With the launch of the new O-Train lines 2 and 4 south extension on Monday, OC Transpo is on its way to earning back the trust of its passengers, says general manager Renee Amilcar.
The O-Train welcomed passengers for the morning commute for the first time in about five years.Ā
The south extension, also known as the Trillium Line, has opened for public use as part of a phased opening approach and provided rail service from Bayview to Limebank stations, and South Keys to Airport Stations on Monday.
At a virtual media availability Tuesday, Amilcar said it is ātoo soon to tellā if the train is on track for the phased opening, but that āweāre very happy with what we see.ā
āWe know we will have some issues, so we will continue to monitor,ā she said in response to a question from Ottawa Compass. āWe will keep you posted.ā
The O-Train is already being tested with winter weather conditions, launching with sub-zero temperatures this week. Ice and snow have been detrimental to operations of the Confederation Line LRT in the past, but Amilcar and Troy Charter, director of Transit Service Delivery and Rail Operations, said theyāre implementing ālessons learnedā for the Trillium Line.
āWinter does pose some additional challenges, whether for trains or buses⦠But we have robust plans in place,ā said Charter. āA lot of efforts have been taken to improve resiliency on the Confederation Line⦠Weāve applied those lessons learned on lines 2 and 4.
Amilcar said OC Transpo will continue to share the O-Trainās progress with customers, and that open communication and ātransparencyā is the best hope to rebuilding trust with the public.
āI hope you have seen a lot of new ways to do things. We share a lot of information, we are an open book frankly, and we want to do that because we want customers to be engaged with us and to know what weāre doing,ā said Amilcar. āWe want to be very frank, and the reliability for sure will bring people back.
āBut it was more than reliability⦠Iāve worked in Montreal, and this was the first time Iāve shared information like this, but I felt we must do it because of the past experiences,ā she continued. āSo far, hopefully, people are starting to see that we want to do things differently to make sure trust will come back, and Iām certain itās only by delivering a good service that that will happen.
āWe have set excellent targets⦠We could have set moderate targets, but we need the best, so we have a plan, and we will continue to share it.ā