OTTAWA - Ottawa's new Confederation Line failed a critical test on Tuesday afternoon. Replacement bus service is being implemented in the east end, with long delays and hundreds of passengers diverted from trains at St. Laurent station.
Riders tell CTV Ottawa that they were told to disembark a packed train at Saint Laurent station, to board replacement buses to Blair Station.
"I have to apologize to them for the inconvenience this afternoon while we try to get this figured out, but were still transitioning to a new system here," said Transit Commission Chair Allan Hubley.
"We get it that when there's one that goes down like this, it's a bad thing for them, but if they could just keep in mind that were getting there, were getting close."
OC Transpo tweeted that full service had resumed by 4:53 p.m.
Councillors Catherine McKenney and Jeff Leiper both are calling on the City of Ottawa and Mayor Jim Watson to restore R1 bus service until LRT service is dependable.
Transit Commissioner Sarah Wright-Gilbert was caught in the delays.
This all comes after 14.4 cm fell on the capital since Monday afternoon. The morning commute went well, with many lauding the transit service for a rare, smooth morning commute.
There were concerns from many riders ahead of Tuesday morning's commute as the system has faced a difficult November.
According to some riders who spoke to CTV News spoke on Tuesday morning, the LRT was running smoothly with "no problems at all."
Earlier in the day Wright-Gilbert tweeted on Tuesday, saying the LRT "ran perfectly."
On her way home though all of that changed, wtih Wright-Gilbert caught with hundreds of others commuters, diverted on a very cold day, after another train stalled, and there were more unspecificed "technical issuse".
