NEW TRANSIT PLAN WILL MEAN FASTER COMMUTES FOR KANATA RESIDENTS

Unlike many of the plans for expanding rapid transit that we have seen recently, the proposals for expanding rapid transit with a tunnel under downtown will mean faster commutes for Kanata residents. The new plan is not perfect, but it is a step forward.

For people using transit to get downtown there are two bottlenecks. The Queensway and downtown. With a tunnel under downtown and the Western Transitway, both of these bottlenecks will be removed.

Complaints about previous plans were that they either did not go where people wanted, the routes were too slow or the service was too infrequent. The proposal to run trains on existing railway tracks would be cheap, but there would only be a train to Kanata every 30 minutes. As a comparison, there is a bus leaving the Eagleson Park and Ride every couple of minutes at rush hour.

The new plan will provide direct service between Kanata and destinations like downtown and Tunney’s Pasture. It will include high frequency service.

With light rail in the tunnel, commuting would be similar to what happens in many parts of Montreal and Toronto with their subways. Trains would be frequent enough and reliable enough to allow transfer times to be kept to a minimum. Both the capacity of light rail and the ease with which people can get on and off would help ensure speed and reliability.

Light rail is cheaper in the long term, but will cost more upfront. A bus tunnel is more expensive to build than a rail tunnel, but the cost of converting the transitway to light rail and expanding the O-Train (with option four only) means the total capital cost for light rail is higher. However, lower operating costs for light rail would make up that difference in seven years for option three and 13 years for option four.

Where there is concern is the cost and the fact that under the plan light rail will only go as far west as Baseline. All options for expanding transit or the road network are going to be expensive. We need to be thinking about how to keep costs down, but with both roads and transit significant improvements to our transportation system will be costly.    

Cost also limits how quickly we can get light rail all the way to Kanata. What the new transit plan does at least do is start the work to bring light rail to Kanata and provide Kanata residents with faster travel times.

There are still opportunities to provide feedback. There is a feedback form at https://ottawa.ca/cgi-bin/form.cgi?dir=beyond_2020&form=feedback_tmp_en or, if you send me comments, I will be pleased to pass them on.

SUCCESS OF RAPID TRANSIT EXPANSION PLAN DEPENDS ON PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS

Regardless of what we decide Ottawa’s rapid transit network should look like, to get it built we need the support of both the federal and provincial governments.

Across Europe and North America, major improvements to rapid transit systems have occurred because of support from provincial or state governments, national governments and the European Union. In recent years, the only major rapid transit project completed without help from senior levels of government is the O-Train in Ottawa. More typical is Minneapolis where financial support from the United States and Minnesota governments for light rail meant the city only paid only 12% of the cost.

WORKING FULL-TIME FOR KANATA SOUTH

I appreciate the chance to hear from you about issues affecting our community. You can reach me at 580-2752 (office), 580-2762 (fax), www.feltmateforkanata.com or peggy.feltmate@ottawa.ca