Transit changes in Westboro

“Schedule and route changes to Ottawa’s transit system won the approval of city council’s transit committee on Wednesday, despite reservations from some councillors.”

Westboro resident Ian Thomson said people in his neighbourhood were “shocked and angered” by what they viewed as radical changes to the system after the disastrous winter strike.

Read the full story at the Ottawa Citizen website. 

We’d love to hear what you think. Will the proposed changes help or hinder transit in Westboro?

Last day to comment on Transplan

The deadline for comments on OC Transpo’s Transplan 2009 proposals is today (April 25). See previous post about it here.

In spite of our and Councillor Leadman’s efforts, OC Transpo did not agree to extend the deadline. We encourage you to copy your comments here on the blog or email them to us at hellowestboro@yahoo.ca. Thank you!

Proposed changes to transit service in Westboro

As part of its annual “Transplan” exercise OC Transpo has issued a series of proposed changes to transit service in the near west end that affect a number of routes serving the Westboro area. The deadline for public comments is April 25 but given the signficance of some of the possible service changes, the WCA has asked Councillor Leadman to request that OC Transpo extend this deadline by at least one week.

In the meantime, we encourage you to review the changes on the OC Transpo website and submit comments to OC Transpo as well as posting them here on our blog so as to help the WCA board come up with its own position on this issue.

Wallace Beaton
WCA co-chair

Re: City of Ottawa 2008 Transportation Master Plan

November 23, 2008

Mayor Larry O’Brien and Members of Council
City of Ottawa
111 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa K1P 1J1

Re: City of Ottawa 2008 Transportation Master Plan

Dear Mayor & Councillors,

The Westboro Community Association wishes to make the following comments regarding the City’s draft 2008 Transportation Master Plan:

• The current plan invests too heavily in further expansion of the existing Transitway at the expense of moving more quickly to implement the proposed light rail network. This continued short-term focus on bus-based rapid transit will only drive up the city’s already high transit operating costs, flies in the face of residents’ strong preference for light rail solutions expressed throughout the public consultation process, and will divert scarce resources away from much-needed improvements to OC Transpo’s existing core network. We believe that a large portion of the +$600 million currently allocated for completing the Transitway should be re-directed to building more light rail during Phase 1 of the TMP’s implementation.
• We urge you to consider Carling Avenue as an alternative to the Ottawa River Parkway (ORP)and Byron Avenue corridors for light rail rapid transit service. Compared to ORP and Byron, Carling offers many potential advantages:
  o City-owned.
  o Delivers rapid transit closer to many more residents as well as large employment and commercial centres including the Civic and Royal Ottawa hospitals as well as Carlingwood and Westgate shopping centres.
  o It avoids protracted negotiations with the NCC the outcome and cost implications of which are unknown.
  o A straight east-west alignment.
  o Protects existing greenspace and environmentally-sensitive areas along the Ottawa River.
  o Adjacent properties along Carling offer significant redevelopment/intensification opportunities that would generate future revenue for the City through development charges and property taxes. The ORP corridor offers none.
  o Greater consistency with the City’s official plan which seeks to concentrate development near existing transportation corridors and infrastructure.

Therefore we urge Council to undertake a full cost/benefit analysis as well as authorize completion of the environmental assessment of the Carling corridor on the basis of using it for rapid light rail service during the first phase of TMP implementation.

Sincerely,

Wallace Beaton
Chair

Gary Ludington
Vice-Chair
Westboro Community Association

cc.
Marie Lemay, CEO National Capital Commission
Paul Dewar, MP, Ottawa-Centre
Yasir Naqvi, MPP Ottawa-Centre
John Baird, MP, Ottawa West-Nepean
Jim Watson, MPP, Ottawa West-Nepean
City Clerk, City of Ottawa