Light rail plans set in motion.
An artist's rendering of a new Hurdman's station. Andrew Haydon’s main concerns regarding the LRT project are cost, the lack of flexibility and the belief that the transition to rail will result in a drop in ridership.
City of Ottawa's rail implementation office
Wheels are in motion to bring light-rail
rapid transit to Ottawa.
As part of the 2031 master transit plan,
both the federal and provincial governments have endorsed the light-rail rapid
transit (LRT) by each put forward $1.2 million in funding.
The current plan will span 12.5 kilometres
of track, which will include 13 stations – from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair Road – and 3.2
kilometres of tunnel through the downtown core.
The system is designed to be entirely
segregated from roadways and traffic, and is calculated to shave 15 minutes off
commuter time and halve the number of buses moving through downtown.
Environmental assessments are underway for
this summer and if all goes well preliminary engineering can begin as soon as
August. Shovels are set to break ground in 2012 with a projected use date of
2019.
However, not everyone is all aboard with
the LRT plans. Former reeve of the former city of Nepean, Andy Haydon, is against using
lightrail and thinks that a downtown bus tunnel could eliminate congestion
while maintaining the flexibility that bus rapid transit (BRT) provides.
“It’s a folly to pursue LRT,” Haydon said
in an interview. “Tunnel through downtown with no extra cost to taxpayers.”
Haydon’s main concerns regarding the LRT
project are cost, the lack of flexibility and the belief that the transition to
rail will result in a drop in ridership.
According to Haydon, Ottawa
has the best BRT in North America and that it
would be “fabulously better with a tunnel.”
Kevin Guérin, manager of
communications with the city’s rail implementation office, doesn’t agree with
Haydon’s vision, claiming that the master plan was designed with a transition
to rail in mind.
“(BRT) was great for the city but was always
meant to be converted to LRT,” he said. “The city has taken a very deliberate
approach to this project.”
Bay ward Coun. Alex Cullen agrees that LRT
is the way to go and disagrees with Haydon’s push to keep the buses.
“During the development of the city's rapid
transit plan the issues that Mr. Haydon raised were reviewed, analyzed and
discussed both at transit committee and at city council,” he wrote in an email.
“Indeed, Mr. Haydon made presentations at committee on these matters. While
many of us respect Mr. Haydon's experience and knowledge, in the end committee
and council were not convinced that his proposals represented good value for
the city compared to electric light rail transit.”
Haydon claims that the cost per passenger
almost doubles from $23,000 with BRT to $41,000 with LRT.
Cullen disagrees with Haydon’s number
crunch.
“The operating costs of LRT are lower than
Mr. Haydon's bus solution (due to higher carrying capacity of the rail cars),
and the construction costs of a bus rapid transit tunnel … are higher than
for electric LRT,” he said. “Both the federal government and the provincial
government have endorsed our plan by putting in $1.2 million in funding towards
it. In my view it is the best plan for the future of our city.”
jamie.doggart@metroland.com