2023 Transportation Master Plan

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

My question would be; Is that 15-minute headways on the ‘main-line’ (Lincoln Fields to Trim), or 15-minute service on each of the western/southern ‘arms’?

If it is 15-minute frequency on the ‘main-line’, then each ‘arm’ will be down to half-hour service before jumping back to 15-minute train service. This is not likely, but the description given by OC Transpo has been ambiguous.

If it is 15-minute service per ‘arm’ (7.5-minute frequency on the ‘main-line’, equally split between the ‘arms’), will there then be a big jump in headway on the ‘main-line’ from 7.5- to 15-minute service, to match the Moodie ‘arm’? Or will the Algonquin ‘arm’ have different headways than the 15-minute Moodie ‘arm’, making transfers less predictable?

Or, will the ‘Western Shuttle’, on the Moodie ‘arm’, be run at frequencies of less than 15 minutes so that it can match the Algonquin ‘arm’?

OC Transpo has talked about the train frequencies at certain times of the day, but I have not heard how the transitions are to be handled.

In the evening, when frequencies drop at 15 minutes, Line 3 will be cut-off from the main line. So Line 1 trains traveling between Algonquin and Trim will run every 15 minutes. Line 3 trains, also at a 15 minute frequency, will only travel between Moodie and Lincoln Fields, so passengers heading further will need to get off at LF and transfer to a Line 1 train.

The entire Confederation Line system will therefore run at 15 minute frequencies, but a transfer a LF will be necessary for the Moodie (Line 3) branch.

Originally Posted by bradnixon

In the Railfans video, I don't think that's really what Pat Scrimgeour said. He said all trains go to Trim during the PM rush hour. In the AM rush hour, if they're starting westbound trains from Blair, then I'm sure the eastbound trains will be ending there.

Yes. Sorry that part escaped my mind.

[Richard Eade]

Yes, the afternoon frequency between Lincoln Fields and Trim will be about 3 minutes; and the trains will come about every 6 minutes on each of the western/southern arms.
And, Yes, in the evening, the trains will run from Algonquin to Trim every 15 minutes; with the Western Shuttle also running every 15 minutes, between Moodie and Lincoln Fields.

Those are the initial and final conditions – but how will the TRANSITION between them happen? Obviously, the headways of the trains will NOT jump instantly from 3 minutes to 15 minutes. There will be a gradual reduction in the number of trains on the lines.

So, when you parrot OC Transpo’s words about “when frequency drops to 15 minutes”, WHERE is that timing being measured? Along the ‘main-line’, from Lincoln Fields to Blair/Trim? Or between Lincoln Fields and Algonquin?

I have to assume that it is on each of the western/southern arms – otherwise, service on those arms would drop to 30-minutes before jumping back to 15-minute trains. With 15-minute arm service, the number of trains running between Lincoln Fields and point east has gradually been reduced to a train every 7.5 minutes. This results in a train every 15 minutes between Lincoln Fields and Algonquin and a train every 15 minutes between Lincoln Fields and Moodie – triggering the Western Shuttle to start.

At that point, the Western Shuttle will begin, with a train every 15 minutes. So, then all of the main-line trains will proceed to Algonquin, since they are no longer split between the arms. BUT, the main-line trains are running every 7.5 minute apart. So, is Algonquin getting trains every 7.5 minutes, while Moodie gets 15-minute service? If so, Kanata gets half the service that Barrhaven gets.

Or, will OC Transpo, somehow, miraculously, instantly, remove half of the trains on the main-line to have 15-minute headways going to Algonquin? Perhaps OC Transpo could simply short-turn half the trains at Lincoln Fields – then a third of the trains – then a quarter, etc., as trains are gradually taken out of service from the main-line. This would leave the Algonquin to Lincoln Fields stretch with 15-minute service, to match the Western Shuttle’s frequency.

Granted, the adjustment from having the trains split between the western/southern arms is probably not a make-break issue, but it is something that, if not done well, will cause confusion and frustration among transit passengers. And it is not something that I have heard anything about from OC Transpo. The Devil is in the details.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Yes, the afternoon frequency between Lincoln Fields and Trim will be about 3 minutes; and the trains will come about every 6 minutes on each of the western/southern arms.
And, Yes, in the evening, the trains will run from Algonquin to Trim every 15 minutes; with the Western Shuttle also running every 15 minutes, between Moodie and Lincoln Fields.

Those are the initial and final conditions – but how will the TRANSITION between them happen? Obviously, the headways of the trains will NOT jump instantly from 3 minutes to 15 minutes. There will be a gradual reduction in the number of trains on the lines.

So, when you parrot OC Transpo’s words about “when frequency drops to 15 minutes”, WHERE is that timing being measured? Along the ‘main-line’, from Lincoln Fields to Blair/Trim? Or between Lincoln Fields and Algonquin?

I have to assume that it is on each of the western/southern arms – otherwise, service on those arms would drop to 30-minutes before jumping back to 15-minute trains. With 15-minute arm service, the number of trains running between Lincoln Fields and point east has gradually been reduced to a train every 7.5 minutes. This results in a train every 15 minutes between Lincoln Fields and Algonquin and a train every 15 minutes between Lincoln Fields and Moodie – triggering the Western Shuttle to start.

At that point, the Western Shuttle will begin, with a train every 15 minutes. So, then all of the main-line trains will proceed to Algonquin, since they are no longer split between the arms. BUT, the main-line trains are running every 7.5 minute apart. So, is Algonquin getting trains every 7.5 minutes, while Moodie gets 15-minute service? If so, Kanata gets half the service that Barrhaven gets.

Or, will OC Transpo, somehow, miraculously, instantly, remove half of the trains on the main-line to have 15-minute headways going to Algonquin? Perhaps OC Transpo could simply short-turn half the trains at Lincoln Fields – then a third of the trains – then a quarter, etc., as trains are gradually taken out of service from the main-line. This would leave the Algonquin to Lincoln Fields stretch with 15-minute service, to match the Western Shuttle’s frequency.

Granted, the adjustment from having the trains split between the western/southern arms is probably not a make-break issue, but it is something that, if not done well, will cause confusion and frustration among transit passengers. And it is not something that I have heard anything about from OC Transpo. The Devil is in the details.

Half the Line 3 trains can be removed from service at Moodie and half the trains on the Line 1 can be removed from service at Blair/Trim. That's pretty similar to how trains are removed from the line currently.

[J.OT13]

My apologies. I misunderstood your question.

I assume it will be similar to the current operations. System frequency at the moment, on average:

3 minutes rush-hour. 6 for the western branches.
5 minutes day time. 10 for the western branches.
8 minutes off peak (early morning and evenings). 16 for the western branches.
15 minutes after 11pm Monday-Thursday. Moodie becomes shuttle to maintain 15 minutes on both western branches.

Full frequencies:

https://www.octranspo.com/en/our-ser...o-train-line-1

I'm sure OC will develop a plan to ensure the western branches are never serviced with anything less than 15 minutes. We could imagine that the last train at 8 minute frequency (or 7.5 maybe by 2025) might be at 10:59pm and at 11pm, the Moodie spur is dropped from the main line and the entire system goes down to 15 minutes.

So to answer your questions, the 15 minutes would be measured by the western lines, so the main line will have the dramatic frequency drop. The last few trains heading to Moodie station could continue to Moodie Yard, reducing the number of trains on the main line.

I'm no rail engineer, so I'm not 100% sure of the logistics, but they seem to manage now with the rail yard between Tremblay and St-Laurent. When does a train become out-of-service when heading to Belfast? At Tunney's, Blair, St-Laurent or Tremblay. I have no idea.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I'm no rail engineer, so I'm not 100% sure of the logistics, but they seem to manage now with the rail yard between Tremblay and St-Laurent. When does a train become out-of-service when heading to Belfast? At Tunney's, Blair, St-Laurent or Tremblay. I have no idea.

The trains typically go out of service at Blair. Some time last fall I was out on the line when the transition to 15 minute service was happening and trains would arrive at Blair, but only one side of the platform would be operating. The trains going out would dwell on the "closed" platform for a bit before leaving.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

The trains typically go out of service at Blair. Some time last fall I was out on the line when the transition to 15 minute service was happening and trains would arrive at Blair, but only one side of the platform would be operating. The trains going out would dwell on the "closed" platform for a bit before leaving.

Thanks for the clarification. Does frequency drop from 8 minutes to 15 in one shot, or is it more gradual?

Where would you imagine trains on Line 1 would end their service, Blair, Trim or Algonquin? Storage tracks at Algonquin will likely only be used when service shuts down completely for the night, I would assume.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

My apologies. I misunderstood your question.

I assume it will be similar to the current operations. System frequency at the moment, on average:

3 minutes rush-hour. 6 for the western branches.
5 minutes day time. 10 for the western branches.
8 minutes off peak (early morning and evenings). 16 for the western branches.
15 minutes after 11pm Monday-Thursday. Moodie becomes shuttle to maintain 15 minutes on both western branches.

Full frequencies:

https://www.octranspo.com/en/our-ser...o-train-line-1

I'm sure OC will develop a plan to ensure the western branches are never serviced with anything less than 15 minutes. We could imagine that the last train at 8 minute frequency (or 7.5 maybe by 2025) might be at 10:59pm and at 11pm, the Moodie spur is dropped from the main line and the entire system goes down to 15 minutes.

So to answer your questions, the 15 minutes would be measured by the western lines, so the main line will have the dramatic frequency drop. The last few trains heading to Moodie station could continue to Moodie Yard, reducing the number of trains on the main line.

I'm no rail engineer, so I'm not 100% sure of the logistics, but they seem to manage now with the rail yard between Tremblay and St-Laurent. When does a train become out-of-service when heading to Belfast? At Tunney's, Blair, St-Laurent or Tremblay. I have no idea.

As it stands, all trains scheduled to end service do so at Blair. They then proceed OOS through Cyrville and St. Laurent to access the yard. Train frequencies therefore change at Blair only - if frequency drops from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes at 11pm, the next train leaving Blair after 11 leaves 15 minutes after the train ahead of it, and EB departures from Tunney's continue at 10 minute frequency until about 11:30 when the first post 11pm departure from Blair arrives and departs. This means that trains continue to arrive at Blair every 10 minutes until almost midnight. As these trains continue to arrive, some of them sit on the platform for a few minutes to switch to the new frequency, others come and go quickly to make up for trains that have been reduced. All of this is planned in advance, though sometimes it gets changed up when maintenance decides they want to work on a train that would otherwise be staying out late.

For the Moodie Branch, when the interlining ends, the last line 3 train to pass LF before the start of split service will depart Blair or Trim about 45 minutes before. Since there's a yard at Moodie, train reductions at Moodie are simplified there. Trains departing Moodie for LF after the interlining time would then start turnback operations at LF. This would lead to a slight boost to the frequency between LF and Moodie until all the line 3 trains from Blair/Trim have arrived, so some of them may deadhead back to Moodie, but that likely depends on operational needs.

[Nowhere]

I found the updated version of the 2003 transportation master plan done by the end of 2006 in an old PDF, right before the whole thing got cancelled. That was extremely weird. Expecting people from Kanata to take the bus to the LRT, transfer on a train and then transfer again at Bayshore back on a bus to get to downtown. How were the people of Cumberland / South Orléans expected to get to downtown ? Good thing we didn't go ahead with this plan.

I would like to see the city focus more on transit infrastructure inside the greenbelt, but the new plan is still so much better than the old one.



Source : https://app06.ottawa.ca/calendar/ott...ument%2017.pdf

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

My apologies. I misunderstood your question.

I assume it will be similar to the current operations. System frequency at the moment, on average:

3 minutes rush-hour. 6 for the western branches.
5 minutes day time. 10 for the western branches.
8 minutes off peak (early morning and evenings). 16 for the western branches.
15 minutes after 11pm Monday-Thursday. Moodie becomes shuttle to maintain 15 minutes on both western branches.

Anything less than 10 mins frequency on a rapid transit network is just ridiculous. Having these branches be less frequent that most suburban bus routes in Toronto is beyond ridiculous.

No branch should be more than 10 mins. Ever.

We're in this mess because they couldn't figure out how to couple and uncouple trains reliably. So now they can't maintain frequencies without running trains substantially empty. Frequencies like that will kill transit.

[Brannwagon]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Anything less than 10 mins frequency on a rapid transit network is just ridiculous. Having these branches be less frequent that most suburban bus routes in Toronto is beyond ridiculous.

No branch should be more than 10 mins. Ever.

We're in this mess because they couldn't figure out how to couple and uncouple trains reliably. So now they can't maintain frequencies without running trains substantially empty. Frequencies like that will kill transit.

I agree... 16 min off-peak frequency for the branches is kind of shocking.

Imagine a 6:30pm weekday trip from Kanata to downtown. You wait up to 15-20 mins for a 60-series bus to take you to Moodie, where, again, you wait up to 16 mins for a train to take you downtown. Pretty unreasonable for an evening trip when plenty of people are still leaving work, but is considered "off peak".

Riding that train of thought (pun intended), imagine how hellish that same trip might be after 11pm. You wait up to 30 mins for a 60-series bus to take you to Moodie, where you wait up to 15 mins for a train to take you to Lincoln Fields. At this point, if the transfer from Line 3 to Line 1 is managed properly, you're only inconvenienced by having to change trains. However, we now know that it will be an "up and over" transfer to change trains rather than a cross-platform one. So, how does OCT manage this? Will it be scheduled such that the Line 1 train arrives one or two minutes after the Line 3 train, to give passengers enough time to change platforms? If that's the case, what about folks with mobility challenges? They will likely miss the transfer and be stuck waiting another 15 minutes. If the transfer is timed such that there is, say, 5 mins to change platforms, that likely eliminates the disadvantage for people with disabilities. However, for others, that's another 5 min wait added onto what's already got to be one brutal commute. Or, worst case (and probably unlikely) scenario, there is no "timing" of the transfer at all, and everyone could potentially be faced with another full 15 min wait

[J.OT13]

I'm a big supporter of splitting transit lines to ensure that the central portion where ridership is highest has a higher frequency/capacity than the lower ridership suburbs.

For nearly half the day, branches will probably have a minimum of 10 minutes service. It's important to note that very few people from the suburbs head to and from downtown outside of rush hour, let alone the evening.

I gully agree that RTG/RTM's failure to figure out the uncoupling is a far greater issue than what it's made out to be. Of all the issues over the last few years, that is something that should be publicized, scrutinized and ultimately resolved. Yes, it would take the same number of drivers, but the savings in maintenance would be significant.

As for the frequencies, I'm confident OC Transpo will make the necessary modifications to ensure frequencies are never less than 15 (so I would expect the central branch be 7.5 minutes as opposed to the current 8 minutes). If ever we figure out the uncoupling, raising that minimum to 10 minutes for each branch would be ideal.

Finally for the Lincoln Fields transfer late evenings, the Moodie train will be parked at LF for 15 minutes (hence, the 15 minute frequency) so I would assume the Algonquin bound and Downtown bound trains might arrive at the same time on the 7.5 minute mark in order to give everyone the best chance to transfer.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Nowhere

I found the updated version of the 2003 transportation master plan done by the end of 2006 in an old PDF, right before the whole thing got cancelled. That was extremely weird. Expecting people from Kanata to take the bus to the LRT, transfer on a train and then transfer again at Bayshore back on a bus to get to downtown. How were the people of Cumberland / South Orléans expected to get to downtown ? Good thing we didn't go ahead with this plan.

I would like to see the city focus more on transit infrastructure inside the greenbelt, but the new plan is still so much better than the old one.



Source : https://app06.ottawa.ca/calendar/ott...ument%2017.pdf

Yup, that was a terrible transit plan. As much as we call the current TNP the most rail for the cheapest price, THAT was the most rail for the cheapest price. Absolutely no regards for travel patterns. No regards for speed or reliability.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Yup, that was a terrible transit plan. As much as we call the current TNP the most rail for the cheapest price, THAT was the most rail for the cheapest price. Absolutely no regards for travel patterns. No regards for speed or reliability.

I can't agree. I agree that it was a flawed plan in that it provided no solution to the capacity of the downtown Transitways, nor did it really even acknowledge the problem.

But it at least attempted to expand the reach of the rapid transit network to more areas of the city. It was trying to make transit viable for people not travelling downtown. Our current plans have mostly given up on that.

As far as this comment: "Expecting people from Kanata to take the bus to the LRT, transfer on a train and then transfer again at Bayshore back on a bus to get to downtown."

Actually, nobody expected anyone to do that. Under that plan, someone going from Kanata to downtown would have been expected to take a bus the whole way (which is how the bus system was already structured at the time). But someone going from, say, Kanata to Algonquin College, or Kanata to the Colonnade business park, would have been able to take an LRT. The latter commute is nearly impossible on transit today and there are no plans to ever attempt to improve it.

[J.OT13]

I can see how that plan was about serving more of the city, but it seems like rail for the sake or rail. The south end of the Greenbelt doesn't need rail. Buses would suffice, and even then I'm not sure it's justified as there are very few, if any, destination points on that route. Surface rail on Rideau-Montreal would be disastrous.

And yes, the fact that downtown congestion is not only unresolved, but worsened, is the the biggest issue with that plan.

The new TMP resolves the downtown problem and provides high capacity rail for peak demand. It does ignore non-downtown destination points and the urban area. It forces people to transfer to rail even if it's unnecessary.

That said, the current plan provides a solid, logical backbone with the Confederation and Trillium Lines (though Trillium needs a significant upgrade). We can easily build upon what we have.

The 2003 TMP was a spaghetti factory of unrelated lines with random technology choices. It would have resulted in a very incoherent transit system. Something extremely hard to understand. It would not have been intuitive or user friendly.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

As for the frequencies, I'm confident OC Transpo will make the necessary modifications to ensure frequencies are never less than 15 (so I would expect the central branch be 7.5 minutes as opposed to the current 8 minutes). If ever we figure out the uncoupling, raising that minimum to 10 minutes for each branch would be ideal.

15 mins is ridiculous for a rapid transit network. If that's the kind of frequencies that are going to be run, there's no point in LRT. Cut short the network and run buses from the terminus.

Frequency is crucial to making transit useable. 10 mins is borderline tolerable. 15 mins is ridiculous. 7.5 mins on the central portion is equally bad. The core shouldn't be more than 5 mins. OC Transpo needs to understand that maintaining frequency is more important than capacity matching. They need to bite the bullet and accept 5/10 service outside peak. And they can run double trains till they figure out how to uncouple.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I can see how that plan was about serving more of the city, but it seems like rail for the sake or rail. The south end of the Greenbelt doesn't need rail. Buses would suffice, and even then I'm not sure it's justified as there are very few, if any, destination points on that route. Surface rail on Rideau-Montreal would be disastrous.

To a certain extent. I think it started with the idea of trying to re-use rail corridors, but then evolved into street-level LRT when they realized it made no sense to bypass some destinations that the rail corridors bypass. The southern Greenbelt line would have been more like the Ion in Waterloo. It would have brought rail to places like Herongate. I think it was ambitious and visionary in some ways.

The Rideau-Montreal study never really got underway AFAIK, but I'm sure it would have ended up determining that the route would need to be tunneled west of St. Laurent. It certainly would have focused the rail on a higher density corridor than the current plan, where rail was built along the Queensway.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

15 mins is ridiculous for a rapid transit network. If that's the kind of frequencies that are going to be run, there's no point in LRT. Cut short the network and run buses from the terminus.

Frequency is crucial to making transit useable. 10 mins is borderline tolerable. 15 mins is ridiculous. 7.5 mins on the central portion is equally bad. The core shouldn't be more than 5 mins. OC Transpo needs to understand that maintaining frequency is more important than capacity matching. They need to bite the bullet and accept 5/10 service outside peak. And they can run double trains till they figure out how to uncouple.

OC Transpo needs to understand that maintaining frequency is more important than capacity matching.

I agree with this point in particular and Trillium Stage 2 is an example of the City's failure to understand this by doubling the length of trains instead of doubling the frequency by double tracking key sections (or better yet, the entire line).

As for late evening frequencies, we seem to be in line with the majority of our Canadian counterparts off peak.

Montreal has 10 to 12 minutes off peak.
Skytrain off-peak only goes as low as 5 minutes on the main Expo Line, and 10 minutes on the branches. Millennium never drops below 10. Canada Line however, drops to 10 north of the split and 20 along each branch.
CTrain drops to 15.
ETS Provides a good 7.5 minute service on the main main line, 15 minutes on the branches.

TTC offers the best service frequencies in Canada, with the lowest at 7 minutes for the Scarborough Line and 5 minutes on every other line.

With that said, we have to take our climate into consideration. Montreal's system is fully underground, so riders aren't exposed to snow, rain and wind. Vancouver's climate is mild, so waiting 10-20 minutes isn't unbearable. Many of Edmonton's stations are underground or largely enclosed. I believe CTrain has more substantial heated areas, though the platforms themselves are highly exposed, more so than any other system.

Our stations have some wind/rain/snow protection thanks to fairly elaborate designs, but are still largely exposed. The only heated corner of the platform are the small Transecure areas, which can't hold more than a 3-4 people... without physical distancing. I would like to see minimum frequencies of 6 minutes on the central line, 12 minutes on the branches. We should stride to accomplish a 8 minute frequency on Trillium, with 16 on the branches, within 5-10 years.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I agree with this point in particular and Trillium Stage 2 is an example of the City's failure to understand this by doubling the length of trains instead of doubling the frequency by double tracking key sections (or better yet, the entire line).

With Trillium it was sort of understandable because they were constrained by costs. Higher frequencies would require double tracking, which would substantially increase capital costs, possibly pushing upgrades and extensions to a later phase.

What's inexcusable is building a line capable of high frequencies and then running trains every 15 min because you can't figure out how to uncouple two LRTs.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

As for late evening frequencies, we seem to be in line with the majority of our Canadian counterparts off peak.

Montreal has 10 to 12 minutes off peak.
Skytrain off-peak only goes as low as 5 minutes on the main Expo Line, and 10 minutes on the branches. Millennium never drops below 10. Canada Line however, drops to 10 north of the split and 20 along each branch.
CTrain drops to 15.
ETS Provides a good 7.5 minute service on the main main line, 15 minutes on the branches.

TTC offers the best service frequencies in Canada, with the lowest at 7 minutes for the Scarborough Line and 5 minutes on every other line.

With that said, we have to take our climate into consideration. Montreal's system is fully underground, so riders aren't exposed to snow, rain and wind. Vancouver's climate is mild, so waiting 10-20 minutes isn't unbearable. Many of Edmonton's stations are underground or largely enclosed. I believe CTrain has more substantial heated areas, though the platforms themselves are highly exposed, more so than any other system.

Our stations have some wind/rain/snow protection thanks to fairly elaborate designs, but are still largely exposed. The only heated corner of the platform are the small Transecure areas, which can't hold more than a 3-4 people... without physical distancing. I would like to see minimum frequencies of 6 minutes on the central line, 12 minutes on the branches. We should stride to accomplish a 8 minute frequency on Trillium, with 16 on the branches, within 5-10 years.

As you point out, for some reason we chose to build a metro system around trams and not have climate controlled stations, when we could have easily built a fully automated, climate controlled light metro like REM. But that aside, I don't think being middle of the pack of losers is a great defence. This kind of service off-peak is poor for transit users. We have nothing to learn from them on this front and we need to build a transit system that works for us. And 15 min frequencies on the branches off-peak doesn't work.

Maybe they should buy a few more LRVs and leave them uncoupled to run as the night time fleet if they are too incompetent to figure out how to uncouple the LRVs. That way they can ensure 10 mins frequencies on the branches at night.

[Truenorth00]

One note of positivity I will add....when Stage 2 is complete Ottawa will have 77% of residents within 5 km of rail station. That's actually a pretty impressive accomplishment to pull off in just 15 years of development and construction. I don't think even the GTA has this kind of rail coverage.

Moreover, Ottawa will have achieved this with some remarkable cost efficiency. Let's look at two projects from the GTA:

-Eglinton Crosstown which costs $5.3B for 19 km, of which only 10 km is fully grade separated and segregated (in a tunnel). The underground portion has platforms that will be less than half the ultimate size of the Confederation Line (50m vs. 120m).

-Hurontario LRT which costs $1.4B for 18 km, of non-segregated LRT.

Compare those to what Ottawa will have achieved after Stage 2: 64 km of fully segregated, exclusive and grade-separated rail ROWs for $6.8B. Per km, we've only paid 36% more than Hurontario, and a whopping 62% less per km than Eglinton to build a system with substantially more capability than either of those lines. This was the advantage of having existing BRT corridors that could be repurposed.

Next, comes the job of actually improving bus service so that this rail network is fed riders. And improving the frequencies of the rail service and reliability. But we shouldn't lose sight of what Ottawa will have accomplished in a relatively decent amount of time.

[Nowhere]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

One note of positivity I will add....when Stage 2 is complete Ottawa will have 77% of residents within 5 km of rail station. That's actually a pretty impressive accomplishment to pull off in just 15 years of development and construction. I don't think even the GTA has this kind of rail coverage.

Moreover, Ottawa will have achieved this with some remarkable cost efficiency. Let's look at two projects from the GTA:

-Eglinton Crosstown which costs $5.3B for 19 km, of which only 10 km is fully grade separated and segregated (in a tunnel). The underground portion has platforms that will be less than half the ultimate size of the Confederation Line (50m vs. 120m).

-Hurontario LRT which costs $1.4B for 18 km, of non-segregated LRT.

Compare those to what Ottawa will have achieved after Stage 2: 64 km of fully segregated, exclusive and grade-separated rail ROWs for $6.8B. Per km, we've only paid 36% more than Hurontario, and a whopping 62% less per km than Eglinton to build a system with substantially more capability than either of those lines. This was the advantage of having existing BRT corridors that could be repurposed.

Next, comes the job of actually improving bus service so that this rail network is fed riders. And improving the frequencies of the rail service and reliability. But we shouldn't lose sight of what Ottawa will have accomplished in a relatively decent amount of time.

Which shows the importance of keeping dedicated right of ways for future transit infrastructure empty like we do in Ottawa.

Ironically, there was one along Eglinton West in Toronto, which would have made full grade separation possible for the planned western extension of the line with a trench, but the crackhead sold the empty right of way to developers for a few bucks. Now Doug Ford is so hellbent on making the second phase underground for full grade separation, yet the guy who claims to be a taxpayer's hero never said to the public the reason the project is so expensive is because of his brother he always supported.

https://stevemunro.ca/2011/04/24/the...-right-of-way/