A better use for St-Laurent station

Re: 40 buses returning to service as mayor says he’s ‘furious’ with poor LRT performance, Nov. 2.

It was evident by 1990 that the bus transitway through central Ottawa had inadequate capacity to handle the volume of passengers in the afternoon rush hour. It has taken three decades for the City of Ottawa to begin to address that problem. And the immediate solution has significant difficulties with the connection between train and bus.

As a resident of Blackburn Hamlet, I note that all the former express buses from the east converge on Blair LRT station, which puts an impossible load on the limited space available. There appear to be about 30 express routes using Blair station.

Let’s step back.

The St-Laurent Transitway station was successfully handling all the express buses from the east before the train service was launched. Today, no express routes are listed. St-Laurent has lots of space, now underutilized.

So let’s spread out the task of connecting buses and trains.

Please, OC Transpo, run my current #28 from Blackburn Hamlet to St-Laurent station rather than to Blair station to connect to the train. That may guarantee that passengers from Blackburn Hamlet in the morning rush hour will stand for the 10- to 15-minute train ride to the core, but they’re generally doing that now. If a few more routes were diverted to St-Laurent, that would reduce the congestion at Blair station, which would be better for passengers still changing there. Win-win! John Hollins, Gloucester

(Editor’s note: The writer was president of Blackburn Community Association when it joined forces with Beacon Hill North Community Association to launch express bus service in Ottawa in 1972 using school buses.)