Weekly newsletter: October 15, 2024
Hi everyone!
I hope you had the opportunity over the last few days to gather with friends, family, or people important to you to share a meal and reflect on all that you’re grateful for.
I certainly appreciated the chance to put work thoughts on sleep (because I can never turn them off) for a few days after a busy week.
Also, Eminem is going to be a grandfather. My millennial self is having some trouble wrapping my head around that.
O-Train Line 2 trial running
Rolling average score of 99.6 per cent after seven days of trial running.
Phase one of trial running on the Trillium Line (future O-Train lines 2 and 4) has completed a successful first week.
Day 1 (October 7) – 98.3 per cent
Day 2 (October 8) – 99.4 per cent
Day 3 (October 9) – 100 per cent
Day 4 (October 10) – 100 per cent
Day 5 (October 11) – 99.4 per cent
Day 6 (October 12) – 100 per cent
Day 7 (October 13) – 100 per cent
However, for the full trial run to be successful, an average score of 98.5 per cent must be met or exceeded across 14 consecutive days. That means if the current scoring trend continues, but the 14th day is disastrous, trial running will be extended.
Upon successful completion of the current of trial running, which simulates a regular service schedule, OC Transpo and TransitNext will proceed to the seven-day-long second phase, which is scenario-based.
Click here for an overview of trial running, as shared in last week’s newsletter
Realigned bus network, interim changes
Should trial running continue to be as promising as it was last week, the earliest possible opening date is November 18, 2024. However, the realigned bus network (formally New Ways to Bus) will not be launched until the spring 2025 schedule cycle.
That means there will be a five-and-a-half month gap between Line 2’s opening and the bus network fully realigning to properly connect to it at Limebank Station.
Routes 74 and 99 will be adjusted to service Limebank Station in the interim.
The 74 Riverview will be extended east along Earl Armstrong from its current terminus at Riverview to its new terminus at Limebank Station. Similarly, trips to Tunney’s Pasture will start a Limebank.
For route 99, a deviation will be introduced at Spratt/Limebank so it can connect to Limebank Station.
Instead of turning left to head north from Spratt/Limebank, the 99 Greenboro/Hurdman will turn right to head south on Limebank, service Limebank Station, then head north on Limebank to its regular route. The 99 Barrhaven Centre will continue on Limebank past Spratt to the new station, then back north on Limebank and turn left on Spratt to its regular route.
That means passengers on route 99 going past Limebank will see their total travel time extended by about 10 minutes. Schedules after Limebank Station in both directions will be adjusted accordingly.
The interim changes will be implemented on the same day Line 2 opens, which can be as early as November 18, if trial running is not extended.
Sprung structure shelter – update six (supplementary information)
More at stake now for the proposed site at Greenbank/Highbury Park for the sprung structure shelter.
Last week’s newsletter included a lengthy update about sprung structure shelter. I restated my position in opposition to the plan, updates to site selection and evaluation, and my freedom of information request from city staff for those criteria. Read last week’s newsletter for more on this.
Since then, staff have received my freedom of information request. My request reads as follows:
…any information, including memos, draft memos, emails, and documents or draft documents, about the process and selection criteria used for selecting, evaluating, and scoring potential properties for the installation of sprung structures or sprung structure shelters, or any other type of structure, by the City of Ottawa, to house asylum seekers and/or unhoused individuals.
This includes initial selection criteria and lists of properties, as well as further or refined and final selection criteria and lists of properties, any scoring of the properties, and the preferred lists of properties.
Staff have until mid-November to fulfill the request.
Additionally, I have had discussions with the Queensway-Carleton Hospital about locating a satellite facility or urgent care clinic to serve the residents of Barrhaven.
There have been informal mentions of the idea with the QCH since earlier this year, including my commitment to advocate for the Greenbank/Highbury Park site to be donated or sold to them at a nominal rate when it comes time for those discussions. These mentions happened all before the sprung structure shelter was proposed.
I also had early discussions with other stakeholders who could potentially co-locate with the QCH, such as public health and a local affordable housing provider.
The QCH’s interest represents significant potential for extremely valuable health care services for our community, which would be a shame to forego. MPP Lisa MacLeod recently submitted a proposal and request to the provincial government to advance the project (since it’ll ultimately be a provincial project).
More updates will be shared as they become available.
Additional parking for Carleton University students
Three hundred spaces available for public use at Confederation Heights Lot 64, northwest corner of Heron/Riverside. Daily rate 7.50$.
Carleton University recently closed one of their older parking structures, which has resulted in a decrease in the available parking spaces on campus, which has left many (I’m told thousands) of students on a waitlist.
Many of those students live in Barrhaven, and they have been (im)patiently waiting for O-Train Line 2 to open to provide the much-needed improvement in transit access to the university from our community.
While the LRT delay is a City issue, I have engaged in discussions with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), who owns and manages parking lot 64 at Confederation Heights, and The Ottawa Hospital, who currently leases the lot and sets aside 300 spaces for general use.
No special arrangements were agreed upon, but I can now advertise the availability of the lot’s 300 general use spaces as additional parking for Carleton University.
The lot is managed by Indigo, and the 7.50$ daily rate can be paid through Indigo’s app (there’s also a QR code option, but I’d caution against using that due to recent hijacking incidents).
The lot is accessible via Prince of Wales, then Heron Road, followed by the ramp just before the Riverside Drive intersection. Access to the university campus is a 15-minute walk across the new footbridge beside the O-Train bridge from Vincent Massey Park.
The lot is first-come-first-served, and Indigo will be enforcing parking regulations and payment as they do with their other properties. Improperly parked vehicles or those who have not paid may risk a municipal parking ticket through the City’s deputization programme.
Upon the opening of O-Train Line 2, a free 600-space park and ride will be available at Bowesville Station, located at the southeast corner of Earl Armstrong/Bowesville.
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Thanks as always for your continued readership and engagement! Wishing you a pumpkin-spiced week ahead.
-Wilson