From day one this mayoral campaign, the Ottawa Citizen has made it clear that they will only “focus on who they considered contenders for mayor in Jim Watson and Larry O’Brien.” They wanted to do very little to appeal to alternative frames of mind away from the O’Watson campaigns and encourage the Jim and Larry show; well, that might have worked to an extent, but did they ever fire a missed shot on transit issues in Ottawa.
(You might ask yourself why I am saying O’Watson a lot. Most of what Jim Watson is proposing is “stay the course” mentality. He has the same transit plan as Larry O’Brien with absolutely no deviation. None.)
Jennifer Green released a “news” piece on October 17th titled Transit tops voters issues, that boasts that transit issues needed to be found and then gushed over this proposed transit tunnel idea for downtown. My issue is with the poll finding anything about transit is only slightly insulting to the general public. Of course transit is the number one issue; we are not far from the second year anniversary of a long and bitter transit strike – and the Amalgamated Transit Union still does not have a contract in hand.
So why am I incensed this time?
That is what O’Watson and the editors of the Ottawa Citizen simply do not want people to see and/or comprehend. This simple image put together by the Clive Doucet team explains how Light Rail Transit goes from vision to putting butts in seats within four years. The cost of this will be less than 1/3 of the total cost of the mistake that is the O’Watson plan.
Now, O’Watson, Haydon and even some public will say “but a tunnel downtown will help congestion!” I do not buy it. The tunnel downtown will take pressure off of Slater and Albert streets during rush hour, but very little else will change in the core. The City of Ottawa, under the other three former mayors, will not give affordable, cost effective and reliable transit to their citizens until 2031 at the very earliest. What we require in Ottawa is a viable transit option now. We need something that can connect the major suburbs and offer solutions to driving downtown 365 days out of the year. That is the only way to reduce congestion within the core of our city.
There will likely be someone who says “but if we cancel the tunnel plan now, the tax payer is on the hook for millions in penalties!” No, the City of Ottawa is not on the hook for anything. There is nothing done other than some talking and a couple of surveys to see if it is possible or not. Even the findings from the geological surveys are not made public. The only thing that we know for certain about this tunnel is that O’Watson thinks it is a good idea to spend billions for a long shot when we are all old and grey rather than millions on a sure bet now.
The Ottawa Citizen missed on this one. Painting the election about transit and missing the only real contender and patron of transit solutions in the picture. Sure, I am bias, but if anyone came to me with a transit plan that saw me sitting in a train across the city in four years with a young child of my own rather than having my adult child join me for the first ride many years from now, I would sign on with their campaign too.
W.
Edit: Borrowed this graphic from @alexlaq on Twitter:
Edit: Borrowed this graphic from @alexlaq on Twitter:
Yes Will, you are bias (sic).
ReplyDeleteGo ahead with your critique of the Watson plan -- I'm all in favour of good debate on public policy issues, and I'm no fan of the Ottawa Citizen -- but where's your evidence to support the Doucet plan? Did you just go and do exactly what you're critiquing? I think so.
Oh, if you want for me to break down point by point the differences in Watson's transit plan and Doucet's, I can do that. I had thought linking the platform onto the image (click it) for Doucet's was more than suitable.
ReplyDeleteBiggest difference is Watson wants to stay the course. He was once against the downtown transit tunnel, but flip-flopped on it. That's not a huge issue per se, but the tunnel has become such a hot button issue and yet very few people know much about it. Regardless, Watson wants to build the proposed plan through the downtown core without a set date on when the suburbs and rural areas will have extended transit options. Doucet wants to scrap the tunnel idea (which has no penalty nor time delay) and build on successful LRT in the O'Train to connect the city for less than 1/3 the cost.
Oh wait. I did say all that in my post.
Doucet's plan sounds terrific. I am not sure how he intends to get councillors on board with his revised plan when it's something they've voted against before (his Light Rail Now! proposal over a year ago was summarily rejected), and the individuals have invested so much time in the current plan already. I'm also not sure how realistic his timeline is (especially the crossing at the Prince of Wales Bridge), although it would be terrific.
ReplyDeleteThe argument for the tunnel is that it's a long-term investment in city infrastructure. If we go ahead with a plan similar to Doucet's with surface rail downtown, and 20 years from now are at a point where we need to build a billion-dollar tunnel anyway, will it have proven the right move? No way to know, and I don't pretend to have the answers, but that's the pro-tunnel argument.
Thanks for the post Peter. Added your blog to links (though I have been reading it for a while now).
ReplyDeleteThe issue, unfortunately, is not about 20 years down the road, but rather helping Ottawa now. If a tunnel is needed 20 years down the road then 20 years down the road it will have to be looked at. We do not have a crystal ball for that. What we do know is that the majority of traffic flowing in from downtown comes from the suburbs where transit is woefully equipped to handle large volume of commuters. One LRT track is equal 8 times the capacity to 1 lane on the highway.
Living in a suburb, I honestly believe that Ottawa is out of date on transit issues and needs to get into the modern era. Although I can make it to the core in about 40 minutes during rush hour by bus, I could shorten the travel time on LRT down Carling by a considerable amount. Considering I can drive downtown in 15 minutes, that is.
Either way, good comment and you're right about the other campaign arguments. :)
An anonymous comment came in through email. Copy/pasted
ReplyDeleteGilles, the evidence is that four years ago a plan for a north/south line, competently brought forward under Bob Chiarelli and Clive Doucet, was cancelled. We know now that was a huge, huge mistake, even going beyond the financial penalty. If we had taken that route for a modest and careful start to a light-rail system, we would today be adding this very same east/west line right now, from Kanata to Orleans, from the airport to Gatineau, BUT with an already existing north/south line that would have already built new riders, added new revenue and ALSO have brought people to new developments, suburbs that that makes sense! (Surprise! Clive Doucet's not anti-development, he's anti-development that's not sustainable, and cut off from public transit.) Yes, our elected representatives blundered badly. And to make up for it they're proposing something flashy, a tunnel. Maybe some people like to have a fancy cathedral skylight put into their homes, but if you're still peeing in the outhouse, I prefer to have the basics in place first.
So, Peter, if in fact we do have to put up a tunnel in 20 years, so be it and hurrah! It will mean we will have had 20 years of service of clean, cost-efficient public transportation moving people across the city. Who knows, after 20 years of that, building a tunnel will be something we can actually afford.
Unlike the north/south rail which we cancelled with heavy penalty, there are no financial obligations at this point. We can walk away, free and clear. If we walk away at this point, we only have to admit we blundered once. If we go ahead with a tunnel plan, we will at some point have to admit we blundered twice.
Will, Has Ken Gray at The Bulldog posted the map of the transit line? I hope it's not a case of Man bites Dog at the Ottawa Citizen?