After the latest surprise, passengers don’t trust promises because the trains don’t run on time
On Friday, OC Transpo surprised its riders by saying that LRT service wouldn’t be back for at least 10 more days. But by that time, Ebubechukwu Chime had already stopped paying attention.
“I didn’t even know that because there are so many delays and stops,” he said Saturday after getting off a replacement bus from Tunney’s Pasture.
Chime said, “My confidence is really, really low.””It’s like the interruptions are part of the service.”
Since July 17, the light rail system in Ottawa has been closed. The bearings on the trains are to blame, but the city hasn’t said why they keep breaking down.
The city’s general manager of transit services, Renée Amilcar, was still optimistic on Thursday that eight single-car trains, which make up a small part of the whole fleet, could return to the Confederation Line tomorrow.
But that plan fell apart when she said on Friday that crews would have to make tiny changes to the line’s stopping rails. These rails keep trains from getting off track, but they might be rubbing against the wheels and wearing out the bearings.
Amilcar said that OC Transpo has found the problem and is “so close” to finding a solution. But after having so many hopes dashed, Chime isn’t the only one who doesn’t pay attention to what she says.
“We were ready to go on Monday,” said Michael Suddard, who was waiting downtown with his daughter Dora for a replacement bus on Saturday.
Suddard said he isn’t counting on Amilcar’s estimate that service will start up again in about 10 days. His own estimation?
“Best case scenario, probably Labor Day,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think OC Transpo has found the cause of the nearly two-week shutdown.
He said, “We just found out that maybe the problem is that the restraining rail is off by a few millimeters.””We didn’t know until now, and all these experts were supposed to look at it 10 different ways until Tuesday.And maybe that’s all there was to it?”I don’t know.”
Winning back riders a battl
Ottawa Transit Riders, an advocacy group, has members who feel the same way.
Laura Shantz said, “We’re now looking at other problems that we didn’t expect at first.””We were told that all they had to do was check the bearings, make sure they were correct, and then get going.Now, people are telling us, “Oh, maybe there are bigger problems.” That shows that there have been problems since 2019.”
She thinks that OC Transpo’s communication has gotten better, with more updates and daily press conferences, but that doesn’t help much when every message is bad.
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Crisis experts say that communication isn’t good enough during the LRT shutdown.
She said it will be hard to get people who have already quit transit to come back.
“The public can only take so much,” she said.
John Redins, who is also a member of Ottawa Transit Riders, said that the news on Friday is especially bad for people with disabilities who can’t easily fit on crowded R1 buses.
“I’m basically stuck with Para Transpo because of it,” Redins said, adding that he has to plan any trip, even to buy a carton of milk, 24 hours in advance.
“It just makes me shake my head,” he said.”I think it’s going to affect people’s mental health.”
He, too, thinks that the 10-day estimate isn’t realistic, and he thinks that OCTranspo needs to do something to keep people using public transportation as confidence falls.
He said, “They have to do something, especially about the prices.” “Because August 1 is this week, and you think people will want to pay for a monthly bus pass for a system that isn’t working?”
‘A complicated question
Suddard said he paid for his pass “reluctantly” this weekend. He wants to know if OC Transpo will pay him if they offer some kind of free service to bring people back.
Coun. Glen Gower, who is in charge of Ottawa’s transit commission, said that it is hard to answer questions about pay.
He said that OC Transpo already has a budget deficit of about $39 million.
“A big part of the transit service is paid for by fares. We plan to spend about $8 million a month, so if there’s any kind of compensation, we need to make sure there’s a way to get that money,” he said.
“It’s a complicated question, but it’s definitely something we’re looking at.”