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Originally Posted by lrt's friend
The results of everything done to date impact the future of Stage 3. The fact that Line 2 has been closed for 3 1/2 years has indeed made transit worse, much worse for those affected. I guess anticipation about reopening Line 2 is all about how bad things have been, including often erratic schedules during the closure, something I have personally experienced.
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So in other words, Ottawa's transit network would be better if it had this rail line?
Seriously, to me you come across as trying to find any reason to be unhappy about Line 2.
"Rail has made transit worse"
"Closing Line 2 made transit worse"
"People are only anticipating Line 2 because transit is worse without it"
It's contradictory, and it's cynical.
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Furthermore, the lack of real improvements in service for existing customers and the lack of future proofing Line 2 after spending several hundred million is something the average transit user and taxpayer should not be happy about.
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"Lack of real improvements" is a nonsense statement. The dozens of students who won't be left behind at Mooney's Bay and Dow's Lake in the morning rush is what I'd call a "real improvement", for starters. Plus, for better or for worse, I think the average taxpayer is happy that hundreds of millions (if not billions) more weren't spent.
We all get it, that more could have been done, but there are so many ways you can be critical and constructive without constantly being so insufferably negative.
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I am not sure why you comment about bus-train transfers as a bus problem which points to my past impression (based on OC staff comments made at public meetings) that rail and buses at OC operate in separate silos instead of building towards a unified transit network, which the public expects to happen. At one public meeting, OC's rail people pushed the transfer problem onto bus operations, and the bus people in turn told me that they didn't have the budget to properly facilitate transfers. What exactly was the extra cost of replacing the Walkley overpass instead of rehabilitating it? We have been told that this would allowed 10 minute frequency, which would have facilitated much easier scheduling with the bus network.
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Facilitating transfers with a 10 minute headway only marginally improves rail service and does nothing to improve bus service. You clearly understand that there are budgetary limitations on the bus system, but I can't understand why your view on this matter is so narrowly focused on Line 2.
12 minute headways are not awful, and it can still be improved upon in the future-- but you are just dropping any potential improvement to the bus network on the floor so that you can keep complaining about Line 2.
So to conclude, Line 2
has and will materially improve Ottawa's transit network, and you shouldn't let your inexplicably cynical views distract you from the fact that we still
can and should improve our transit network outside of rail too.