Western LRT corridor evaluation criteria
By Tim Lane
Jan. 25, 2011

Western LRT corridor Bayview to Baseline Station
 
  I assume that the existing Transitway corridor between Lincoln Fields Station and Baseline Station will remain as the only possible route for that section.
 
   If so, the only question there will be, will we still have buses running from Lincoln Fields to Baseline in that corridor,
paralleling the ELRT line?
 
   The answer, which should be obvious to anyone but certain "Bus People," is, NO.

When ELRT reaches Baseline Station, buses will cease running on the transit corridor north of there.
 
   So, the next question is, do we use the

1. Ottawa River Parkway (ORP)
2. the Byron Corridor (BC) or
3. Carling Ave. (CA)

as the route from Lincoln Fields to Bayview?
 
   The Carling Ave. alignment, of course, would include the section of the O-Train line from Bayview Station to Carling
Station.

From: "Richard Eade"
To:

This entire revelation about the previously unknown ground conditions influencing the length of the tunnel but not its cost is a bit incredible so I thought I'd take a look at it in more detail.

GROUND CONDITIONS:

The length of the tunnel was to be determined by the choice of one of three east portals; the first just south of Laurier, the second just north of the Campus Station, and the third midway between Mann and the 417. Council
directed Staff to plan for the southerly most portal, south of Mann. The Consultants and staff were then looking at Cut & Cover for the section (at least) from the Campus Station (including the station) to the east portal.
They were also candidly saying that it was likely that Cut & Cover would be used for part of the section between the Campus Station and Laurier because of the depth of the bedrock.

The City blew its chances on air rights over the O-Train between Gladstone and Young nearly 10 years ago. There was City or other government-owned or industrial land on both sides.

They blew it on air rights at Walkley Road, by refusing to allow a developer to get a rezoning from the track to the corner of Bank and Walkley. They insisted that the latter had to remain zoned for single-storey auto dealerships.

They blew it on air rights at Bayview by not buying the NCC-owned land in the southeast quadrant at City Centre.

They have recently blown it at Carling O-Train station by refusing to allow the developer of the adjacent property to do a sensible development of the air rights. They will lose also at the OMB.

They blew it at Baseline by not forcing Algonquin/aka the Province to pay for the entire cost of the transit station in return for the air rights.

They have no idea what they are doing.

Why Watson won't debate Haydon
http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/greaterottawa/archive/...

By David Reevely
http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/members/David-Reevely/defaul...

Sun, Oct 17 2010

Clearly Jim Watson's disinclination to have a one-on-one debate with Andy Haydon on transit isn't doing his campaign any real harm, but I can see how it could make a less-informed observer wonder whether Watson thinks he's up
to having that fight . In the beginning of the campaign, Watson's support for the current LRT plan was lukewarm at best. Maybe he doesn't really want to stand up and defend it?

Well, maybe, though Watson's made the decision to support the plan and could likely defend it as well as or better than Larry O'Brien, if he wanted to. The thing is, you can't debate a guy who won't be bound by facts. Haydon,

The article that started this:

OTTAWA -- An internal e-mail, obtained by the Citizen, lays bare OC Transpo's contingency plans for cutting service on select routes to deal with day-to-day problems that may arise such as unexpected staff shortages.

The e-mail suggests that any one of 40 or so routes could be affected by a service change at any given time.

The transit system's website may show that bus service is normal while a bus that usually runs every 15 minutes may suddenly and temporarily appear only every half hour. The next day, it might be back to normal while service on another route is stretched out from every six to every 12 minutes.

Even transit managers won't know from day to day which routes need to be cut or for how long, the e-mail says.

The internal memo asks supervisors to switch around the cuts so that no single route suffers all the inconvenience.

HISTORY:

In 2001 when the O-train was built, an S-curve was introduced at the northern station, at Bayview. This S-curve on a hill was forced by a decision not to spend $700 to move a Hydro Pole by a former city of Ottawa "transit" planner.

This curve has caused a lot of wheel squeal as the train has to put on its brakes, go around the curve, and then applies power to climb the hill. The reverse happens when it travels south: it coasts down the hill, brakes, squeals around the curve, and then has to apply power again at the bottom.

This problem isn't just about noise: it also causes excessive wheel and track wear, and consumes fuel. A straight track on a hill would otherwise provide a perfect brake for the train. For a calculation of how much money is lost yearly by the presence of this pole, see the comment to:
http://www.friendsoftheotrain.org/node/221