Well, four months in, with our bright, shiny new LRT already falling apart, a few things are becoming clear:
- The Rideau Transit Group has sold us a lemon;
- The contractors for the Phase II extension of the north-south line had no idea what they were even proposing; yet they were accepted as the low bidder;
- The City knew for months that raw sewage was leaking into Parliament Station, yet apparently did nothing;
- The City and OC Transpo blew the transition. Totally blew it.
First off, the LRT keeps breaking down. Faulty switches; EZ-Jam Doors; overhead wires falling down; computer failures; "wheel flats" (which are what they sound like); and the list goes on. This week, they are running "S1" supplementary bus service parallel to the O Train lines, because they don't have sufficient trains available to handle the load. Word is that Rideau Transit Maintenance, the turkeys hired to maintain the system, have been overwhelmed by these wheel flats, which aren't supposed to happen in a modern rail system.
On top of it all, the system was originally planned for 15 two-car trains. But the most that the Powers that Be have been able to operate (occasionally) is 13. That means longer waits for a train (when it's actually working), and greater crowding in the death-trap stations kindly provided for us. (I'm serious: when there's trouble, it's so crowded that you can't move).
Second, the City's acceptance of the winning bid for the Phase II extension borders on the criminal. The 'winning' proposal (from TransitNext, which is exactly the same set of suspects as constructed the 'Confederation Line'--smart; I'd change my name, too, after pulling a stunt like that) was turned down flat by the evaluation committee. It was clear that it had been cobbled together by people who didn't know what they were doing; it frequently makes reference to a 'catenary power system,' when the Line 2 trains are diesel. All I can say is, we're again going to get exactly what we pay for. And, again and again, we reward shitty performance with follow-on work.
The issue of raw sewage leaking into Parliament Station is an odd one. People were reporting the smell in the area, long before the line opened--and for months thereafter. The City finally 'fessed up about four months in. No explanation for the lag. Shut up and grab a nonexistent strap.
To rehash from previous columns, the City and OC Transpo totally blew the transition to LRT. They began cutting down on bus routes even before the trains rolled; sold off the buses immediately, and gave drivers pink slips. Several weeks later, when they came to the realization that a workable LRT system for Ottawa was at least a year away, they desperately tried to beg, borrow or steal buses from other municipalities, and begged for laid-off drivers to come back. Because of union rules, which meant that you had to re-enter the workforce at the bottom of the totem pole, most of the drivers told them to go hang.
So now we're in a colossal mess, and any fix is still months away. Meanwhile, buses--already cut back drastically--are being lifted to ensure a ready fleet for breakdowns.
So far, the City has been withholding payments to RTM, to cover the additional costs. Clearly, this cannot continue, or RTM will go bankrupt--which will open a whole new can of worms.
Either way, I can see the whole thing collapsing into endless lawsuits which will drain the city coffers.
Sadly, this is the way we do things in Ottawa; in a stab-blindly sort of way, with all the chips stacked in favour of the contractor. And, again and again, we get screwed. And, again and again, we reward this usurious behaviour. From all of this emerges a pattern: that the Mayor and Council are largely in the pockets of developers, "builders," whatever you'd like to call them. Mind, this is nothing new; when I first arrived, 30-some years ago, people were already carping about that.
Finally, a prediction: there's going to be an 'incident' at one of our new LRT stations. People will try to stampede in confining quarters, and there will be a few deaths and numerous injuries. And only then will our City Mothers realize the risk they've been putting us all through. Sadly, they can't shut down the LRT system, to fix it properly, because they've long ago given up the equivalent bus capacity. The resulting lawsuits are going to be hideous; and our grandchildren will still be paying them off.
Here's another prediction: those British experts from JBA, called in to babysit RTM's maintenance efforts, are going to strive mightily for three months and then, in the face of ever-mounting failures, are going to wash their hands of the mess.
So far, my predictions have not been wrong. I've been calling it correctly since the first doomed contract was signed, decades ago.
So, whom do we have to thank for this mess?
Suspect #1: Mayor Jim Watson. He's staked his career on LRT. But as more details leak out about the Top Secret procurement process (which, public money being involved, should never have happened in the first place), it's clear that the whole thing stunk to high heaven. And, I'm sorry, but he's gambled with a huge chunk of our money--and lost. He's the guy trying to justify a price hike for transit--at a time when it's not even working; when it's in its worst state since transit began in Ottawa! He's gotta be losing friends in business, left and right, since his fancy new transit system is costing local employers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity, since their employees cannot get in to work. Nobody's been mentioning that. Yet.
Suspect #2: OC Transpo Boss John Manconi. Here is a guy who never rides the bus--in charge of a transit system that is so bad, you generally have to leave at least an hour early to have any chance of getting where you're going on time. OC Transpo has gone from being held in some esteem, years ago, to a laughingstock--a joke. He made the decision to decimate the bus fleet when it was still badly needed. He's the head of an organization that doesn't know how to run a train, and has forgotten that buses still make up a major part of its fleet. I don't know how else to say it: Manconi has been a total failure since Day One. Get rid of this guy!
Those are the two to focus on, at the moment. I promise my next column will be about something other than Ottawa's LRT.
In the meantime, here in Ottawa, it's Business as Usual.
Have a good one,
-Bill
