Ottawa group pushes alternative to light rail

A coalition of transit advocates is using Ottawa's municipal election to push a diesel-electric alternative to the light rail deal signed by the City of Ottawa in July.

David Jeanes, a spokesperson for Friends of the O-Train, said his group's plan has numerous benefits and will cost $330 million less than the current north-south light rail plan worthclose to$800 million.

"You'll reduce the congestion, you'll get better productivity out of the transit system, you'll get better bus service in the suburbs and you'll get clean air," he said.

Jeanes said the $446-million plan was developed by city staff in consultation with his group, and will address one of the main concerns cited by critics of the current light rail plan— that it will not reduce congestion downtown.

Jeanes said the plan will also preserve the city's north-south diesel O-Train line, which would have been out of service for three years under the light rail plan.

The group proposes:

• Doubling the frequency of the O-Train.
• Extending the O-Train line south to Armstrong Road and building a new park-and-ride there.
• Building a six-kilometre electric rail line through the city's downtown, from Bayview to Hurdman stations.

Jeanes said the plan will eliminate the need for buses in the congested Albert-Slater corridor downtown. He said 10 or 11light rail trains could replace the 130 buses that clog that corridor at any given time during rush hour, and allow for a potential capacity of more than twice the peak number of people that now take transit downtown.

It would also free up existing buses for better suburban transit, he added.

Transit users would transfer from downtown light rail to suburban buses at Bayview and Hurdman stations.

The O-Train line itself would be extended, but it would not go all the way to Barrhaven as theproposed light rail line would under the current contract.

Plan first shopped to council in 2003

Jeanes told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that his group first tried to sellits plan to city council in 2003, before the federal and provincial governments agreed to put money into Ottawa's transit expansion.

"Unfortunately, our cost-saving ideas became very unpopular with the city once there was $600 million to spend," said Jeanes, who called the current light rail plan "unaffordable."

But he added recent events have given his group another chance.

John Baird, president of the Federal Treasury Board, announced in early Octoberthat the federal government is withholding its $200-million contribution to the almost$800-million light rail project until Ottawa's new city council is elected and can reapprove the plan.

When Jeanes was asked ifit was a problem that his group's plan was not part of the light rail contract already signed by the City of Ottawa, Jeanes said he did not know because the contract remains secret.

The group's plan has been embraced by mayoral candidate Larry O'Brien.

"I think that's exciting and exceptional," said O'Brien. "That is exactly what I am hoping for."

Alex Munter, another mayoral hopeful, saidhe thought the proposal was interesting and would consider including some of its elements in his own transit plan after a closer examination.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bob Chiarelli saidthe city has alreadyconsidered thegroup's plan.

"We have taken it into account. We believe the present version of the O-Train is the right vision," he said.

He said the current light rail plan avoids unnecessary transfers at Bayview and Hurdman, and simplifies maintenance through use of a single technology.

Chiarelli said considering the group's diesel-electric plan again would take too long.

"People are now looking at it to take another kick at the can," he said, "but that kick at the can is going to cost4½ years before they can put a shovel in the ground."