Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[AuxTown]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/comments/ddg3tw/lrt_pimisi_station_tonight_at_dusk/

Reddit has not disappointed the past few weeks with LRT sunrise/sunset shots

Anyone else get a Star Wars vibe?

[Acajack]

They were dismantling the barriers to the 174 eastbound ramp from the westbound 417 this evening.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

This group would be new general traffic lanes.

• Removal of bus only lanes in both directions on Highway 174 between Blair and the Highway 417 and 174 split.
• The removal of the eastbound bus lane on Scott/Albert Street between Bayview Road and Empress Avenue.

Before construction, buses used the transitway west of Blair. Did they add lanes to the highway for the temporary bus lanes rather than take existing vehicle lanes?

Originally Posted by J.OT13

In the case of the 174 between the split and Blair, they could re-configure the area and implement HOV lanes.

While I agree in principle, it is a very short stretch for HOV lanes. If they could get the province to extend them on the 417 west of the split (especially if they had separate HOV ramps at Nicholas), then it would make more sense. Once Stage 2 East is complete, they could be extended all the way to Orleans. This would be a great solution for the eastern rural bus lines, as they could use the lanes as well.

[Truenorth00]

Holy crap. Trains are packed. Could barely get on at Cyrville. Some of it is folks crowding at the doors. But a lot if it is genuine filled to the brim. This sucks. They definitely need more capacity.

It was as bad as the Yonge Line after Bloor on my train at Hurdman. This is at ~0815. This is really going to turn people off transit if they don't add capacity.

[Multi-modal]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Holy crap. Trains are packed. Could barely get on at Cyrville. Some of it is folks crowding at the doors. But a lot if it is genuine filled to the brim. This sucks. They definitely need more capacity.

It was as bad as the Yonge Line after Bloor on my train. After Hurdman. This is at ~0815. This is really going to turn people off transit of that don't add capacity.

Yep, didn't get on the 1st train that arrived at hurdman (8:25). The next train I got on also left people behind. People waiting at Lee's were screwed. They need to get additional trains on the line during the AM ASAP.

[zzptichka]

Were the trains running at 4 minute intervals?
Gonna need those 2 missing trains on the tracks eventually...

[Multi-modal]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Were the trains running at 4 minute intervals?
Gonna need those 2 missing trains on the tracks eventually...

I didn't time it, but they seemed pretty close to 4 minutes. They were probably slightly off schedule because the dwell times at stations were longer than usual, but other than that trains were running at current maximum frequency as far as I could tell.

[J.OT13]

This is what we've been saying for years. OC Transpo and the City were planning crush load from day one in order to save operational costs. This is not the way to encourage more people to take transit.

It was pretty ridiculous of the City to accept 13 trains when the contract warranted 15 from the get go. Just because you assume you don't need 15 anymore, doesn't mean you can let the contractor off the hook. Complete the testing with 15 and run 13 if you wish, but have those extra two in your back pocket in case you need them.

The City had better be able to add 2+ trains during peak periods ASAP, otherwise ridership will take another hit.

On the bus side, there seemed to be reports of buses leaving Orleans more packed than usual which makes little sense. Bus routes and schedules should be basically the same, minus the downtown portion.

Based on OC Tranpo Live, a lot of buses seem to have been canceled this morning.

https://twitter.com/OCTranspoLive?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

This is what we've been saying for years. OC Transpo and the City were planning crush load from day one in order to save operational costs. This is not the way to encourage more people to take transit.

It was pretty ridiculous of the City to accept 13 trains when the contract warranted 15 from the get go. Just because you assume you don't need 15 anymore, doesn't mean you can let the contractor off the hook. Complete the testing with 15 and run 13 if you wish, but have those extra two in your back pocket in case you need them.

The City had better be able to add 2+ trains during peak periods ASAP, otherwise ridership will take another hit.

On the bus side, there seemed to be reports of buses leaving Orleans more packed than usual which makes little sense. Bus routes and schedules should be basically the same, minus the downtown portion.

Based on OC Tranpo Live, a lot of buses seem to have been canceled this morning.

https://twitter.com/OCTranspoLive?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

I think people have been avoiding transit the last couple of years waiting for this downtown portion to be fixed and for the buses to get off the highway. Plus the fact that our suburbs continue to grow every year has resulted in all aspects of our transit system (including the C-line) to be maxed out during the brief crush at a.m. and p.m. Fortunately, there is only a very short time-period for the Ottawa crush and I hope people will start to stagger their work starts to make a more comfortable commute.

I don't see how we can justify the extra trains for 2 hours of the day when the rest of the time the system has more than enough capacity.

[Uhuniau]

Oh wow yeah - the crowds this a.m. were something else, and I was an early bird, getting a train pre-peak.

Probably back to the bus in the a.m. the rest of the week: it's usually just as fast or faster, anyway, when you start in the Bermuda Triangle of Ottawa's transit plan.

[AuxTown]

CTV posted this video of the crowds this morning

https://twitter.com/CTVChristina/status/1181182022301224960?s=20

and another video half an hour later showing how much things had dissipated

https://twitter.com/CTVChristina/status/1181191475641688065?s=20

[CityTech]

We need those 2 extra trains as everyone else is saying, but we also need the federal government to get their workers to start staggering their hours. It's somewhat ridiculous just how much demand surges for 8-4 commutes.

[Allandale25]

^ How quickly could those "extra two trains" be manufactured and put into service if ordered?

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by CityTech

We need those 2 extra trains as everyone else is saying, but we also need the federal government to get their workers to start staggering their hours. It's somewhat ridiculous just how much demand surges for 8-4 commutes.

DND has always done a good job of staggering their work hours. I find military folks tend to want to work earlier and leave earlier in the day. This is one of the reasons so many are driving to Moodie as they get their early enough (some as early at 6am) to beat the rush. There will always be a downtown rush in the morning and afternoon but, hopefully, with our new centralized system we will see transit trips spreading themselves out naturally by those who have the ability to adjust their commute schedules.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Allandale25

^ How quickly could those "extra two trains" be manufactured and put into service if ordered?

Theoretically, those two trains should be ready-to-go as part of Stage 1. The initial plan was to have 15 doubles, with one "hot" spare train and one "cold". OC Transpo (or the City) decided running 13 was good enough for testing and service. Weather or not we can throw those extra two on the track now depends on whether the City actually did move the goal posts for testing or not.

We have several Stage 2 units which, on paper, should be ready to go within the next 6 months.

[lrt's friend]

This doesn't surprise me in the least. Most would not transfer for a train trip that takes just as long, as long as the buses were still running.

Ottawa has had staggered work hours for decades. I am sure people will naturally adjust but to expect people to work 6 to 2 or 10 to 7 when there are no extra suburban buses is ridiculous.

This all sounds like what happened in Edmonton when the city asked people to stagger their hours more because they didn't buy enough trains. I presume they bought more trains eventually.

They need to run the 15 trains as originally planned. I guess the city really doesn't want to grow ridership. We aren't preparing for this.

As expected, people in the south end get the raw end of the stick, as they hit the C-Line at the most congested point.

And some actually want to feed all or a good portion of Gatineau passengers in at Bayview. Really?

We better start thinking about the Bank Street subway sooner than expected.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

DND has always done a good job of staggering their work hours. I find military folks tend to want to work earlier and leave earlier in the day. This is one of the reasons so many are driving to Moodie as they get their early enough (some as early at 6am) to beat the rush. There will always be a downtown rush in the morning and afternoon but, hopefully, with our new centralized system we will see transit trips spreading themselves out naturally by those who have the ability to adjust their commute schedules.

If someone is arriving at 6 am, it is not likely by transit.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by CityTech

We need those 2 extra trains as everyone else is saying, but we also need the federal government to get their workers to start staggering their hours. It's somewhat ridiculous just how much demand surges for 8-4 commutes.

Geee, if only there were some carrot/stick approach one could take using the fare structure which would induce people to change their behaviour and spread the peak load a little broader in time during the morning and evening rushes.

Oh well. Some future generation of economists can puzzle over that problem.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

We better start thinking about the Bank Street subway sooner than expected.

The Montreal-Bank Subway.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by CityTech

We need those 2 extra trains as everyone else is saying, but we also need the federal government to get their workers to start staggering their hours. It's somewhat ridiculous just how much demand surges for 8-4 commutes.

Definitely not a panacea in this case (I agree that more capacity should've been built-in), but this is one of the reasons I wish there were peak pricing in transit. Like with road congestion pricing, I think that it should be slightly more expensive to ride at peak, and less expensive to ride off-peak. When I lived in the Netherlands, I had a Dalurenskaart, which entitled me to transit from 9-16h and after 18h30, plus weekends and holidays, all at a significantly reduced price compared to the all-day pass. In my case, I would shift many of my trips to 9am, after the rush hour, and I'd just pay a little supplement (something like $1.00) when I really had to travel during the rush. I saved a lot of money, and the transit operator got less intensive peak-hour demands.

If you really think about it, it is kinda ridiculous that you pay the same to ride an empty LRT at 10pm on a Sunday as 08h30 on a crush-capacity Monday. If there were an $90/mo off-peak transit pass, I'm certain a lot of people would be happy to buy it, and that it would help reduce crowding at peak and boost ridership at other times.

Pricing is a powerful tool for accomplishing policy goals. We should use it as such.