Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

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

Extending the Trillium to Gatineau (Zibi) also means fewer transfers for south-enders using said line. Otherwise it's Trillium to Confederation and Confederation to bus instead of staying on your train to Zibi. Even for those who work at Portage, they could walk or transfer once to a bus.

And Bayview would not (should not) be alone. The STO can cross their trains at Portage and maybe Alexandra.

As for surge pricing, I would be more inclined to implement zones: Inner-Greenbelt vs. Outer-Greenbelt. Either way, the City would never go for it because it would mean charging more to the suburban electorate.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

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.

This may be worth considering, except won't it also push more people back into their cars especially if they are not going downtown?

It is still no excuse for having crush load trains on day one. We should be able to move all passengers comfortably. They told us they could run with a reduced number of trains. Obviously not.

[Capital Shaun]

We used to have peak fares. When they were scrapped, the base non-peak fare went way up to compensate.

[lrt's friend]

Carol Anne Meehan's twitter. 1hr 27m commute. This is bad!

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

[lrt's friend]

Councillor Allan Hubley (transit commission chair) was interviewed on CFRA this morning. He made the comment that the Trillium Line runs slowly because it is single tracked, but when Phase 2 is complete, it will be much faster when it is double tracked. Are our officials this out of touch with the real plans?

He also acknowledged that some people were left on the platform this morning and maybe one more train might be put into service this afternoon, but this is not up to him.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

This may be worth considering, except won't it also push more people back into their cars especially if they are not going downtown?

I wouldn't charge more for peak, I would just charge less for an off-peak option. It would likely be more politically palatable.

And yes, it wouldn't benefit people travelling at peak but counter-peak. It's not a perfect solution, but we shouldn't let that be the enemy of the good. It's certainly better than the current situation of crush-load buses and trains and an uber-concentrated peak. This kind of crowding is likely to push more people into their cars more than the availability of an off-peak pass.

[Radster]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

He also acknowledged that some people were left on the platform this morning and maybe one more train might be put into service this afternoon, but this is not up to him.

I remember reading that the 2 missing trains would be eventually added by the time the parallel bus service ended, so now. Was this just speculation on this board or was it something OC Transpo really planned on? Seems like there hasn't been anything said about those 2 missing trains since the C-Line opened.

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Councillor Allan Hubley (transit commission chair) was interviewed on CFRA this morning. He made the comment that the Trillium Line runs slowly because it is single tracked, but when Phase 2 is complete, it will be much faster when it is double tracked. Are our officials this out of touch with the real plans?

He also acknowledged that some people were left on the platform this morning and maybe one more train might be put into service this afternoon, but this is not up to him.

Hubley is so clueless.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Carol Anne Meehan's twitter. 1hr 27m commute. This is bad!

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

It looks like she left from Barrhaven. What's the typical commute time pre-LRT for someone from Barrhaven to downtown Ottawa?

Google Maps says 30 minutes for 25 km, though obviously this does not take traffic into account. That sounds about right for me for driving, but I admit I am a bit out of the loop for how long it takes for people to get downtown from various parts of Ottawa these days.

I spoke to some people in Orleans and was surprised at how long it took them to get to work downtown on OC Transpo. (Pre-LRT again.)

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Radster

I remember reading that the 2 missing trains would be eventually added by the time the parallel bus service ended, so now. Was this just speculation on this board or was it something OC Transpo really planned on? Seems like there hasn't been anything said about those 2 missing trains since the C-Line opened.

They spoke of 4 spare trains this morning in the interview, so obviously they launched with 13 trains this morning. The total train order was 17 trains. With crush loading, I expect that this also slowed down service to a degree.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Carol Anne Meehan's twitter. 1hr 27m commute. This is bad!

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

My coworkers from Barrhaven say that's about how long it always was.

Barrhaven is ridiculously far out, it's not called Farrhaven for nothing.

My commute today was still fine, though coming from the south end I don't think things are that different before and after today. Most South Enders seemed to be transferring at Hurdman anyway, I think the same is true for Orleans. For West enders there was less incentive to switch at Tunney's since they were almost downtown anyway.

[VANRIDERFAN]

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.

We have people arriving at 6, 7, 8 and 9. I usually try to arrive at 7. I remember when I was on the west coast, the DWAN was at rural dial up speed when we'd arrive at work for 0800 (Pacific) 1100(Ottawa) but by noon the speed had pickled up exponentially that by the time you got back to your desk after lunch the DWAN was almost bearable!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

My coworkers from Barrhaven say that's about how long it always was.

Barrhaven is ridiculously far out, it's not called Farrhaven for nothing.

My commute today was still fine, though coming from the south end I don't think things are that different before and after today. Most South Enders seemed to be transferring at Hurdman anyway, I think the same is true for Orleans. For West enders there was less incentive to switch at Tunney's since they were almost downtown anyway.

I know the highway connections are poor(er), but Barrhaven at 25 km from downtown isn't any further out than Kanata or the more eastern half of Orleans.

Intuitively I wouldn't have thought a typical peak-hour transit trip from Barrhaven to downtown would take an hour and half. More likely 45 minutes.

(I know it's urban transit and there are transfers but in an hour and a half you can almost drive to Montreal from my place or Orleans. Seems like a lot for an everyday intra-urban commute matin et soir. I'd expect that would be the lot of people who live in truly distant places like Casselman or Carleton Place.)

And I'd expect 30-45 minutes from places like Orleans and Kanata but from what I gather it's more like an hour for most people.

Or maybe I am just spoiled...

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Originally Posted by Radster

I remember reading that the 2 missing trains would be eventually added by the time the parallel bus service ended, so now. Was this just speculation on this board or was it something OC Transpo really planned on? Seems like there hasn't been anything said about those 2 missing trains since the C-Line opened.

It could be that they will wait to see what happens with 13 trains and then decide whether or not to add #14 and #15.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I know the highway connections are poor(er), but Barrhaven at 25 km from downtown isn't any further out than Kanata or the more eastern half of Orleans.

Intuitively I wouldn't have thought a typical peak-hour transit trip from Barrhaven to downtown would take an hour and half. More likely 45 minutes.

(I know it's urban transit and there are transfers but in an hour and a half you can almost drive to Montreal from my place or Orleans. Seems like a lot for an everyday intra-urban commute matin et soir. I'd expect that would be the lot of people who live in truly distant places like Casselman or Carleton Place.)

And I'd expect 30-45 minutes from places like Orleans and Kanata but from what I gather it's more like an hour for most people.

Or maybe I am just spoiled...

I didn't mean that it's not terrible, it's just that it didn't jump from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours because of transferring to the train. It was always terrible, mostly because of the very long way the transitway takes to Tunney's versus the much more direct driving path. For Barrhavenites near the bridge, it would actually be way faster for them to take Line 2 once it goes to Riverside South.

[lrt's friend]

Wow, just reading the comments on CBC News and there is a big sh*t disturber on there who won't allow anybody to vent their frustrations about Day one service problems. He is telling everybody to just wait for Phase 2 (at least 5 years away) or get up 30 minutes earlier. He admits to driving to work because he doesn't have the 'luxury' of using public transit. As if public transit is a luxury.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lrt-bus-oc-transpo-service-change-1.5311433

I am not at all surprised what has happened, since it is the biggest change in public transit in Ottawa ever. We need to be patient, but OC Transpo does need to come up with solutions quickly. People's trips cannot be 30 minutes longer on an ongoing basis. Wait times for morning peak buses cannot be excessive as some have suggested. Trains cannot be crushed loaded with people left on the platform for a brand new service. This will destroy public transit in Ottawa if solutions are not implemented.

I am also seeing that people are being told not to film on OC Transpo property. This seems to be heavy handed when the public needs to know what is going on. I take it that the news media are being ordered not to film. Bad in a democratic society.

[lrt's friend]

If service is 1.5 hours from Barrhaven, we have a problem. Sorry, I can drive to Montreal suburbs in that time.

[kmcamp]

As for the "7 minutes" people keep chiming about, that's only for Tunney's people. If you didn't get a train it's 7 minutes until it arrives at the same platform. The interim train arrives at the other platform. It was a stupendously bad decision to not use a centre platform there.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

As for the "7 minutes" people keep chiming about, that's only for Tunney's people. If you didn't get a train it's 7 minutes until it arrives at the same platform. The interim train arrives at the other platform. It was a stupendously bad decision to not use a centre platform there.

Well, we implemented a design for post Phase 2, which is ridiculous when that is at least 5 years away.

One of my comments from my first experience, is that they need to clearly show the next train departure as you walk in the door from the bus station. I expect they are not willing or able to do this.

Also, I noted the lack of stair capacity, which is something that the public is commenting about today. Heaven help you if you are trying to go in the opposite direction this afternoon, when a train arrives.

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

As for the "7 minutes" people keep chiming about, that's only for Tunney's people. If you didn't get a train it's 7 minutes until it arrives at the same platform. The interim train arrives at the other platform. It was a stupendously bad decision to not use a centre platform there.

Yup.