FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CITY MUST MEET MINIMAL CONDITIONS FOR CREDIBLE TRANSIT PLAN

Staff must deliver credible transit plan that residents, Council, and
upper levels of government wanting to fund transit can all support.

Ottawa, April 14, 2008: Transport 2000 (T2000) and Friends of the
O-Train (FOTO) insist Staff must present a credible transit plan on
Wednesday that:

* substantially increases ridership throughout implementation to
justify the proposed price tag;
* fixes the downtown capacity problem first;
* focuses investment in light rail transit;
* takes advantage of low-cost opportunities for rapid transit
connections to under-serviced destinations; and that is
* is affordable

Details of key questions that Councilors, transit users and city staff
must consider when evaluating staff's plan are attached as a
backgrounder document.

Friends of the O-Train
Formed in the summer of 2006, FOTO is a volunteer organization of
transit experts, community leaders and environmentalists concerned
about improving Ottawa's transit effectiveness and value. The
organization is now affiliated with Transport 2000 Canada.

Contact:
Friends of the O-Train
Telephone: Klaus Beltzner, 613-220-0632 or 613-692-2462
Email: friendsoftheotrain@gmail.com
Web: www.friendsoftheotrain.org

Transport 2000 Canada
Telephone: David Jeanes, 613-594-3290
Email: david@jeanes.ca
Web: www.transport2000.ca

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Backgrounder:

OTTAWA - Will staff's transit plan actually solve the city of Ottawa's
transit problems?

That's what Friends of the O-Train and Transport 2000 want to know, as
they await Wednesday's release of the city's proposed solution to
downtown transit.

The groups have identified five key questions that Councillors,
transit users and city staff must consider when evaluating staff's
plan:

1. Is the plan's top priority to fix the downtown transit bottleneck?

"Ridership growth is tied to increased capacity and there has been no
capacity growth going through downtown in over a decade" notes David
Jeanes, President of Transport 2000, adding "Council recognized that
solving the downtown transit mess is their top priority and we expect
this plan to reflect Council's and residents' demands that this be the
number one priority." Jeanes refers to the new provincial rules for
transit-oriented environmental assessments that will allow the
downtown tunnel study to be completed by the end of the year.

2. Will the plan increase ridership in the short and long term?

Ottawa needs to sustain and increase transit ridership while parts of
the transit system are under construction, and the system itself must
have room to grow as more people use it. Service interruptions need to
be minimal and provisions must be in place to ensure the transit
system remains reliable during construction.

3. Will the plan support the public's demand to focus investment in
light rail transit?

In the latest round of consultations, the public overwhelmingly
supported light rail transit over buses. The public understands that
rail's high capacity will bring OC Transpo's per-rider operating costs
in line with those of other major Canadian cities.

4. Will the plan take advantage of low-cost opportunities to connect
under-serviced destinations outside of downtown?

Diverting traffic from downtown will relieve pressure on the entire
transit system, and existing rail lines can quickly be utilized to
bypass downtown and provide faster and more direct connections.

5. Will the plan be affordable?

Transit fares and subsidies to transit from property taxes required to
sustain OC Transpo's operating costs are already amongst the highest
in the country.

Mr. Jeanes noted that city staff have been provided with excellent
advice, starting with the comprehensive transit vision and plan from
the Mayor's Task Force on Transportation in June 2007, on-going input
from local and national transit advocates, a reworked N-S LRT plan
from Urbandale, and months of input from the public through White
Papers, Streeter Survey, Ottawa Talks, Focus Groups, City Café,
Interactive Workshop as well as significant public response to Staff's
four network options.

With all this information, he said, Transport 2000 expects the plan to
provide a workable vision of a city where transit is fast, convenient,
efficient, affordable, and solving the transportation needs of most
residents.

Friends of the O-Train spokesperson Klaus Beltzner agrees, saying that
residents and upper levels of government have been very patient and
are eagerly expecting the city's plan. "I am confident that the
process will lead to an exciting vision and solid plan for transit.
Residents and councillors have spoken loud and clear that they want
LRT through downtown and to extend it outwards to the rural boundaries
and beyond. Everyone wants rail to be the first order of business,"
notes Beltzner.

Beltzner suggests that these objectives are easily achievable
within the lower cost numbers proposed by staff. "City staff
understand that earlier Transitway conversion studies included keeping
buses on the Transitway and adding rail. Doing a straight conversion
can be done much faster and with a lot less money," said Mr. Beltzner.

"All four of staff's plans call for 60 km more bus Transitway, and
that is not what people want," said FOTO founder David Gladstone, "if
you take these busways out of the plan, over $1 billion of the city's cost
estimate can go to what people really want - rail going out to Kanata,
Stittsville, Barrhaven, Riverside South, Orleans and across the Prince
of Wales Bridge to connect with STO services".

"Residents have been very vocal on this issue" says Beltzner, "and
we are confident that the City has listened to their concerns and will
answer these four questions in their presentation on Wednesday.
Everyone expects a transit plan that elevates Ottawa into a leadership
position to win green transit awards along with Calgary and other
cities".

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On behalf of:
Friends of the O-Train
web: http://www.friendsoftheotrain.org
email: friendsoftheotrain@gmail.com