Light Rail in Ottawa: an Unmitigated Fail

Yes, you heard me.

Ottawa's light rail finally began rolling mid-September, after two years of delays for which the manufacturer was penalized... a whole million dollars (that's practically scot-free for a $3-billion project.)

One of the many stipulations that the City of Ottawa insisted upon (and upon which it later caved, as municipal elections loomed) was that the operator had to demonstrate twelve days' consecutive flawless operation of the line, before handing the keys over to the City. Of course, we now know that this didn't happen.

The construction project was accompanied by unprecedented congestion, as vastly more vehicles fought over significantly less road space. No problem, promised John Manconi, OC Transpo head; rail will solve everything.

It came out, long before the line opened, that the contractor had failed many of the technical requirements; yet was still allowed to proceed. How very Ottawan a way of doing business!

In its first three weeks of operation, the new light-rail line has been plagued with outages; computer glitches, power failures, trains grinding to a halt because the doors jammed, because people were holding them open to exit the train, because they were not staying open for a reasonable amount of time. Now the proposed solution is to 'isolate' the door and carry on. I know that if I'm ever on a train, and that happens, that I need to get close to a working door--and quickly.

So, about that congestion? Well, in hindsight, it's little surprise, but people immediately noticed the reduced traffic downtown and resumed driving to work. It's already just as congested as before the train. The remaining surface buses downtown face exactly the same kinds of delays as before. So much for that promise.

And what about at other points along the line? Especially in the west end, where the line has been jammed right up against the Ottawa River? Well, that's causing its own kind of congestion, especially around Tunney's Pasture, the current end of the line. When the system ain't working, the nearby streets are flooded with people; and with buses suddenly expected to carry on along their old routes. Lately, that's on a daily basis. Man, I'd love to have the budget to set up a chip truck nearby.

Other problems bubbling up: insufficient service from the existing trains. Long waits for buses at the ends of the line. Construction carrying on well after the line is 'done.' Overcrowding in bus compounds (especially at Tunney's, where hundreds of people can be trapped inside the station building when there's a problem). Despite the City's endless bragging that the new line is 'fast,' the average commute time has been lengthened by 15-20 minutes (more if you live way out). Down in Barrhaven, where the buses are always late and often cancelled; and where it took the better part of an hour to get downtown before the train, they're about to have a revolution!

I find it endlessly frustrating that the people who control the purse-strings of the transit system; and, indeed, the people who manage it, haven't ridden a bus since their teens (except when it has been politically expedient for them to do so--on a hand-picked, private bus). Well, after years of endless excuses, endless promises, and endless bold statements that this and that are being done to address problems--only to have the same problems crop up again, day after day--I can only say this:

John Manconi must go. He is completely out of touch with his customers. He is arrogant and condescending. And, mostly, he makes endless empty promises (to be fair, he did give up for a while and basically say "Suck it up" to his customers--people with no other options for transport). He has got to go; and his replacement _must_ use public transit to get to and from work. She must have a feel for the health of the system she is controlling; for the 'user experience'. Manconi wouldn't step near a bus other than to kick it. Have we learned nothing from decades of out-of-touch managers?

Jim Watson must go. He pinned his entire career on light rail. Hey, it was a gamble--and he lost. I will forever remember the Watson years for their Toronto-style vehicular congestion, and Watson beaming through one staged light-rail event after another. Well, Jim, after two years of empty promises, it's time to pay the piper. If light rail doesn't cost you your job, then I give up on this city.

There's one other part that must go--that must never be considered for another light-rail contract. That would be the Rideau Transit Group, a consortium thrown together for the express purpose of fleecing Ottawa for every last penny building the Ottawa line. Well, I don't think I really need to say anything; but for you out-of-town readers, a trip down memory lane yields the multiple sinkholes that delayed construction for months; the multiple times they promised that everything would be done in a month or two; The near-useless equipment (ie: trains with EZ-Jam doors), untested and built in a warm European climate; the claim that they were 'finished' back in (May? June? Months before it was actually finished--which it still isn't--not really). And, of course, the fact that they couldn't run empty trains on an operational schedule for twelve days, as originally required).  RTG, you're like a worn-out record (vinyl platters; predated tape recording). I (and, I suspect, most other educated Ottawans) don't believe a thing you say anymore. Piss off.

Back some years ago, OC had purchased buses built in California. They were nice; but in the winter they were awful. Salt got in between the windows and into the interior of the bus. They were not made to withstand Canadian winters. I don't think any of those buses is on the road today--maybe ten, twelve years later (buses often last 20).

My final word: winter is coming; and here we go again. If you think the LRT system has had woes so far, then you ain't seen nothin' yet!

-Bill