Will Pimisi LRT station be overwhelmed by the nightly Bluesfest exodus?

The nightly Bluesfest exodus to public transit — one that has seen the Booth Street bridge jammed with people heading for buses — will look different in 2019 when the LRT line is open.

In an ideal scenario, two-car trains would fill up with up to 600 passengers from Pimisi station below the bridge. As people board the trains, the long platform would fill up again with passengers and the queue on the bridge would form an orderly line at the top of the stairs or elevator. A train would come again in about five minutes and the sequence would repeat. Everyone would get along.

Throw into the mix impatience, heat, booze and unpredictable weather and who knows how it will work out.

There was a crush of people heading toward Albert Street last Thursday after Bryan Adams left the stage during the opening night of the festival.

In the LRT world, the Pimisi station entrances at the top of the bridge could create major bottlenecks. Once people are on the trains, it should be smooth sailing, until they reach the ends of the line.

The new LRT-backboned OC Transpo network is set up so that buses coming from outside the core will drop off and pick up passengers at the rail terminuses. Expect Blair and Tunney’s Pasture stations to be busy with suburban Bluesfest ticket-holders.

At its peak, the LRT system will have the capacity to carry 10,700 passengers per hour in each direction.

“Although plans for service to events in 2019 are being finalized, it is expected that supplemental buses will be staged at terminus stations for use if required,” according to Colleen Connelly, acting director of transit customer systems and planning at Transpo.

The city designed Pimisi station with major events like Bluesfest in mind, using a shared centre platform and making plans for more access points after the LeBreton Flats redevelopment is complete in future years.

Bluesfest would not comment on the LRT’s impact on the festival.

The first trains on the Confederation Line are scheduled to start carrying fare-paying passengers in November.

(Rideau Transit Group is late delivering the LRT system. The city was originally supposed to assume ownership on May 24, 2018. Transpo had planned to launch passenger service sometime after Canada Day, but it’s not clear if it would have been open in time for this year’s Bluesfest).

It is expected that supplemental buses will be staged at terminus stations for use if required.

There’s incentive for festival ticket-holders to use Transpo. Whether they want to or not, they’re paying for transit fares to and from the festival through the ticket prices. In 2016, Bluesfest agreed to pay Transpo for supplying extra transit service during the festival.

Connelly said Transpo staff are collecting ridership data for trips that have been leaving Bluesfest. More than 30 buses are dedicated to transit riders travelling to and from the event.

Staff adjust the number of trips based on demand and can assign additional buses if needed, Connelly said.

Canada Day could also produce similar peak-level LRT challenges for stations in the downtown tunnel, especially at the end of the evening performances and fireworks.