Consider Light-Rail Class-Action Suit: THE VOTER

09/21/2023

Long-time commenter The Voter, a very respected community activist in town, says OC Transpo is not honouring its commitment to riders.

So, in a nutshell, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe thinks it’s okay to have taken people’s money for a service that then was not provided and then offer them no compensation.

It is not the fault of a provincial construction-funding model offered to other municipalities or the federal government continuing to provide work-from-home options to their employees that OC Transpo did not provide and continues not to provide consistent and reliable service to transit users through the summer. Neither of those external actors were responsible for the extra expenses forced on people who normally rely on Ottawa’s excuse for a transit system when the train was shut down for a month and still does not operate at full capacity.

Sutcliffe Rejects Free Transit For Ottawa

The provincial funding system might well be unfair to Ottawa. Did Sutcliffe make any entreaties to Queen’s Park between his election and the end of June to change this policy? What requests has he made to the feds to contribute differently to Ottawa’s transit bill before the LRT went, literally, off the rails?

You sold a product to consumers that you then did not deliver, Your Worship. The people who, in good faith, bought transit passes and/or made their daily arrangements based on having transit services available to get them to work, school, appointments and other destinations have been denied that service and, in many cases, have incurred unexpected expenses as a result of OC Transpo’s default. They are owed compensation, plain and simple.

Perhaps if Sutcliffe denies that reimbursement, those customers might be able to find a judge who doesn’t regard the city’s obligations the same way as the mayor. And that could prove a great deal more expensive than a period of free transit.

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Tags: class action suit light rail Ottawa

Bruce says:
09/21/2023 at 11:15 AM
Who will pay for the city of Ottawa’s legal fees to defend against the suit? Who will pay if the city is found at fault?
Ken Gray says:
09/21/2023 at 12:03 PM
Bruce:
I’m trying to think here, Bruce. Could it be us?
cheers and thx
kgray
Richard says:
09/21/2023 at 2:52 PM
For those who would have Doug Ford change the provincial funding system for transit to make it more fair, may I remind you that nothing seems to move this government but political donations and the purchase of stag and doe tickets?
sisco farraro says:
09/21/2023 at 7:03 PM
Bruce’s question is right on the mark. Who does pay when the class action suit is against one of our governments, municipal, provincial, or federal ? And, Ken’s answer is exactly correct. Methinks there was a book written by Joseph Heller about a similar situation although the the battlefield was somewhat different.