OC Transpo

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Free no but the monthly rate is attractive once you are in the office 3-4 days a week compared to paying daily.

Obviously but this is the free market operating. It's not the feds giving deals on parking to their staff.

In terms of the suburban federal buildings, the one I know best is Library and Archives because it's close to where I live. It's paid parking based on (I assume) market rates and managed by some giant parking conglomerate like Vinci or Indigo.

That's basically the only workplace with paid parking in the entire Gatineau sector which has around 150,000 people. Except for the hospital. Actually, parking may even be free for hospital staff. Not sure. But patients have to pay parking, even if it's fairly cheap and there are grace periods and free options too.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Obviously but this is the free market operating. It's not the feds giving deals on parking to their staff.

In terms of the suburban federal buildings, the one I know best is Library and Archives because it's close to where I live. It's paid parking based on (I assume) market rates and managed by some giant parking conglomerate like Vinci or Indigo.

That's basically the only workplace with paid parking in the entire Gatineau sector which has around 150,000 people. Except for the hospital. Actually, parking may even be free for hospital staff. Not sure. But patients have to pay parking, even if it's fairly cheap and there are grace periods and free options too.

The rates were increased under Harper but as far as I know have not been adjusted much since then. Market rates is easier to figure out at Portage than suburban sites. The fact many are over-subscribed suggests they have value. If you are admin assistant for a boss you can often get one as you have to sometimes work outside standard hours. I guess you do pay for that but $150 a month is a good deal compared to dealing with transit for $128 (soon to be $150 $175?) a month.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Obviously but this is the free market operating. It's not the feds giving deals on parking to their staff.

In terms of the suburban federal buildings, the one I know best is Library and Archives because it's close to where I live. It's paid parking based on (I assume) market rates and managed by some giant parking conglomerate like Vinci or Indigo.

That's basically the only workplace with paid parking in the entire Gatineau sector which has around 150,000 people. Except for the hospital. Actually, parking may even be free for hospital staff. Not sure. But patients have to pay parking, even if it's fairly cheap and there are grace periods and free options too.

The passport building (near La Verendrye) has free employee parking.. or at least it did 3 years ago.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by harls

The passport building (near La Verendrye) has free employee parking.. or at least it did 3 years ago.

One of these days I'll have to pedal by there and check if it's still the case.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

The rates were increased under Harper but as far as I know have not been adjusted much since then. Market rates is easier to figure out at Portage than suburban sites. The fact many are over-subscribed suggests they have value. If you are admin assistant for a boss you can often get one as you have to sometimes work outside standard hours. I guess you do pay for that but $150 a month is a good deal compared to dealing with transit for $128 (soon to be $150 $175?) a month.

A quick search of forums where LAC employees hang out online shows monthly parking there is over 100 dollars. Maybe 120?

BTW I've never heard of admin assistants in the federal government having free parking due to non-standard work hours.

I guess it might exist for the most senior-most bureaucrats, like maybe the Clerk of the Privy Council's assistant?

That has to be extremely rare.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by harls

The passport building (near La Verendrye) has free employee parking.. or at least it did 3 years ago.

Monthly parking at Carling is 35.00

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Monthly parking at Carling is 35.00

Carling DND? Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵. What a bargain compared to LAC!

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Acajack

A quick search of forums where LAC employees hang out online shows monthly parking there is over 100 dollars. Maybe 120?

BTW I've never heard of admin assistants in the federal government having free parking due to non-standard work hours.

I guess it might exist for the most senior-most bureaucrats, like maybe the Clerk of the Privy Council's assistant?

That has to be extremely rare.

I don't think it was free but skipping the waiting list/points system everyone else has to go through. I've seen it several times. A low level person in the DMs office and assistant to an ADM were two examples I recall.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Monthly parking at Carling is 35.00

How easy is it to get parking there? I remember when it was called "The Hunger Games" before Covid. It's hard to get a spot at Star Top. Lots of folks paying $7/day outside the fence or parking in sketchy spots risking tickets. And of course, transit here is pretty terrible, unless you're willing to walk from Cyrville.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Carling DND? Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵. What a bargain compared to LAC!

One is in Gatineau. The other is in an empty field in the Greenbelt that nobody else was use.

Originally Posted by YOWetal

I don't think it was free but skipping the waiting list/points system everyone else has to go through. I've seen it several times. A low level person in the DMs office and assistant to an ADM were two examples I recall.

Once again taking extremely rare examples and generalizing them as somehow common....

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

How easy is it to get parking there? I remember when it was called "The Hunger Games" before Covid. It's hard to get a spot at Star Top. Lots of folks paying $7/day outside the fence or parking in sketchy spots risking tickets. And of course, transit here is pretty terrible, unless you're willing to walk from Cyrville.



One is in Gatineau. The other is in an empty field in the Greenbelt that nobody else was use.



Once again taking extremely rare examples and generalizing them as somehow common....

Well ADMs have 4 or 5 assistants, advisors and other hangers on. There are what 10-20 per department? So it could add up. You can also get special dispensation if you are pregant. Who knows what other medical condition qualifies.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

How easy is it to get parking there? I remember when it was called "The Hunger Games" before Covid. It's hard to get a spot at Star Top. Lots of folks paying $7/day outside the fence or parking in sketchy spots risking tickets. And of course, transit here is pretty terrible, unless you're willing to walk from Cyrville.

Its filling up again with the 3 day work requirements for the civilians.
But there is still enough room to take care of all the mil folks and the civilians that pick their 3 days of in house work.
I ride a bike most days but that will end once the snow flies.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Well ADMs have 4 or 5 assistants, advisors and other hangers on. There are what 10-20 per department? So it could add up. You can also get special dispensation if you are pregant. Who knows what other medical condition qualifies.

DND has ~11 ADMs. So as per your math, that's ~50 assistants out of ~25 000 public servants. You really are pulling numbers out of your .... and they still don't come close to reality.

[Acajack]

Again, never heard of these special exceptions or dispensations - but I'll defer to people closer to the belly of the beast.

Certainly not for pregnant women - and I've had a few pregnant women pretty close to me who were expecting while working in the federal public service.

They either took the bus or drove and paid their own full-price parking like everyone else.

[CanadaGoose]

Originally Posted by harls

The passport building (near La Verendrye) has free employee parking.. or at least it did 3 years ago.

I am pretty sure passport buildings have parking free for clients, cars that stay over 4 hours are post to pay for a monthly pass.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by CanadaGoose

I am pretty sure passport buildings have parking free for clients, cars that stay over 4 hours are post to pay for a monthly pass.

Walk-in clients from the public are not welcome there.

As I learned to my chagrin last year.

Almost made a male Karen out of myself. Which would have been completely out of character for me.

[harls]

Originally Posted by CanadaGoose

I am pretty sure passport buildings have parking free for clients, cars that stay over 4 hours are post to pay for a monthly pass.

It's not a passport office for the general public. It's where they are printed for mail-in applications country-wide. Also houses part of the call centre.

The top floor is pretty high security.. it's where all the blank passports are stored.

[harls]

When I worked at Statcan in 2017 (Tunney's Pasture) I think parking was $120 or so.

That parking lot sucked 🞵🞵🞵. Sometimes it was a 10 minute walk from the other side of the 'complex' to your building because everyone drives. An added bonus is that everyone leaves at the same time so you'd be stuck in a traffic jam to get out of the place.

[rocketphish]

Frustrated commuters air grievances to Ottawa transit commission
"When it comes to transit, we shouldn't settle for good enough."

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Published Sep 12, 2024 • Last updated 38 minutes ago • 3 minute read

Councillors on Ottawa’s transit commission got an earful Thursday from riders alarmed by potential cuts to service and soaring fares needed to dig OC Transpo out of its deep financial hole.

More than 30 delegations presented their complaints to the commission during the marathon six-hour meeting. The decision to reduce off-peak train service on the Confederation Line to once every 10 minutes from five minutes drew particular ire, as did a planned rejigging of bus routes once the Trillium Line LRT begins service.

Delphine Robitaille of the University of Ottawa Students’ Union said OC Transpo’s unreliability and the reduced off-peak service threatened student support for OC Transpo’s lucrative UPass for students.

The reduction to 10-minute service between morning and afternoon rush hours and in evenings unfairly affects students, whose classes can begin and end at odd hours, Robitaille said.

“It’s not just a minor inconvenience. It’s a blatant disregard for the needs of the nearly 100,000 university and college students who make up a significant portion of this city and of ridership,” she said.

She called it an “existential threat” to the UPass program, which is worth $19 million to OC Transpo annually.

Another delegate, Hannah Tellier, said she couldn’t afford to rely on an unreliable LRT.

“When the LRT isn’t running and I couldn’t afford to be late for work, I’d have to take a taxi or an Uber to work, which frankly, I can’t afford,” Tellier said. “When it comes to transit, we shouldn’t settle for good enough.”

Another resident worried that changes to the No. 35 bus would make it even more difficult than it is now to go to the hospital where he cares for his aged and ailing mother.

Once the delegations were done, it was the councillors’ turn. Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill worried that commuters caught in this week’s crush of public servants heading back to the office three days a week would be discouraged if they couldn’t get on “packed to the gills” express buses heading downtown from Fallowfield.

“That will kill any form of transit ridership or trust in the system from transit riders in Barrhaven,” Hill said.

He told the story of one resident whose ride home took so long that he exceeded the 90-minute allowance for transfers.

“The pleasure they got from their almost two-hour trip home ended up costing them twice as much money as a normal fare,” he said.

(If this does happen, transit staff said riders should call customer service, which can arrange a refund.)

The service reduction on the Confederation Line threatens “the spine” of the entire transit system, Kichissippi Ward Coun. Jeff Leiper warned. The change announced in July would save OC Transpo $600,000 this year and $1.8 million over a full year, but that wasn’t worth the harm it would cause, Leiper argued.

Leiper brought a motion to the committee to overturn the reduction in service and to resume five-minute service. At the end of the long meeting, committee members agreed to refer that motion directly to the full city council meeting next Wednesday.

OC Transpo is facing a $25-million operating deficit this year, primarily due to the loss of ridership since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe warned of an even bigger $120-million structural deficit for transit in next year’s budget. It would take a 75-per-cent increase in fares to make that up, or a hike in the transit levy of 37 per cent, the equivalent of a seven-per-cent increase on property-tax bills.

Councillors also received an update on upcoming maintenance work that will cause two shutdowns of the Confederation Line in the next few weeks. On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 29, the Confederation Line will be replaced by R1 bus service while workers begin to integrate the signalling system of the Stage 2 east extension from Blair Station to Trim Road. The next weekend, on Saturday, Oct. 5, R1 buses will run the entire day to allow tests along the full length of the system from Tunney’s Pasture to Trim Road.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-grievances-to-ottawa-transit-commission

[rocketphish]

OC Transpo defends LRT schedule cuts that councillors say aren't worth it
'I don't have a choice,' said transit general manager

Elyse Skura · CBC News
Posted: Sep 13, 2024 8:28 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

Doubling the wait between trains in off-peak hours is saving Ottawa's cash-strapped transit service $1.6 million per year, but the campaign to reverse the unpopular decision seems to be gaining steam ahead of a council vote.

OC Transpo is short $25 million this year, with just $7 million left in the reserves. Next year the budgetary hole is forecast at $120 million with few options to fill it.

Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper doesn't think forcing riders to wait twice as long between trains is right.

"Every penny will count and it's important to be responsible, but the LRT is our spine," he said at Thursday's transit commission meeting. "It's not worth it."

Leiper tabled a motion to reverse cutting LRT service to every 10 minutes on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

After a full day of listening to impassioned pleas from riders seeing increasingly long commutes, members punted a decision on the matter to Wednesday's city council meeting.

Many of the people who showed up to city hall on Thursday were students and shift workers who rely on taking transit outside traditional rush hours.

They shared stories of missing classes, work and medical appointments.

"Students can't afford to take those cuts, but neither can Ottawa," Delphine Robitaille, president of the University of Ottawa's undergrad student union.

"Students are the ones staffing the businesses that people in the city depend on, the grocery stores, the small businesses in the downtown core."

She, and several others, said young professionals are getting the message that they should leave Ottawa — or get a car they can barely afford.

"The difference between five and 10 minutes might not seem like a lot for people who don't take transit," Laura Shantz of advocacy group Ottawa Transit Riders told CBC.

"But if you're trying to take that train to then catch a bus that runs once every half hour and you risk missing that bus, all of a sudden that five minutes is costing you a large chunk out of your day."

With a shift toward telework remaining a trend, many suggested the service cannot afford to alienate its most dedicated patrons or provide another reason not to take transit.

"Why would we diminish that one bright spot in our system?" Leiper asked on behalf of those riders.

Renée Amilcar, the city's transit general manager, said this was a step she had to take, emphasizing that OC Transpo needs to come up with that $120 million.

"Let me know where I can find that. I will be so happy to deliver the service," she said. "I don't have any efficiencies [to find] anymore. This is the only thing that we can do to be able to have a balanced budget."

From now until the end of the year, Amilcar said the schedule change will save OC Transpo $600,000 in decreased costs for operators and per-kilometre payments to the Rideau Transit Group.

She went on to say that she cannot justify paying drivers to run more trains when cars are only 19 per cent full.

Still, Amilcar said it's a choice she doesn't want to make.

"I don't have a choice. I have to make a decision," she told CBC. "I think Coun. Leiper is right by asking to bring that back."

Other councillors likewise echoed Leiper's position, though some questioned if a compromise between five- and 10-minute service could be an option.

If they vote to reverse course next week, the service change wouldn't take effect until the delayed Trillium Line — which still has no definite opening date — is up and running.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/oc-transpo-ottawa-lrt-cut-service-midday-1.7322025

[Horus]

Maybe I've not been paying attention, but how did we get to the point where the ONLY options for LRT frequency are 5 minutes or 10 minutes?
Is 8 trains/hour not feasible for some reason? Seems that would line up nicely with the 15 and 30 minute bus frequencies.