City, Gatineau mull post-LRT bus levels

Using the Prince of Wales bridge to integrate Ottawa and Gatineau’s rapid-transit systems may be the long-term goal, but a key first step toward a more seamless system could come next year when the Confederation LRT Line opens.

The $2.1-billion rail line is expected to alleviate the bottleneck of buses on downtown streets.

Discussions between politicians and transit planners from both sides of the river have been underway for almost two years, and the plan they’ve hammered out, including details about the presence and volume of STO buses on downtown Ottawa streets, should be made public before summer.

“I’ve mentioned this to the mayor of Gatineau and he understands — we can’t take all of our buses off Queen, Slater, Albert and Wellington, and just have them replaced by STO buses,” Watson said Thursday.

“We’re working on an agreement that will be fair to both sides and we hope to have that announced in the next couple of months.”

About 60,000 commuters travel between Ottawa and Gatineau on a typical weekday, and that number is only expected to grow. The demand for interprovincial transit trips is expected to increase by more than 65 per cent by 2031.

About 1,000 STO buses cross the bridges into Ottawa every weekday, while 310 OC Transpo buses head north into Gatineau, said Pat Scrimgeour, OC Transpo’s director of customer systems and planning.

While Ottawa city councillors have made it clear they want to reduce the number of STO buses on downtown streets, including Wellington, Rideau, Albert and Slater, Scrimgeour says the two transit services will still be responsible for moving the same number of people between cities.

“Can we provide the capacity more effectively by changing how we co-operate with the STO once the train’s in place? That’s what we’re working on,” he said. “I think we will reduce the intrusion, but I don’t know whether we will reduce the volume of riders or buses.”

A key challenge is finding a better solution for OC Transpo or STO buses that cross the river from either side with a full passenger load only to make the return trip empty.

Some may think Ottawa is trying to improve transit service for people who don’t live here, but RideauVanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury says that’s not the case.

“We’re trying to remove the impact on the environment and on our downtown streets of having this row of buses during peak periods, and offer better transit for our users who work on the Gatineau side,” he said.

Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney said she’s expecting the city to proceed with plans to make Albert and Scott a complete street once the LRT is running, and not simply allow the Albert and Slater bus lanes to be used by STO buses.

On Wednesday, Ottawa city council asked Watson to formalize talks with Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin aimed at improving the rapid transit connections between the cities, with a special focus on the potential future use of the Prince of Wales bridge, which the City of Ottawa owns.

“It’s not a question of us subsidizing Gatineau residents,” Watson said. “A lot of our people work in Terrasses de la Chaudiere and Place du Portage and live here and vice versa, so if we can get a better link across the river, then it’s better for both sides of the river and it certainly takes some of the pressure off our streets to have so many STO buses.”

It’s an idea Liberal MPs on both sides of the river support, as well as Ottawa city councillors.

“We have the perfect opportunity today with our federal partners, our provincial partners, to look at the opportunity to best serve this part of the city, but also to integrate folks coming from Gatineau on STO buses into our LRT,” added McKenney.

Transit commission chairman Stephen Blais said a regional approach to transit is long overdue.

“If we don’t start thinking about ourselves as a bigger region, we’re going to make some of the same mistakes Toronto made,” he said.

But the City of Ottawa shouldn’t pay for all of it.

For a rail connection to Gatineau to become a reality, Blais said the city and Quebec provincial government should pay for an “overwhelming majority” of the costs, while the federal government would pick up the final third.

Ottawa’s contribution would be operating and maintaining the rail system, he said.