Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[DTcrawler]

"We drove away customers by reducing frequency but that's ok because it helped us feel comfortable about reducing frequency"

It's baffling how backwards this mindset is.

[zzptichka]

I have even a better idea. Just shut down the line between 9 and 4. There will be no overcrowding on the trains during that time, platforms will be empty, expenses will be minimal. And it won't affect revenue because most riders buy pre-paid fares! Wow!

[phil235]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

"We drove away customers by reducing frequency but that's ok because it helped us feel comfortable about reducing frequency"

It's baffling how backwards this mindset is.

My thoughts exactly. And this:

"While ridership did dip slightly below expected in the months after the reduction, it didn’t affect revenue because most riders buy pre-paid fares, Amilcar said."

Because you can keep worsening service and people are going to keep buying pre-paid fares.

[Dengler Avenue]

“Fewer trains did not lead to overcrowding.”
Well… reducing frequency means that ridership plummets further. Amilcar and a bunch of others should be let go.

[J.OT13]

It's pretty insulting all around to inconvenience thousands to save pennies on the dollar and not really caring that ridership is being impacted.

[Uhuniau]

A bazillion years ago, I remember a CBC interview - probably As It Happens - about the problem with bus transit service in some northern English city.

They were having trouble with buses falling behind schedule. Their solution was to stop picking people up, which eliminated overlong dwell times.

[kmcamp]

One thing I did notice is that they seem to have gone back to double trains last weekend. One time I had gone downtown on a weekend it was so crowded getting on and off at Rideau that the doors closed before everyone could board. Hopefully the double trains stay.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

One thing I did notice is that they seem to have gone back to double trains last weekend. One time I had gone downtown on a weekend it was so crowded getting on and off at Rideau that the doors closed before everyone could board. Hopefully the double trains stay.

Yeah, it's been a long time since I've had to ride a smol train on any of my weekend excursions, which is a nice change.

[J.OT13]

Don't know if this was discussed, but their data to justify keeping 10 minutes was from September to December. Doesn't even consider ridership increases from the Lines 2/4 openings. The decision should really be based solely on January.

[lrt's friend]

A CFRA host was just on the air ranting and raving about the poor state of affairs with Line 1 today. The lack of direction to get to to replacement buses got him locked out of Bayview Station and got him to a locked door to exit the station. He ended up walking to Pimisi Station via Somerset because he couldn't find an exit onto Albert. The trip between Bayview and Rideau took 90 minutes. OC has reported that one track was closed for snow clearing. What? Line 4 was also closed this morning, perhaps a switch problem. At one point there was Line 2 problem around Leitrim but I question the accuracy of that report. Still problems in normal Ottawa winter weather with another storm coming in 2 days. The trains should be able to handle this weather better than buses but nope

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

A CFRA host was just on the air ranting and raving about the poor state of affairs with Line 1 today. The lack of direction to get to to replacement buses got him locked out of Bayview Station and got him to a locked door to exit the station. He ended up walking to Pimisi Station via Somerset because he couldn't find an exit onto Albert. The trip between Bayview and Rideau took 90 minutes. OC has reported that one track was closed for snow clearing. What? Line 4 was also closed this morning, perhaps a switch problem. At one point there was Line 2 problem around Leitrim but I question the accuracy of that report. Still problems in normal Ottawa winter weather with another storm coming in 2 days. The trains should be able to handle this weather better than buses but nope

I wouldn't call this normal weather. It's not abnormal but a once a year thing at most.

Meanwhile I guess CFRA being right across from Rideau Station means some of them take transit now. As one of the main local right wing voices in Ottawa I wonder if that will be good for the politics of more transit funding?

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

A CFRA host was just on the air ranting and raving about the poor state of affairs with Line 1 today. The lack of direction to get to to replacement buses got him locked out of Bayview Station and got him to a locked door to exit the station. He ended up walking to Pimisi Station via Somerset because he couldn't find an exit onto Albert. The trip between Bayview and Rideau took 90 minutes. OC has reported that one track was closed for snow clearing. What? Line 4 was also closed this morning, perhaps a switch problem. At one point there was Line 2 problem around Leitrim but I question the accuracy of that report. Still problems in normal Ottawa winter weather with another storm coming in 2 days. The trains should be able to handle this weather better than buses but nope

They aren't magic. The TTC, GO Trains, Translink, ETS, REM, and CTrain all get delayed in major storms as well. The only system in Canada completely immune to weather is the Montreal Metro, as it's entirely underground.

[zzptichka]

Wait they replaced train with buses because of bad weather? Never ceases to amaze me.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Wait they replaced train with buses because of bad weather? Never ceases to amaze me.

Not exactly. Because service was down to one track they were running R1 in parallel.

[Richard Eade]

There is not much chance that OC Transpo can run a ‘normal’ system with this much snow falling. Obviously, buses have problems because of snow and other vehicles on the roads; but the trains can also have issues if switches are used.

The switch heaters are able to keep a switch clear of accumulating snow only if the rate of snow fall and the temperature fall within a certain range. i.e., Based on the number of BTUs generated, light snow at colder temperatures or heavier snow at higher temperatures can be handled. The originally installed switch heaters were found to not be suitable for our weather. They were replaced, but even the new heaters have limits. One option that has been suggested in the past is to add a roof over the switches to minimize snow accumulation.

When the switches along the eastern leg began to suffer snow accumulation, OC Transpo, moved to single-track operation. This minimizes the number of switch movements needed and, at least, kept some trains running.

I have not heard what the problem was on Line 4, but I would suspect that it was a switch issue, too.

Overall, I think that OC Transpo did the best that it could – including removing the articulated buses from those sent out.

[Marshsparrow]

When it comes to OCTranspo citizens expect way too much.
Why should we have reliable public transit in the winter and during a snow storm... come on!
Why would the mayor or OCTranspo management do anything to improve the situation... no one has lost their job over LRT.

We get what we deserve.

[DTcrawler]

I took Line 1 this morning and things were pretty normal, though there was a PA announcement that service was on one platform only at a few stations. I spoke to a staff member who mentioned R1 was operating for less than an hour around 6am.

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

A CFRA host was just on the air ranting and raving about the poor state of affairs with Line 1 today. The lack of direction to get to to replacement buses got him locked out of Bayview Station and got him to a locked door to exit the station. He ended up walking to Pimisi Station via Somerset because he couldn't find an exit onto Albert. The trip between Bayview and Rideau took 90 minutes. OC has reported that one track was closed for snow clearing. What? Line 4 was also closed this morning, perhaps a switch problem. At one point there was Line 2 problem around Leitrim but I question the accuracy of that report. Still problems in normal Ottawa winter weather with another storm coming in 2 days. The trains should be able to handle this weather better than buses but nope

Signage could definitely be improved in a few places but as far as the CFRA host not being able to find an exit to Bayview Station, that just screams “weaponized incompetence”. My guess is they went for a staff-only door to use as the basis for their regularly scheduled rant. I don’t really blame them, because “Line 1 running relatively normally during biggest storm of the year” doesn’t incite the kind of outrage that CFRA aims for.

Their 90-minute commute from Bayview to Rideau is an impressively sad attempt to generate more alarmist BS that clearly people eat right up.

Originally Posted by kmcamp

They aren't magic. The TTC, GO Trains, Translink, ETS, REM, and CTrain all get delayed in major storms as well. The only system in Canada completely immune to weather is the Montreal Metro, as it's entirely underground.

Yup, check the STM or TTC websites today. Spoiler, they’re not going to say “expect things to run normally today”.

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

When it comes to OCTranspo citizens expect way too much.
Why should we have reliable public transit in the winter and during a snow storm... come on!
Why would the mayor or OCTranspo management do anything to improve the situation... no one has lost their job over LRT.

We get what we deserve.

Again, I’m not sure what kind of bubble people are living in that they expect OCT to be business as usual today. There are real concerns about reliability and their overall management, but using today of all days to try and exemplify their shortcomings does nothing but hurt the cause.

[lrt's friend]

Rail should be more reliable in these conditions than buses. We are not experiencing ice or -40. Snow clearing is an issue? Really? If there is an issue with switches, find a better solution. This is just normal Ottawa snowfall that we get most winters including another dump in two days. As I said, rail should be the most reliable transportation method under these conditions. Nothing is perfect, but failure every time we have somewhat wintery conditions is unacceptable.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Rail should be more reliable in these conditions than buses. We are not experiencing ice or -40. Snow clearing is an issue? Really? If there is an issue with switches, find a better solution. This is just normal Ottawa snowfall that we get most winters including another dump in two days. As I said, rail should be the most reliable transportation method under these conditions. Nothing is perfect, but failure every time we have somewhat wintery conditions is unacceptable.

We're at 30cm now, that's not "somewhat wintery", that's a typical once a season storm. Your performance expectations are unrealistic. The system didn't shut down, there were delays and a brief interruption on Line 4. That's not abnormal for a storm this size in any wintery city in the world.

[Williamoforange]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

We're at 30cm now, that's not "somewhat wintery", that's a typical once a season storm. Your performance expectations are unrealistic. The system didn't shut down, there were delays and a brief interruption on Line 4. That's not abnormal for a storm this size in any wintery city in the world.

I would also hazard a guess that both lines were still able to move more people per hour then the roads at anytime before 8am this morning, buses included.