Snow Slows LRT, Buses In Ottawa
This is a release from the City of Ottawa:
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Mayor and Members of Council,
This email is to provide an update on transit services this morning.
The severe winter storm brought significant snow and blowing snow overnight and early this morning. Heavy snow fall and high winds continue to make this morning’s conditions challenging.
O-Train Line 1 service started at 5am this morning, but operations were impacted by snow accumulation and blowing snow on the tracks, particularly between Tremblay and Hurdman stations, despite snow clearing continuing throughout the night. Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM) has deployed all available resources to clear snow from the track infrastructure and at the stations.
As a result of ongoing snow clearing operations, customers can expect:
- Line 1 is operating between Tunney’s Pasture and Blair stations, with trains running on one track between uOttawa and St-Laurent stations
- R1 bus service is providing supplemental service from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair to help keep customers moving
- E1 bus service also continues to run between Blair Station and downtown
Line 2 and 4 started on time and all station platforms are open for customers. Snow accumulation at some switches required trains to use a diversion early this morning, which resulted in delays for customers. Our maintainer, TransitNext, is monitoring the system and has resources in place to clear snow on track infrastructure, including switches.
For the first time, we implemented the Severe Storm Schedule for bus service. We are monitoring bus operations closely and are seeing effective results so far in keeping the bus network moving in poor conditions. Customers that must travel today are encouraged to give themselves extra time and plan ahead by using the Travel Planner on octranspo.com or the Transit App. Due to challenging road conditions slower travel times are expected.
Para Transpo service is operating, and customers can use My Para Transpo app to track the status of their trips. Operations are taking longer due to the challenging road conditions and ensuring the safety of customers and staff.
We expect that conditions will fluctuate throughout the day and will continue to provide updates to customers through all of our communications channels as well as additional updates to Council throughout the day.
Thank you,
Renée Amilcar
General Manager, Transit Services Department
Directrice générale, Services de transport en commun
City of Ottawa | Ville d’Ottawa
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If we were all living in Victoria B.C. I’d understand the crippling impact the snowfall from last night would have on the city. After all, they don’t own much in the way of snow removal equipment and it would not be economically prudent for them to invest when they experience one, maybe two medium-impact snowfalls per year. But Ottawa has been removing snow from its streets, sidewalks, driveways, etc for decades and has a fleet of vehicles and drivers to effectively deal with this task. So, why the big impact on public transit? Maybe Mark Sutcliffe should call Toronto city hall and find out the steps required to contact the military in these troubled times of a 30 cm snowfall.