Council Should Show Some Guts On Light Rail: BENN

Published 07/27/2023 · Updated 07/27/2023

Saturday columnist Ron Benn calls for action from city council on the light-rail issue:

Single car trains every seven to eight minutes, as contrasted by double-car trains every five minutes. Supplemented by R1 buses when necessary.

When necessary means during just rush hours? Or also during other parts of the day.

How will this impact the routes that OC Transpo deems less than necessary? You know, the routes that have been cancelled due to re-deployment of the buses to supplement the R1 routes. The routes which provide a service to the people who don’t live within a reasonable walking distance of the LRT-R1 routes.

For how long will this hybrid train-R1 bus arrangement go on?

Memo To Mark Sutcliffe: The Rail Fix

Is this reduced level of LRT service because most of the roughly 50 train cars are too close to or over the 60,000-kilometre limit for each axle?

Is it because they don’t have enough replacement axles in stock anywhere to upgrade the entire fleet? Keep in mind that these axle assemblies are unique to the Ottawa flavour of LRT vehicle, and thus manufacturing and assembly services might take some time to catch up to the sudden backlog.

Is it because … well the list could go on for a few pages if assembled by someone with anything approximating an inquiring mind. The type of mind that would be handy if one was tasked with oversight.

The memo issued by OC Transpo leaves more questions than it answers. Which makes it consistent with standard operating procedure for all of city hall.

Just another example of why council needs to show some courage and attempt to change the culture of non-disclosure that is endemic on Laurier Avenue.