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FOTO members present to joint Transit and Transportation committees
Several members presented to teh Joint Meeting, Transportation and Transit Committees, Wednesday 20 June 2007.
Klaus Beltzner presented the following:
MOVING OTTAWA: THE MAYOR OF OTTAWA'S TASK FORCE ON TRANSPORTATION REPORT (available here)
TRC Chair, TTC Chair, Members of the Transportation and Transit Committees and Staff.
You have before you the Task Force's vision for transit in Ottawa. It is a powerful vision. It offers a strong, clean transit backbone through Ottawa's downtown core and over the Prince of Wales Bridge into the City of Gatineau to seamlessly interconnect the transit systems of these two cities. With an ever greater number of federal civil servants commuting between them, such a strong transit backbone is an absolute requirement, and the Task Force's Report delivers.
The Task Force's vision offers new and equitable high capacity rapid transit services into downtown from communities in the west, east and south ends of Ottawa. It offers new and equitable high capacity, rapid transit services between Ottawa's western, eastern and southern communities without having to go through the centre of town. With increasing dispersion of large centres of employment, education and health services into more and more communities outside the core, a robust rapid transit network is critical for continued economic growth and enjoyment of a high quality of life in our green city, and the Task Force's Report delivers.
The Task Force's vision is affordable and easy to implement because it efficiently builds on existing underutilized rail corridors that go where people live and work. By so doing, it avoids the need to cut new transit corridors through established communities. On this, too, the Task Force's Report delivers.
The Task Force's vision optimizes our existing investment in buses by redeploying a large number of them into shorter, more frequent hub and spoke routes to improve service into every community. On this, too, the Task Force Report delivers.
Further, the Task Force's vision calls for immediately extending rapid rail services south to Leitrim then Earl Armstrong Roads with frequent connecting bus service into Riverside South and Findlay Creek. On quickly and effectively connecting these south eastern communities with the rest of Ottawa, the Task Force Report also delivers.
I urge you to join us in fully supporting the Task Force's vision and report. Thank-you.
Klaus Beltzner, B.Sc., M.Math., M.B.A,
Member, Friends of the O-Train
TRANSIT INVESTMENT OPTIONS
Mr. Robertson suggested the City to move towards a hub & spoke system to provide efficient service through the downtown and efficient connections to the service moving through the downtown. With respect to the staff recommendations, the CCC agrees with many of those recommendations but would like to mention three major concerns. First, the CCC is aware that Committee recently received a presentation by a promoter of bus ways. He noted that after the transitway was implemented for a decade each year, ridership went down. He reiterated that rapid transit is needed and should become the mode of choice for people who would have a choice. He believes compared to buses, light rail is more comfortable, it leaves the air cleaner, it moves more people for a given amount of energy, it has lower operating cost with one driver carrying an enormous number of people and trains last much longer than buses. He also believes that light rail has more capacity to expand ridership and is the way to go. Their second concern is with the many delays over several years in starting the Interprovincial Transit Study. He urged Committee to really get that study started, bring it to a successful conclusion and get light rail across the Ottawa River as soon as possible. Their third concern is that this whole process seems to take forever. They feel that existing O-Train Service must be about the longest pilot project in the history of humanity. He urged Committee to do the Environmental Assessment, and send staff a signal that LRT is needed as soon as possible. He also urged Committee to provide staff with the resources necessary to do the job. In conclusion, he further urged Committee to seize the opportunity to create an LRT network that would service current and future generations efficiently and effectively; a network that will make public transit the mode of choice for travel in Ottawa. I like his thoughts i would see if i can participate in his mission as i get free time from cheap domain hosting services along with the business email hosting services at affordable price, now i am going to start free hosting services, which is reliable and easy to use. but he is working good and i like the basic idea about train.
Policymakers are looking...
Policymakers are looking at Bus Rapid Transit as a 642-383 complement to current mass transit investment options, including light- and heavy-rail. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA- 21), which provides six-year funding 650-575 for highway and transit programs, including Major Capital Investment "New Starts" Projects, expired on September 30th. An extension was approved 642-825 through February 29th. New Starts Projects are defined under current legislation as fixed-guideway systems (like rail systems) that significantly restructure land use and congestion patterns in an urban area...