lot of wear on both the flange and the rail, however. In order to lessen that wear, sometimes the restraining rail (on the low/inside of the curve) is put even closer to the low rail. The spacing is such that the inner face of the low wheel contacts the restraining rail at the same time that the high wheel's flange touches the high rail. In this case, the inside face of the low wheel can use the restraining rail to help guide the train around the curve. This shares the wear between the outer rail and the restraining rail, reducing the frequency of rail maintenance.

It seems that Ottawa's restraining rails were originally set to take part of the turning force. That is to be remedied by increasing the gap, slightly. From now on, our restraining rails will only come into play if the high wheel starts to climb its rail. They will be safety devices - assuming that they get reinstalled after their removal.

[rocketphish]

Partial LRT service resumes Tuesday
Service between Tunney's Pasture and uOttawa running with single-car trains

Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News · Posted: Aug 07, 2023 1:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: 42 minutes ago

Service resumed on a portion of the Confederation Line between Tunney's Pasture and uOttawa stations on Tuesday morning, several days ahead of schedule.

Renée Amilcar, the city's general manager of transit services, announced Monday that work on adjusting restraining rails has been ongoing since Thursday and is now complete on that portion of the track.

"This is the first step as we gradually restore safe service across the full Line 1," she said during a virtual news conference on Monday afternoon.

"We continue to anticipate that full service from Blair to Tunney's Pasture will begin on Aug. 14. I know our work is not yet done, but I want to thank our customers for their patience."

Service resumed Tuesday morning with five single-car trains running every five minutes. The R1, R1 Express and Para R1 replacement buses will continue to operate alongside the trains for the time being. A sixth train is also available to accommodate higher volumes during peak periods.

Amilcar said single-car service will continue throughout August, and updates about September could come later this week.

"I have my planning team, who's working very, very closely [with] me, and we are very, very confident that with single cars, with the level of ridership we have, we can easily handle everything," she said.

As of last week, Amilcar was still giving a target date of Aug. 14 for when service would resume. Crews were working to make miniscule adjustments to restraining rails to prevent contact with wheels, which is believed to be creating pressure that's wearing out parts. They have so far completed that work at nine of 16 spots.

According to Richard Holder, the city's director of engineering services, the team saw the chance to reopen the track as it worked progressively from west to east and realized that the necessary work would be completed on the Tunney's Pasture to uOttawa segment.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the partial reopening "one step in a long journey" as work continues on a redesign of the wheel hub assembly, a project that has been billed as a permanent solution to Ottawa's LRT woes.

"The critically important work to permanently fix the system continues," he said. "There's still many milestones ahead, and it will take a long time before we reach our final goal."

Sutcliffe assured residents that the partial reopening is safe.

"Under no circumstances are we going to rush the trains back into service unless we are sure that every measure has been taken to protect the safety of passengers," he said.

The trains will be subject to a temporary speed restriction of just 15 km/h near Rideau station, though Rideau Transit Group general manager Enrique Martinez Asensio said that will have no impact on operations as trains would already be braking at that location anyway.

Amilcar said Monday OC Transpo was still conducting a final review with the consultant Transportation Resource Associates to confirm that requirements for partial service were met.

She also said OC Transpo had already prepared for the opening through trial runs and efforts to clean stations, prepare staff, place signage and install new orange decals to help riders find where to board the single-car trains. They will not occupy the full platform, but will depart from the front in the direction of travel.

Amilcar said everything is in place to ensure passengers have "great service." She urged residents in the west-end to make use of it.

"If you are living in the west, please take the train," she said. "It's safe."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/confederation-line-partial-service-tuesday-1.6929820

[rocketphish]

21 days later, partial LRT service has resumed in Ottawa
'It seemed to work (today), and when it works, it works. I have no issues when it works. But I’m not confident that this will be the fix.'

Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
Published Aug 07, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 5 minute read



Partial Line 1 service resumed Tuesday morning, after a 21-day shutdown.

Starting at 5 a.m., transit users were able to take the LRT between the Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations. Five single-car trains will be in operation, running every five minutes. Each train can carry 300 passengers.

OC passengers in the east end still required R1 replacement bus service to get downtown or points west on Tuesday, with the six stations east of uOttawa still closed. Many riders going downtown from the west end of the Confederation line also continued to use the R1 service.

“It was fine,” said Noah Collins after taking the train to work, from Tunney’s Pasture to Parliament station. “There was only the one train (car), but there weren’t many people, so that was OK.”

Collins added he was taking a wait-and-see attitude regarding Ottawa’s LRT, but says he’s glad that the city exercised as much caution as it did with the current shutdown.

“I’m not so worried now, but it’s one of those things that’s been up and down, so we’ll see. I can see how peeps have given up on it, but if it’s here and working, I might as well use it.”

Stittsville resident Jesse Yan, meanwhile, said it took him about 45 minutes to get to work downtown from the Eagleson station, finishing the trip on the Confederation line from Tunney’s to Parliament.

“It was good. Everything was perfect,” he said of the trip. “It was a good commute.”

Despite that, Yan said his confidence in the system remains low. “It seemed to work (today), and when it works, it works. I have no issues when it works. But I’m not confident that this will be the fix.”

Single-car trains only use half the platform. Transit users are being asked to board in the area of the platform marked with decals.

R1, R1 Express and Para R1 services will continue to operate with no changes. There’s an additional train available that can be used during peak periods.

“We are very, very confident that with single cars and the level of ridership we have we can easily handle everything,” said Renée Amilcar, Ottawa’s transit services general manager.

The $2.1-billion Confederation Line was shut down on July 17 after excess grease was found on the axle of one light rail vehicle during a routine inspection.

The original plan was to return to limited service on July 31, using single cars. But that plan was cancelled on July 28 to allow for a risk assessment to be conducted to protect the rails and the vehicles.

Last week, the city announced that it would open Line 1 in its entirety on Aug. 14 after the restraining rails, a passive safety device used to prevent derailments, were repositioned to prevent contact with the wheels of the train. The job requires doing this exacting work on 16 curves on the line.

However, the required work between the Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations has already been completed. After trial running in this section to confirm that it is safe, OC Transpo decided to open that stretch, the city announced Monday.

“The decision was made once we knew we had sufficient documentation to support the partial opening,” said Richard Holder, Ottawa’s director of engineering services.

Typically, at this time of year, 11 double-car trains would be in operation on the system. OC Transpo is working with the Rideau Transit Group to maximize the number of trains available.

Train riders may notice slower train speeds in the tunnel, due to a speed restriction as part of safety requirements.

At the same time, workers will continue to work on the restraining rails on the curves on the eastern portion of Line 1, where there are more curves and more restraining rails to be adjusted, Amilcar said.

It is expected that all of Line 1 — including more trains — will be in service starting Aug. 14.

<snip>

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/partial-lrt-service-to-resume-tuesday-morning

[Horus]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Collins added he was taking a wait-and-see attitude regarding Ottawa’s LRT, but says he’s glad that the city exercised as much caution as it did with the current shutdown.

“I’m not so worried now, but it’s one of those things that’s been up and down, so we’ll see. I can see how peeps have given up on it, but if it’s here and working, I might as well use it.”

Don't give up, peeps.

[rocketphish]

Seven LRT stops, seven questions with Wilson Lo
On the system’s first day back in operation after a three-week shutdown, the Barrhaven East councillor (and former OC Transpo bus driver) met with Bruce Deachman for the commute.

Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Published Aug 08, 2023 • Last updated 36 minutes ago • 5 minute read

It was with some cautious optimism that I purchased a full day’s pass on our beleaguered LRT on Tuesday morning.

On the system’s first day back in operation after a three-week shutdown, a handful of single-car trains ran to and from seven of its 13 stations, from uOttawa to Tunney’s Pasture. Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo, a former OC Transpo driver and customer communications officer who now sits on the city’s transit commission, agreed to come along with me for the ride and talk transit. Seven stations, seven questions.

uOttawa

Q: After graduating from Carleton University in journalism, you became an OC Transpo bus driver and, later, a customer communications officer, also with OC Transo. So you seem well-positioned to understand the relationship between a transit system and city residents. Can you speak a little about that relationship and how you’ve seen it change?

A: When I was a student at Carleton, I was a full-time public transit user and got to learn the challenges of commuting using transit exclusively. When I got into working as a bus operator, that’s when I learned, behind the scenes, how things work, like when the bus is late or cancelled, how that happened. There are a lot of things out of a bus driver’s control.

I think the relationship between the city and its transit certainly was better when I started. There was a drive to really save costs that really got hammered in right around the time that I started. I don’t know if it’s coincidental or if it was going on before I started. Buses were not as frequent as they used to be; there were a lot of routes that were cut in 2011; there was a lot of change on the employees-scheduling side. Scheduling has always been a contentious issue, and with the drive to be better with Transpo’s money, schedules got tighter and the runs got weirder, less straightforward. There was less downtime and less recovery time as well. So if you’re late on one route, you’re definitely late on the next one, so it plays into how it affects the ridership relationship with the system as well.

Rideau

Q: Why do we have such a terrible LRT system?

A: The $2.1 billion campaign promise that the former mayor made was based on preliminary staff estimates—and several caveats that were attached to that estimate were ignored. The fact that [the estimate] was a few years before [the project began], inflation was factored out. The fact that the estimate became a political promise, that there was a hard cap on how much the system would cost, led to several elements of the system that were not included. Then there was the whole relationship thing [between the city and RTG] as the system was being built and towards when it is being implemented, a toxic relationship where neither side can really get anything fixed unless compelled. I think that certainly led to the breakdown.

Parliament

Q: Will the fixes that are now being undertaken bring functionality and reliability, or does more need to be done?

A: RTG and Alstom agreed to shoulder the cost of redesigning the axle-bearing assembly completely. That’s going to be part of the fix, but that’s not going to come for one-and-a-half to two years. In the meantime, this new safety regime that they’re undertaking, where the wheel hub assemblies get replaced every 60,000 kilometers, as well as all of the in-depth investigation and all that data that they have now will go a long way towards keeping it safe until that solution is implemented.

Lyon

Q: You bought a car after the September 2021 derailment, so you understand how it might be difficult to get customers to return if they’ve left. What do you have to do to get riders back, and get new riders?

A: New riders are going to be easier to attract than riders who have given up. It’s going to take a long time to restore that rider trust, that confidence. We have to find a permanent fix, it has to be implemented, and service has to run very well for a very long time before that confidence and trust is back. It’s very possibly generational. It’ll take a long time, for sure.

Pimisi

Q: Apart from LRT, what needs to be done to improve public transit?

A: Our bus network has to improve, especially local service within the suburbs, within any community, actually. You have to be able to get around in your community, from home to shopping to picking your kids up at daycare. The focus can’t just be on the downtown core, as it is right now. The services have to match the new reality. We have to embrace this new reality.

Bayview

Q: What things would you like residents to know that maybe they don’t know, in terms of transit?

A: Specific to this closure, things have been communicated a lot better than they were in the past. Under the current management, a lot of the information that’s been shared with the public wasn’t shared in the past. Most councillors were kept in the dark and a lot of the public was also kept in the dark. The accountability that just wasn’t there before is there now. The fact that (OC Transpo head) Renée Amilcar is able to say ‘We’re not offering you good service’ is strides better than what the last management would say.

Tunney’s Pasture

Q: Anything else?

A: We found the fix. The fact that the relationship has been reset between the city and RTG probably led to RTG and Alstom agreeing to pay for the axle redesign. I honestly think that had we not settled that notice of dispute — two notices of dispute — we would have just been continuing down the same pathway that we’d been doing so far.

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/deachman-seven-lrt-stops-seven-questions-with-wilson-lo

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Our bus network has to improve, especially local service within the suburbs, within any community, actually. You have to be able to get around in your community, from home to shopping to picking your kids up at daycare. The focus can’t just be on the downtown core, as it is right now. The services have to match the new reality. We have to embrace this new reality.

Um, what?

In what way are things focussed on the downtown core?

[rocketphish]

OC Transpo to run single-car trains through rest of summer
'So far, we are happy with how the partial service is running,' transit boss says

CBC News
Posted: Aug 08, 2023 3:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Ottawa's light rail system will run single-car trains for the remainder of the summer as service gradually returns following a multi-week shutdown, OC Transpo says.

Five single-car trains returned to operation Tuesday morning along a portion of the Confederation Line, which is normally serviced by two-car trains.

"So far, we are happy with how the partial service is running," Renée Amilcar, the city's general manager of transit services, said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. The full news conference is available in the player above.

Service resumed between Tunney's Pasture and uOttawa stations on Tuesday morning, several days ahead of schedule.

Amilcar said the partial reopening was made possible over the long weekend, as work to reposition restraining rails between those stations was completed. Restraining rails are located alongside the tracks and are intended to prevent derailments.

Work is ongoing to adjust restraining rails and prevent contact with train wheels, which is believed to be creating pressure and wearing out parts. As of Tuesday, adjustments to 10 out of 16 spots along the line had been completed.

Further adjustments are still required in the east end of the track.

Full service for the rest of the line is still expected to start on Aug. 14, Amilcar said. For the rest of August, OC Transpo expects to run 11 single-car trains during peak periods in the morning and 13 during peak periods in the afternoon. Nine trains will run during off-peak hours.

"To be able to constantly maintain a level of service, we need to be able to do that," Amilcar said, referring to the decision to run trains in single cars rather than pairs. "And because, as well, the ridership is not here."

Train ridership at the beginning of the year was at about 43 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, Amilcar added.

OC Transpo's service plan for September is still being worked on.

Joel Lemieux, the city's acting director of transit service delivery and rail operations, said he was unable to provide ridership numbers for Tuesday, but added R1 buses had light use in places where the train was running.

Lemieux said LRT platforms never had more than about 50 people at any time, and the trains travelled at "seated loads."

On Tuesday morning, service returned with five single-car trains running every five minutes. A sixth train is also available to accommodate higher volumes during peak periods.

The R1, R1 Express and Para R1 replacement buses will continue to operate alongside the trains for the time being.

R1 service will continue for "at least one day" after full LRT service resumes, Amilcar said.

Ottawa's light rail system has been shut down since July 17, when it was pulled from service during afternoon rush hour after a routine inspection uncovered a problem with a bearing.

The problem behind the current shutdown is "similar to what was found" to have caused a derailment in August 2021 and a wheel hub failure in July 2022, OC Transpo said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/oc-transpo-lrt-service-briefing-1.6930469

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Um, what?

In what way are things focussed on the downtown core?

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant "focussed on commuting from the suburbs to downtown".

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Um, what?

In what way are things focussed on the downtown core?

The existing LRT goes through downtown. To some,that is enough to focus there....

[skyscraperaccount]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Um, what?

In what way are things focussed on the downtown core?

The Watson et al approach was to focus on suburbs to downtown and f*** your community be it suburbs or downtown. We need better LOCAL services in all communities and an LRT for the long haul ... I believe that is what he is saying.

[DogsWithJobs]

As everyone has said, the LRT is commuter rail so it is not built for the core. The west side of the city at least gets the LRT hitting some of its neighbourhoods but the east stretch ignores all residential areas and follows the highway.

So far the city has done effectively nothing to serve the inner eastern core at all. Do they even have any future plans? West side has Baseline and Carling brts in the plans as well but in the east what is there other than more suburban routes like the Renaud brt?

[harls]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

"So far, we are happy with how the partial service is running," Renée Amilcar, the city's general manager of transit services, said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

If she is happy with partial service, imagine how elated she will be when it is full service.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by harls

If she is happy with partial service, imagine how elated she will be when it is full service.

LOL. You can be happy with the results of something without being happy with the thing in the first place. For example, I could be happy with the results of my colonoscopy, but not be happy with having to have one in the first place.

[harls]

Originally Posted by roger1818

For example, I could be happy with the results of my colonoscopy, but not be happy with having to have one in the first place.

There is a train joke here somewhere..