Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[eltodesukane]

Montreal subway has some serious curves, with no problem.
Of course, it's not a LRT.
https://www.metrolinemap.com/metro/montreal/

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

Montreal subway has some serious curves, with no problem.
Of course, it's not a LRT.
https://www.metrolinemap.com/metro/montreal/

In theory, LRT should be able to handle curves better since they are designed to operate on streets.

[rocketphish]

As LRT turns 4, here's what was promised vs. what we got
'No one really knows how history will judge this day,' Jim Watson said 4 years ago

Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News · Posted: Sep 05, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lrt-watson-anniversary-promise-reality-ottawa-1.6954375

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

As LRT turns 4, here's what was promised vs. what we got
'No one really knows how history will judge this day,' Jim Watson said 4 years ago

Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News · Posted: Sep 05, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lrt-watson-anniversary-promise-reality-ottawa-1.6954375

And trains are every 9:20 on weekends now. So half trains, nearly double the frequency.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

And trains are every 9:20 on weekends now. So half trains, nearly double the frequency.

Crazy messaging.

The original promise was 5 minute frequency on weekends.

The train should have created a new market of transit users, and that is quite normal in other cities. Especially post-covid, weekend ridership has recovered quickest and in some cities with rail transit, with weekend ridership now exceeding 100% recovery.

Lack of reliability has not produced this result in Ottawa. Surprise! Surprise! City Hall is desperate to cut costs, and this is Phase 1 of cuts, since contracts allows them to hide this information from taxpayers.

[Uhuniau]

4.5 minutes? When?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

Montreal subway has some serious curves, with no problem.
Of course, it's not a LRT.

Rubber tires probably help.

[rocketphish]

More light rail trains will run starting Monday, says transit GM
Renée Amilcar tells Radio-Canada details are coming Friday afternoon

CBC News
Posted: Sep 08, 2023 7:38 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

Ottawa's transit general manager tells Radio-Canada more trains will run on the Confederation Line starting Monday based on what OC Transpo has seen in the days since Labour Day.

On Friday, Renée Amilcar told the radio show Les matins d'ici that more details would be coming Friday afternoon.

OC Transpo has, as of earlier this week, 33 light rail vehicles available for service, subject to daily maintenance and inspection requirements — enough, in theory, to run 15-double car trains with three cars in reserve.

It made the switch to slower single-car trains last month after its latest shutdown and train and track work, and has been running just 13 single-car trains to keep maintenance costs down while meeting lower ridership demand.

The service said it was confident it could handle post-Labour Day crowds — when English schools returned to join French counterparts, post-secondary school got back underway and many summer vacations ended — with just 13 single-car trains.

Amilcar told Radio-Canada that OC Transpo has been watching how the last few days have worked out, and will have some service improvements to announce based on what it's seen. Specifically, she mentioned more trains.

She had said last week that she can boost capacity if demand warrants, potentially by increasing the number of single-car trains to 15 during afternoon rush hour or by adding a second car to a couple of trains.


With files from Radio-Canada's Les matins d'ici

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lrt-train-number-schedule-service-ottawa-1.6960334

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

In theory, LRT should be able to handle curves better since they are designed to operate on streets.

In practice, the Montreal Metro has tires.

[acottawa]

Happy Goat lost a lot of money on LRT stations.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/happy-goat-lrt-rideau-blair-coffee-business-ottawa-1.6975845?

I never really understood when I was supposed to go to the Rideau kiosk. If I get off the train I am an escalator ride from a number of coffee places. If I am getting on the train I am almost certainly slowing down my trip.

To me Bayview would make more sense. If you know you have a 10 minute wait for the o-train you can grab a coffee.

[eltodesukane]

Those LRT coffee places are probably the worst I have ever seen.
And there's no chair, no table.
I'm not going to buy a coffee when I'm about to go walking up a bunch of stairs,
or when I'm about to go standing up in a moving train!
What were they thinking!

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Happy Goat lost a lot of money on LRT stations.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/happy-goat-lrt-rideau-blair-coffee-business-ottawa-1.6975845?

I never really understood when I was supposed to go to the Rideau kiosk. If I get off the train I am an escalator ride from a number of coffee places. If I am getting on the train I am almost certainly slowing down my trip.

To me Bayview would make more sense. If you know you have a 10 minute wait for the o-train you can grab a coffee.

Yeah, Rideau is a weird one. Lot of competition nearby. The darkness and smell doesn't help.

Sounds like Hurdman will be the last to open, though it probably would have been the most successful considering it's a major (permanent) transfer, major bus hub (infrequent buses), isolated. I agree, Bayview seems like a logical spot... once Stage 2 south opens.

I could see Lyon concourse work well.

Tunney's and Blair will be limited post-Stage 2.

Of the Stage 2 ones, Trim, Place d'Orleans, Lincoln Fields, Algonquin and Bayshore, I question Trim. Bayshore might do well as a convenience store, but not a coffee shop.

[J.OT13]

Bit more on the Happy Goat saga. Sounds like Blair is breaking even now.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-1...appy-goat-won-deal-open-coffee-shops-lrt

[hwy418]

I took the train from my office to downtown to attend a conference yesterday and I can't believe how crappy the Confederation Line is! It was so jittery, slow, and grungy. I was embarrassed as an Ottawan to be at a major conference with delegates from across Canada that had to experience our sub-par transit system.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by hwy418

I took the train from my office to downtown to attend a conference yesterday and I can't believe how crappy the Confederation Line is! It was so jittery, slow, and grungy. I was embarrassed as an Ottawan to be at a major conference with delegates from across Canada that had to experience our sub-par transit system.

Grungy? There is lots wrong with the system but it's one of the least grungy systems you'll find. Granted being new that isn't exactly hard.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by hwy418

I took the train from my office to downtown to attend a conference yesterday and I can't believe how crappy the Confederation Line is! It was so jittery, slow, and grungy. I was embarrassed as an Ottawan to be at a major conference with delegates from across Canada that had to experience our sub-par transit system.

Yesterday was quite bad. Mondays are usually pretty quiet, but people were being left on the platform (since we have about half the capacity with a mix or single and double trains). The biggest embarrassment, tera my hair out, wtf were they thinking is the low-floor LRT. A women and her kids struggled to get off the train through the crowd because of the serious lack of doors. If we built high-floor light-metro we'd have double the doors for far better passenger flows.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Yesterday was quite bad. Mondays are usually pretty quiet, but people were being left on the platform (since we have about half the capacity with a mix or single and double trains). The biggest embarrassment, tera my hair out, wtf were they thinking is the low-floor LRT. A women and her kids struggled to get off the train through the crowd because of the serious lack of doors. If we built high-floor light-metro we'd have double the doors for far better passenger flows.

The capacity is lower because of low floor but I think the door per person is similar no? If anything at crush loads I think it's easier to access a door.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

The capacity is lower because of low floor but I think the door per person is similar no? If anything at crush loads I think it's easier to access a door.

Our trains are 97 meters, with 14 doors (7 per segment). Capacity of 600. Along that 97 meters, you have the wasted space from the 4 cabs, and a few other gaps, like the two modules with only one door.

Skytrain's Mark IIIs are 68.1 meters with 12 doors, so they are tightly bunched together. Capacity is listed as 532. Much more efficient use of space.

You could bring up numbers from any other light-metro, the REM or Canada Line for example, which have more traditional technology (not linear induction), double the length for added capacity, and you have simpler vehicles than the Spirit, with far shorter platforms that can better handle crowds.

[hwy418]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Grungy? There is lots wrong with the system but it's one of the least grungy systems you'll find. Granted being new that isn't exactly hard.

No, the stations were dirty and look unmaintained. Some things falling apart - not what a 4-year-old system should look like. God help us if this is as good as it gets! Unacceptable.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Yesterday was quite bad. Mondays are usually pretty quiet, but people were being left on the platform (since we have about half the capacity with a mix or single and double trains). The biggest embarrassment, tera my hair out, wtf were they thinking is the low-floor LRT. A women and her kids struggled to get off the train through the crowd because of the serious lack of doors. If we built high-floor light-metro we'd have double the doors for far better passenger flows.

mixing single and double trains is inevitably going to create problems when passenger levels reach a certain level. This is obvious.

What is going to happen when Line 2 opens? `Those coming from the south face the biggest problems, where the trains will be the most crowded at Bayview and Hurdman.

We have enough vehicles. Are enough functional? But there is no excuse to have crowding problems if we have additional trains that can be deployed.

This just poisons customer views of the system, a situation that has existed since 2019 when they couldn't deploy the planned number of trains, which led to crowding issues that became acute when trains failed.