Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[OTownandDown]

Manconi to City Council "Do not even think about changing the service yet, it's too soon"

*Leans back in his chair and turns to his assistant* "Lets look into these changes they're proposing and come up with something for next week"

Originally Posted by rocketphish

OC Transpo changing bus service at Blair, Tunney’s Pasture to ease crowded stations

By: OBJ staff
Published: Sep 23, 2019 4:17pm EDT

Ottawa’s transit agency is making changes to ease problems with confusion and overcrowding at the two terminus stations on the Confederation Line after the capital’s first week of light-rail transit service.

Transit riders took to social media last week to complain about a logjam of passengers at Blair and Tunney’s Pasture stations during peak travel periods, especially the commute home at the end of the day.

A memo sent Friday from OC Transpo boss John Manconi said the agency will add more signage, provide additional buses and deploy extra service staff at Tunney’s Pasture and Blair stations to help passengers navigate the transit hubs.

Manconi attributed the congestion issues to confusion about bus transfer protocols at both stations. Not all passengers were aware that they did not have to tap or pay to board a bus after exiting the LRT in these paid fare zones.

Other issues with the line throughout the week included two trespassers, a delay related to a customer holding open a set of train doors, odours at Parliament and Rideau stations and an operator forced to do a brake reset on one of the trains.

Apart from that, service ran well with “no major issues,” Manconi wrote.

https://obj.ca/article/oc-transpo-changing-bus-service-blair-tunneys-pasture-ease-crowded-stations

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by CityTech

khakis and striped dress shirts are the de facto uniform of an Ottawa male

Something wrong with society when men are only judged on their appearance.

[OTownandDown]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Something wrong with society when men are only judged on their appearance.

Oh jeeze, you weren't the one yelling at that poor platform attendant, were you?

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Something wrong with society when men are only judged on their appearance.

To be fair, this male was also judged for ranting at a helpless attendant.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

Manconi to City Council "Do not even think about changing the service yet, it's too soon"

*Leans back in his chair and turns to his assistant* "Lets look into these changes they're proposing and come up with something for next week"

Throwing up some more signs, adding CS staff and having some extras sit around aren't exactly the massive changes he was saying no to. The service remains the same.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

Oh jeeze, you weren't the one yelling at that poor platform attendant, were you?

Oh lordy no.

[lrt's friend]

Just announced on CBC News that a train broke down at Parliament station at 1:40 p.m. requiring passengers to get off the train and exit the station. The degree of the shut down of the C-Line is not yet known.

[CityTech]

There are currently no alerts listed on OC's website, so I'm guessing it was resolved.

If its a train that broke down, the procedure is to have the train behind it tow it back right? So I imagine they put the train that broke down as well as the one behind it out of service and both proceeded to the yard if it was eastbound (if westbound, the train behind would have towed it to Tunney's and one platform gone out of service there for the stuck train). Unless the train that "broke down" was still able to move, then it could have gone out of service and driven to the yard itself.

[CityTech]

Twitter is also silent, only saw two tweets both of whom offered no further detail. My guess is whatever it was, its something minor and/or the system overall had minimal disruption.

Also, on another topic, while searching Twitter, I discovered that Happy Goat Coffee is supposedly taking over the retail spaces in the station.

[PHrenetic]

Good Day.

It may have been an idiot at Rideau Station....check out O-Train Fans here:

https://www.otrainfans.ca/forum/topic/294-wierd-sightings-and-general-buffoonery/

<sigh>

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

CTV says that Happy Goat Coffee will set up 4 small kiosk outlets in 4 stations--Rideau, Tunney's . Hurdman and Blair.

They will have a five year lease.

[Badyouken]

Originally Posted by LeadingEdgeBoomer

CTV says that Happy Goat Coffee will set up 4 small kiosk outlets in 4 stations--Rideau, Tunney's . Hurdman and Blair.

They will have a five year lease.

That's great news. A local business.

What are the timelines?

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I believe when you pass the age of 55 you're supposed to add a Tilley hat to that look.

If it's any consolation, in Gatineau the khakis worn by your standard local dude would probably be capris.

I can confirm that my dad conforms to this, though it was closer to 60 when he added the Tilley. I guess he was just not fashion-forward enough.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by PHrenetic

Good Day.

It may have been an idiot at Rideau Station....check out O-Train Fans here:

https://www.otrainfans.ca/forum/topic/294-wierd-sightings-and-general-buffoonery/

<sigh>

This is a major and under-reported issue with LRT/Metro/Subway systems. People are one of the biggest causes of delays for trains and usually it is completely avoidable behaviours.

On that note, suicides are also a major (and tragic) cause for delays. I am sure our system has plans for such an incident. Hopefully, it will be a long time before we see that happen.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2019/0...o-those-who-witness-suicides-on-subways/

[J.OT13]

Came back from BC Tuesday night and we rode the train for the first time yesterday, Blair to Lyon, Lyon to St-Laurent and St-Laurent back to Blair.

Compared to the Skytrain we first experienced during our trip, Confederation is fast and incredibly smooth. Skytrain was very shaky and jerky, almost like a bus. Our station concourses are much more spacious. We havefar more fare gates. And in Vancouver, nowhere did we see double elevators. All single. Ottawa seems well ahead of the curb in accessibility.*

In terms of capacity, we can really see the limits of the under-built Canada Line. Always packed to the rafters however, a significant capacity increase is coming in January. Expo seems adequate. Millennium is currently running single trains (ART Mark II) which is plenty for now. I imagine they will need doubles once the Broadway Subway opens in 2025.

One great feature in Ottawa (hadn't notice anywhere else) are the water fountains however, I'm quite disappointed they did not also include water bottle fill stations with them. Lost opportunity IMO.

*Though Vancouver's fare gates have a special accessibility feature for those who can't scan the Compass Card; they can be issued a special card that are scanned from above by a transponder, opening the doors automatically for them. Not sure our very limited Presto service could achieve this. (https://www.translink.ca/Rider-Guide/Accessible-Transit/Wheelchairs-and-Mobility-Aids.aspx)

[ars]

Out of curiosity, has anyone noticed an uptick/change in mall traffic at the 3 malls connected by the OTrain since Sept 14?

I took the Trillium line and Confederation line a couple days ago from Carleton to the Rideau Center, it was a great experience, it took me ~12 mins to get from Carleton to Rideau, which is much faster than it would've taken me to drive + park.

It's crazy how the two lines contrast each other, the Trillium line has bigger, roomier trains but is slower station to station, and is significantly louder thanks to the diesel engines. The Confederation line trains aren't as big but service is way faster and it's a more quieter and comfortable ride.

[AuxTown]

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/carleton-student-gets-lrt-route-tattoo-1.4611132



Love the commitment

[J.OT13]

Quick comment on rail service. We would have had the opportunity to take the Canada Line to YVR however, we opted to accept a ride from my partner's aunt and uncle since it was rush hour and Canada is already packed even outside rush hour. I imagine taking the train from the YVR to downtown is fairly simple since you're stepping on an empty train however, downtown to airport is less ideal.

In Victoria, we took the bus from the airport to downtown, which required one transfer. The ride took about an hour total. Wasn't too bad honestly. Our three train YOW to Downtown might not be so terrible after all, though 1 or 2 trains would be far superior none-the-less.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

One great feature in Ottawa (hadn't notice anywhere else) are the water fountains

I agree... I noticed a water fountain near the washrooms at Bayview, but when I went through Hurdman I didn't notice any there. Does anyone know if Hurdman has one?

[J.OT13]

Someone had mentioned that they did not see Douglas Coupland's exploded provincials flags at Parliament and asked what happened to it.



Well, it seems Douglas Coupland instead completed the ceiling art work.


https://ottawa.ca/en/residents/transport...ublic-transit/o-train-confederation-line

Why the change, I don't know. But the new work seems much more expansive than the previous proposal, so can't complain!

Speaking of ceilings, I took a moment to observe the paneling at Lyon Station's concourse and it's true; looks much better in person.