Baseline Rd. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project | Proposed

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Williamoforange

Multiple candidates mentioned transit during the debate. Twitter isn't a fulsome picture of a campaign.....and was talking about the written section....of which Pat McGarry mentions Baseline BRT by name...

My apologies. I just saw the video part.

[DTcrawler]

Sorry to give false hope by bumping this thread, but Councillor Johnson (College Ward) is hosting an info session on the Baseline BRT on Jan 16 (registration link). Might be an opportunity to get an update on the status of the project.

[J.OT13]

Really hoping to see some movement. The Baseline BRT would be the biggest improvement to transit outside rail expansion, by far.

[rocketphish]

Ottawa hosting public meeting on proposed Baseline BRT plan

By Peter Szperling, CTV News
Published: January 16, 2025 at 9:53AM EST



City of Ottawa staff will be hosting a webinar about the proposed Baseline Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Thursday night.

Residents will have an opportunity to learn about the public transit project and its development.

In 2017, the city’s transportation committee approved a new rapid transit project that will put bus lanes in the middle of Baseline Road. The stretch from Heron Station at Billings Bridge to Baseline Station will be built first.

At that time, the total price tag was reported as $167 million. Former Transportation Services general manager John Manconi called the BRT project a “golden opportunity.”

According to a 2023 City of Ottawa presentation, there will be 25 new stations and buses will be separated from vehicle traffic. The city expects ridership to be 10,000 per day by 2031

A statement on College ward Coun. Laine Johnson’s website says the proposed Baseline BRT will “provide a quality transit service alternative for cross-town trips without the need to travel via downtown while connecting major transitway stations which includes Bayshore, Baseline, Trillium Line and Billings Bridge.”

Thursday’s meeting will be held virtually via TEAMS from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. You are asked to RSVP here.


https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/ottawa-hosting-public-meeting-on-proposed-baseline-brt-plan/

[DTcrawler]

Did anyone have a chance to tune in? I was planning on it but decided to get last min tickets to the Sens game instead.

Hopefully staff at least gave some sort of indication that the project is indeed moving ahead, as I was a bit confused when the CTV article implied the same.

[water_mage73]

It was an interesting webinar. They said that Phase I (which is the Baseline/Greenbank intersection) is being paid out of city coffers and development charges, which is why it is being done now. It will result in a travel time savings of up to 170seconds or so per trip.

Phase II (Heron to Baseline) was found to be the biggest return on investment of all transit projects from the TMP in terms of ridership increase, operational savings for OC Transpo, and reliability, so for the City it does indeed to be high on their list.

They said the detailed design was fully completed in 2024 for the Heron to Baseline segment, and it is a shovel-ready project. The cost is approx $200million, but they want a third/third/third funding model, so they are waiting on money from the province and feds. I was a bit surprised that it would only cost $200million (after the LRT being in the billions, this seems like a drop in the bucket) so I'm hopeful that other levels of government are able to cough up the approx $70million each.

While there were questions from attendees on if this project is still needed, the City said that ridership on the 88 has surpassed pre-pandemic levels and that Baseline is expected to get an extra 20,000 new residents by 2046, so this project is still much needed.

Overall, I am hopeful that the Heron to Baseline section will happen soon. The Baseline to Bayshore section they said was in a longer term horizon (detailed design not yet complete), I guess because it isn't as well used as the other section. It would also cost just over $200million.

[NOWINYOW]

It was stated at the meeting Phase 1 would run from Heron to Baseline, yet they are building an interchange at Baseline and Greenbank? Greenbank isn't between Heron and Baseline.

"They said that Phase I (which is the Baseline/Greenbank intersection) is being paid out of city coffers and development charges, which is why it is being done now."

"In 2017, the city’s transportation committee approved a new rapid transit project that will put bus lanes in the middle of Baseline Road. The stretch from Heron Station at Billings Bridge to Baseline Station will be built first. "

[vtecyo]

Originally Posted by NOWINYOW

It was stated at the meeting Phase 1 would run from Heron to Baseline, yet they are building an interchange at Baseline and Greenbank? Greenbank isn't between Heron and Baseline.

"They said that Phase I (which is the Baseline/Greenbank intersection) is being paid out of city coffers and development charges, which is why it is being done now."

"In 2017, the city’s transportation committee approved a new rapid transit project that will put bus lanes in the middle of Baseline Road. The stretch from Heron Station at Billings Bridge to Baseline Station will be built first. "

Maybe the Greenbank intersection was due for renewal anyway? If so - they might as well get some of it done now. https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/public-en...nsit-priority-intersection-improvements#

[Uhuniau]

At mere hundreds of millions, that's some seriously low-hanging fruit.

[J.OT13]

The city expects ridership to be 10,000 per day by 2031

If it's even built by then.

When they say "Heron to Baseline", they mean Heron Station to Algonquin Station? Because the BRT will be ON Heron and Baseline, so Heron to Baseline doesn't make sense; that's just a bridge.

Hopefully Toronto Mayor Ford can spare a few bucks for a third of this very cheap project after giving two dozen Billion to the GTHA for transit projects.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

If it's even built by then.

When they say "Heron to Baseline", they mean Heron Station to Algonquin Station? Because the BRT will be ON Heron and Baseline, so Heron to Baseline doesn't make sense; that's just a bridge.

Hopefully Toronto Mayor Ford can spare a few bucks for a third of this very cheap project after giving two dozen Billion to the GTHA for transit projects.

Baseline the Station

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Baseline the Station

Thanks for the clarification. Quite confusing with the upcoming name change.

Baseline (or Algonquin) Station to Heron Station is a sizeable chunk of the project. It would be a huge win in improving the lackluster bus system and provide a good alternative to Line 1 while connecting a few key transit nodes.

I'm surprised they aren't pushing to include the Bayshore segment as well considering the TOD going up along the west end of Baseline. That extra connection would go a long way.

[kmcamp]

Is there any chance they'd put in decent shelters when this thing gets built? They don't need to be as grandiose as the old 80s era transitway stations, but just a nice fully enclosed standalone heated shelter like they have at the transecure stops at Line 1/Line 2 bus terminals would be nice. I hate that all 21st century "stations" like Innovation are just a plain vanilla bus stop shelter slapped on a sidewalk, generally without even a next bus display

[SweazyCavalry]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

Is there any chance they'd put in decent shelters when this thing gets built? They don't need to be as grandiose as the old 80s era transitway stations, but just a nice fully enclosed standalone heated shelter like they have at the transecure stops at Line 1/Line 2 bus terminals would be nice. I hate that all 21st century "stations" like Innovation are just a plain vanilla bus stop shelter slapped on a sidewalk, generally without even a next bus display

If you look at Montreal's Pie-XI SRB (BRT), we can already have standardized plans for it, and it doesn't need to be expensive.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Really hoping to see some movement. The Baseline BRT would be the biggest improvement to transit outside rail expansion, by far.

It would be the biggest improvement outside rail that the current generation of city hall thinkers can think of, anyway, because they can only think about doing things for bus transit on six- and eight-lane suburban stroads.

I'm still waiting on anything resembling vision for improvements in the suffering urban corridors and neighbourhoods that need bus improvements the most, and which aren't getting them.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

Is there any chance they'd put in decent shelters when this thing gets built? They don't need to be as grandiose as the old 80s era transitway stations, but just a nice fully enclosed standalone heated shelter like they have at the transecure stops at Line 1/Line 2 bus terminals would be nice. I hate that all 21st century "stations" like Innovation are just a plain vanilla bus stop shelter slapped on a sidewalk, generally without even a next bus display

Passenger shelter was fairly prominent in the bumpf for the recent virtual town hall update thingie regarding this project.

Don't know if they've thought very much about the exact design yet, but recent adventures in OC Transpo bus passenger amenities don't exactly give me cause to get my hopes up. They really seem to have a hard time understanding what it is transit passengers need, let alone what they want.

[J.OT13]

Full presentation: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/college...09428/Baseline_BRT_slides.pdf?1737209428

Info Session:

• Video Link

A few slides:

[ponyboycurtis]

I can't not see Cities:Skylines in those blue and purple directional arrows.

[DTcrawler]

This project could be a game changer if they do it right. Really happy to at least see they haven't shelved it indefinitely.

[Uhuniau]

"Stations with shelter, wide platforms".

Every time I've taken part in one of the fake consultations about any downtown street rebuilding project, I've raised the issue of transit shelter, and constantly get the excuse that the "standard" shelters often don't fit narrow urban sidewalks.

Which is true.

It's also not an excuse: find a transit shelter solution that isn't the "standard" one, then.

The deux-vitesses approach to bus transit in this city - a higher expectation for suburban service that urbanites are not even allowed to aspire to - is really really really starting to piss me off.