Buses save trains and other takeaways from city hall
Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: November 20, 2019
City hall is something of a Magic School Bus for civic-minded adults, where you bump along going Lord knows where, without a seatbelt, looking for odd bits of wisdom.
Things I learned during a day-long meeting of Ottawa’s transit commission Wednesday.
Trains are smart, buses smarter.
The solution to troubles with the new $2.1-billion light rail system is, of course, buses — the very things we’re aiming to get rid of. Follow the bouncing ball: with the full launch of LRT on Oct. 6, we took 176 buses off the road because they were unneeded, inefficient, polluting modes of travel, then urgently added 40 more, then announced we were buying 19 new ones, now herald the arrival of 20 more — giving us 79 on the plus side since early November.
To be ready for train failures, 20 of the buses will be parked at the baseball stadium on Coventry Road, ready to launch into replacement, or R1, service. They will wait idling, the commission was told, during the morning and afternoon peaks.
Yes, idling, each with an operator, who makes in the range of $30 an hour, on good days not driving anywhere. You do the math. Ottawa council, by the way, declared a climate emergency in 2019.
And now for a Station break.
It’s becoming clear there are basic problems with the design of some of the LRT stations. Tunney’s has had scaffolding and plywood added to protect passengers from the winter elements, like some hermit shack. Hurdman’s sidewalks were too small. To combat icy slippage, mats are being tossed about at Lyon, Parliament and Rideau, and anti-skid coatings are being applied elsewhere. Like winter was a giant surprise.
Overcrowding on platforms, which appear to be too small? “I actually, on a daily basis, fear for my safety,” said commissioner Sarah Wright-Gilbert, a regular user of the east-end Blair station, where bus shelter removal is being contemplated to make space for humans.
Concluded commissioner Anthony Carricato: “The stations are not designed with people in mind.”
The commission was told, in a related vein, that some 500 hanger-straps are on the way to help short (?) passengers stay steady on the train. This will outfit about half the fleet.
Uh-oh, they’re getting organized.
A new group called Ottawa Transit Riders is turning into “a thing”, as the cool kids like to say. Only formed earlier this year, it has seven board members and they’re wide-awake and watching. They know their stuff, especially at street level.
And they’re dedicated. Board member Sam Boswell, a federal public servant, took a day off work to attend, calling out the city for working “in silos” and not properly engaging riders and the community in important route changes. Form a permanent, consultative working group, she urged.
Fellow director Stuart MacKay went further, saying the city and OC Transpo have historically demonstrated a paternalistic attitude toward the travelling public. He sees the frustration first-hand.
“Many are giving up on public transit and that is disconcerting.”
These people are not going away.
RTM is not the KGB.
More like the Kremlin. Not much is publicly known about Rideau Transit Maintenance, the consortium looking after the trains and rails, and pretty much everything in between, for the next 30 years.
Coun. Catherine McKenney wondered why the train warranty documents she requested were redacted, arriving blank. A protected, commercial secret, she was told, but she can view them in the city solicitor’s office. And take the knowledge to the grave, we presume.
OC Transpo general manager John Manconi made the surprising admission that he has final authority over the naming of RTM’s chief executive, who in this case is Peter Lauch, the former technical director of Rideau Transit Group and once its CEO.
“I have final authority as to whether Mr. Lauch can stay in that position or not.”
Manconi said RTM seems to be doing a better job and getting the city’s stern message. The famous frozen water fountain, he reports, was fixed within an hour with one quick phone call.
No way to run a railroad.
The City of Ottawa runs a lousy meeting. The transit commission gathering began at 9:30 a.m. and, as I type at 6 p.m., it isn’t nearly over. Fatigue is setting in, if not widespread famine. Importantly, how is anyone sharp enough to still be paying attention to the 2020 budget, the main agenda item?
Last Friday, a meeting about short-term rentals in the city began in the morning and was still going after supper.
Dear city hall: When we say democracy is a marathon, not a sprint, that’s just a figure of speech.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email
[email protected]
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...ains-and-other-take-aways-from-city-hall
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