LRT ISSUES WON'T GO AWAY
Reliability still an issue facing city
The Confederation Line, two weeks away from its second anniversary, wasn't supposed to be a front-burner issue for the fall legislative session of city council, but the latest mystery involving some Alstom trains means LRT will again command council's attention.
The LRT system and transit customers enjoyed about a year of solid performance before an axle on an out-of-service train jumped the rails on Aug. 8, causing a shutdown of the 12.5-kilometre rail line for nearly a week. After a fleet inspection by Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM), 10 single train cars were sent for repairs to their axle assemblies.
There was another LRT hiccup Tuesday — unrelated to the axle riddle, the city said — when early-morning service in part of the western stretch switched to replacement buses because of a stopped westbound train between Pimisi and Bayview stations. Customers on the disabled train had to be transferred to another train. The backup buses ran for about an hour before regular train service resumed around 6:45 a.m. The city didn't say what exactly caused the train to stop.
Stopped trains also delayed LRT service at times on Aug. 20 and Aug. 26.
With no transit commission meetings in July and August, transit management was peppered with pent-up questions about the rail system from councillors and transit commissioners, touching on axle fixes, payments to RTM, transit fares and persistent odours in the LRT tunnel.
Council's fall session was expected to be dominated by a new official plan, the 2022 municipal budget and the land-use strategy for the new Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital, on top of the city's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, the health of the Confederation Line is back in the mix.
The Transportation Safety Board has been active on the recent axle issue, and it continues to investigate the cause of cracks found in train wheels last year.
Recently, the axle problems generated more LRT controversy within the municipal government.
Led by councillors Diane Deans and Catherine McKenney, a small group of transit commissioners and councillors who don't sit on the commission led a rally last week demanding the city's attention on the LRT problems. They wanted, but didn't succeed in getting, an emergency transit commission meeting to ask questions.
On Tuesday, Coun. Carol Anne Meehan, who had been at the rally, said the city budget and LRT must be the two main priorities for council heading into September.
Meehan said her constituents couldn't believe the $2.1-billion LRT system continued to suffer from problems.
“They roll their eyes because, two years in, the Confederation Line is messing up,” Meehan said.
“This is worrisome,” Meehan said of the axle issue. “I think it's indicative of bigger problems to come.”
The next transit commission meeting is scheduled for Sept. 20, the same day as the federal election, by coincidence.
Coun. Allan Hubley, chair of the transit commission, said the first item of the meeting agenda would likely be an update on the axle issue. He said he was “surprised and disappointed, for sure, that this has happened,” and he vowed a “full accounting and reporting.”
Hubley dismissed claims that the LRT system was regularly on the fritz. He cited several months of good service before the axle problem in August. The system went roughly a full year of delivering scheduled service at a rate of 97 per cent or higher.
“Anybody who says it breaks down every day and it's not working, it's not quite factual,” Hubley said.
Hubley said OC Transpo over the past month had placed special attention on telling customers when they could expect the next train in case of a delay.
Still, transit leaders at city hall have fully acknowledged that even one longer-than-expected delay could sour a customer's impression of LRT. Super-low ridership during the pandemic has mitigated the extent of further damage to the LRT system's credibility, but more people could be returning to public transit this month as schools reopen and workplaces establish back-to-office protocols.
This is also a poignant month for Transpo since there will soon be a handover of the transit agency to a new boss. General manager John Manconi is retiring from municipal government on Sept. 30. The city, which hired a recruiting agency to help find candidates, has not yet announced a successor.
Meehan said she believed Transpo needed fresh eyes and that the city should go outside Ottawa's municipal government to find its next transit chief: one with experience with rail systems.
Hubley said he didn't want to sway the city manager's decision on the appointment, but the transit chair said there would be “really good internal candidates” and he was “cheering” for them.