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For the first time in three weeks, a section of the city’s light rail system is up and running again as of Tuesday morning.
The LRT resumed service on the Confederation Line between Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations, several days ahead of schedule.
Renée Amilcar, the city’s general manager of transit services, said full service from Blair to Tunney’s Pasture is still expected to begin on Aug. 14.
Service resumed Tuesday morning with five single-car trains running every five minutes.
For the time being, the R1, R1 Express and Para R1 replacement buses will continue to operate alongside the trains. A sixth train is also available during peak periods to accommodate higher volumes.
Many passengers welcomed having train service again, even for only a portion of the track.
Cutting down commute time
Lam Khan, who regularly commutes from Orléans to Tunney’s Pasture, said the partial reopening was a “big improvement.”
“It saved me at least 30 minutes, not cutting through Parliament and Lyon and all that,” he said.
Since service has been down, Khan said he’s been waking up three or four hours earlier in the morning to make it to Tunney’s Pasture on time.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s been tough. My commute is generally like an hour, which is already pretty long. But then with the train down, it went to maybe an hour forty, an hour forty-five.”
Khan said he’s happy the train is partially back, but can’t wait for the whole line to be in service again.
Partial service faster and more comfortable, passenger says
Tyler Barker said his commute to work Tuesday morning was better than it had been the week before.
“It came on time, but it was very, very slow like walking speed through the tunnel,” Barker said.
The trains were also pretty empty, which Barker said was surprising during morning rush hour.
“I think people are just sticking with the buses because maybe they just don’t trust the system,” he said.
Living around the Vanier area, Barker said it usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to get to an LRT station and catch the train from there. His commute to work usually only takes around 35 to 45 minutes when the trains are working.
Since the train service has been down, Barker said it’s taken him almost an hour just to get to Hurdman. Taking the partial train line is faster and more comfortable than the R1 bus, Barker added.
Despite some of the setbacks along the way, Barker said he’s still hopeful full service will be running again soon.
Multiple riders told CBC Tuesday that they were glad the LRT has partially resumed, but that they’re looking forward to the reopening of the full Confederation Line.
Trust issues persist: rider advocacy group
Starting off with a partial line seems like a good plan to Kari Glynes Elliott, co-founder and board member of the advocacy group Ottawa Transit Riders.
Glynes Elliott said she likes the idea of a “soft launch,” adding it could help people feel more confident about the train system.
But Glynes Elliot said she has questions about whether OC Transpo has enough resources to run R1 buses and partial train service at the same time, especially as the transit agency continues to grapple with a reported shortage of drivers.
“Lots of people in Orléans and Kanata are complaining that their buses are cancelled all the time because they’re kind of cannibalizing the bus routes in other areas to run the R1s,” she said.
People are also worried about the safety of the trains, a concern Glynes Elliot said the transit advocacy group wasn’t hearing in the past.
“I am hearing a lot from regular transit riders and occasional transit riders that their trust is even lower than it was before,” she said.
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