City staff is prepared to unveil yet another transit plan on Monday that will see light rail going east-west, dropping a plan to link LRT to Riverside South.
"I'm certainly disappointed with the reports that the focus will be on the east and west parts of the city," Coun. Steve Desroches told CTV Ottawa on Friday.
Although city staff supported the southern rail link as recently as September, the $1.7 billion line is now expected to run from Blair Road in the east to Tunney's Pasture in the west.
"I thought we had it right the first time, building a north-south line that would feed into a very fast-growing part of the city. I thought this was a concept that resembled smart growth -- that you build transit-friendly communities right from the start, so that when people move into it, they often have one car instead of two," said Desroches.
He added it's imperative that council make a final decision on Ottawa's transit future soon; otherwise the city won't be able to keep up with population growth.
"We've got to get some transit solutions in place because the growth is certainly not waiting for the city to get the transit plans in place."
