Transpo improvements depend on LRT delivery

Added services and more buses on hold until troubled system is operational

OC Transpo’s draft 2019 budget, approved by the city’s transit commission Wednesday, promises a list of service improvements that address many of the concerns about bus reliability, capacity and coverage raised by transit users in recent months.

However, as Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans pointed out, “this budget is built on the assumption — I think fair to say, false assumption — that there’s going to be a handover March 31.”

Until Ottawa’s new LRT system is up and running, OC Transpo will not implement these budgeted service improvements, which include new routes and connections, extended and more frequent service and shorter travel times.

“Injecting more change right now, especially when we don’t have the reliability that we need from the system ... (it) won’t improve things,” said transportation general manager John Manconi.

That being the case, the timing of these improvements remains just as nebulous as the date the first paying passenger will set foot on a light rail train. While the Rideau Transit Group has insisted it will make the March 31 handover deadline, staff and elected officials have predicted that’s not going to happen.

In the meantime, as Manconi himself pointed out, “our customers are going through a lot of pain.”

When the transit boss discussed the draft budget, he was sympathetic to the plight of riders relying on bus routes that have been altered to make way for the new Confederation Line.

“The system has not been reliable. Everybody’s raising that with me, and I’m not denying it,” he said.

And with that in mind, OC Transpo’s 2019 draft budget has invested $5.1 million in expanding service. The improvements, said Manconi — from new northsouth local service in Orléans to Connexion routes from Kanata North and Bells Corners — were designed based on city councillor and customer feedback.

Nearly $8 million in capital funding will also be put toward the acquisition of 12 new 40-foot buses to service the expansion.

But riders will have to wait for the launch of LRT for these improvements to their bus rides. And the inherent uncertainty of this is exactly what concerned Deans, who’s not a member of the transit commission but was in attendance and posed questions at Wednesday’s meeting.

As she pointed out, “it’s become increasingly evident that the handover of the LRT system is not going to take place on March 31.” The budget, however, is based on this assumption, including a planned 2.5-per-cent fare increase come July 1 that will help pay for these improvements.

Financially, RTG is on the hook for every additional month of LRT delay-related costs, Manconi explained, noting that the city has $262 million in payments for RTG from which it can deduct these costs.

Even if council elects to extend its fare freeze past July 1 in the event of yet another LRT delay, as several councillors mused about, RTG, rather than taxpayers, will be expected to shoulder the cost of doing so, Manconi said.

“We suggest that we shouldn’t be increasing fares to our riders if we haven’t got LRT up and running. But does RTG agree?” Deans questioned.

“Quite frankly I don’t care what they think. We have to take care of our customers right now,” Manconi replied. “If it takes going to court, which would take years, that would be what we would have to do in the worst-case scenario.”

Later, pressed on the decision to budget for a March 31 handover that may well not come to fruition, Manconi said that “you do not mix policy with budget. That’s a dangerous recipe for a lot of things going wrong.”

Just like a contractor for your home, OC Transpo has entered into a partnership with RTG, he explained.

“If they’re telling you you’re moving that day, and you book the mover, and then just shortly before the mover shows up at your door they say, ‘No we’re not going to have the house ready for you’ — you’re stuck with that. We’re adapting to it.”

Which means OC Transpo users can’t know, exactly, when they will get their expanded bus fleet, improvements to 30 bus routes, and 45,000 hours of additional service promised in the OC Transpo 2019 draft budget.

“I feel sorry for these customers that are out there waiting for a bus that doesn’t show up or a packed bus,” Manconi said. “The accountability rests with RTG in terms of the delays.”

Quite frankly I don’t care what they think. We have to take care of our customers right now.