At a June 11 City of Ottawa Transit Committee meeting, OC Transpo representatives expressed their appreciation for everyone’s patience as upgrades to the O-Train Line 1 continue to cause disruptions and traffic delays.
“We recognize that this has been disruptive and time consuming for residents and all road users,” said an OC Transpo representative. “We know that traffic disruptions have been impactful and frustrating for everyone.”
“My team is focused on doing better for residents,” they said. “We are taking a detailed review of our procedures for planning, coordinating, and communicating traffic impacts.”
Despite delays, work is moving forward on both east and west end extensions. For the west extension, transit staff highlighted that testing, commissions, and Line 1 integration is done.
The next step will be trial running, but this is paused until a sufficient number of carriages can be made ready.
“So, right now we’ve got 33–34 single car trains that are available for service,” said Troy Charter, Associate General Manager of OC Transpo. “We need a minimum of 46 single car trains to go into trial running to assess the service levels outlined in the project agreement.”
On the west end extension, OC Transpo staff was able to provide a more concrete timeline. “Bus loop construction is underway at Algonquin, Bayshore, Moody, Pine Crest, Lincoln Fields, and Westboro Stations, and is expected to be near completion by the end of the year,” a staff member said.
Coun. Wilson Lo (Barrhaven East) wondered about possible synergies between east and west extensions.
“When the east launches – the changes to the bus network in the east – is that going to free up any resources that we can reallocate perhaps to benefit the west?” asked Lo.
OC Transpo representatives explained that it would depend on the city’s needs.
“There will be a small number of buses that will be freed up,” they said. “What we do with them will depend on the observed travel needs at that time, and the state of the bus fleet.”
Exact timelines for various upgrades to the O-Train will be clarified at the next technical briefing. So far, city councillors generally agree that work on the project is progressing.
