Friday, streetcar 696 was going to be taken out of the Merivale garage
A carefully made replica of a streetcar that ran through Ottawa decades ago will be able to stay in its current home while the city figures out what will happen to it in the long run.
The OC Transpo Merivale garage on Colonnade Road was going to have to get rid of streetcar 696 by the end of June.
Volunteers had been using the space to work on the replica, which was named after one of the last cars that ran in Ottawa before streetcar service ended in 1959.
But earlier this month, they told CBC that they had been told they had to pay for a new place for the streetcar by June 30.
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After the city took back the garage space, the heritage streetcar was told to hit the road.
OC Transpo wanted to take back the space, citing “operational needs” that included renovations as part of the city’s move to a zero-emission bus fleet.
Yesterday, however, OC Transpo’s general manager, Renée Amilcar, told the transit commission that the streetcar could stay in the garage until city workers came up with a long-term solution.
Amilcar said, “That should happen as soon as possible, because we really need the space.”
“Unfortunately, we should have been able to use that space by the end of this month. We are trying to find a solution, and we hope to have one by the end of next month.”
‘Such a cool project
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the restoration efforts, with volunteers unable to access the garage for long stretches of time, said David Jeanes, treasurer of citizen transportation advocacy group Transport Action Canada.
Jeanes told transit commission that even so, that work is now almost done.
- Painstaking restoration of century-old Ottawa streetcar nearly complete
“I would say that the replica as built is the property of the city. And so I think you should be concerned as to what happens to it,” Jeanes said.
Capital Coun. Shawn Menard told Jeanes it would be great to eventually display Streetcar 696 at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park, given the long history of streetcars running down Bank Street.
“It’s been such a cool project, and to let a piece of our history just kind of fade away this way, after all the work that’s been put in, it doesn’t make much sense,” Menard said.
“I think we need, through the city, to be facilitating the space for you to finish the project.”