New details on city's plan to fix LRT issues

After Mayor Jim Watson announced a multi-million dollar emergency fix to add buses to the roads, CTV Ottawa has learned more details on how the plan will work.

“This is what reserves are for,” said Ottawa's Transit Commission Chair Allan Hubley.

“We needed money now.”

Hubley says it was a decision that just couldn't wait. The city tapped into its transit reserve account for $3.5 million dollars, the money will pay for 40 buses to return to a number of routes across the city, and another 19 in January of 2020.

“Those 40 buses are some of the ones we had take off the road October 6^th,” said Hubley.

“They have been certified by Ministry of Transportation, that they are road worthy and in good condition.”

The buses will deploy to problem routes like the 39 in the east .. 257 in the west and 75 in the south but those aren't the only ones.

“It's not just those 3 routes - that's just an example,” said Hubley.

“We used feedback to prioritize those routes.”

After Friday’s announcement, riders questioned how the decision could be made without all the members of city council signing off.

“General Manager of Transit John Manconi has that delegated authority in a case like this to tap into the reserves,” said Hubley.

“He just needs to get the city manager and the Mayor to sign off.”

All three parties agreed that the additional money was warranted.

When ask how long the plan had been in the works,

Hubley said since the first week of full-service when problems began to arise.

“I guess you could say this has been in the works since October 6^th,” said Hubley.

“By the end of that first week we were starting to get a lot of feedback, okay, this route has a problem, this route has a problem.”

Hubley says the hope was things would level out, but when it didn’t, the city re-evaluated.

“It’s welcomed to have money and it's welcomed to have buses,” said Bay Ward Councillor Theresa Kavanagh.

Kavanagh says she's been inundated with bus complaints following the LRT transition when a number of routes in her ward were changed.

“They were less frequent missing still and they were late.

 “It was a triple-whammy on residents.”

When asked if she thought the $3.5 million would help, Kavanagh says she will wait to see how the additional buses are spread out.

Riders however have doubts on whether the additional buses will have a positive impact.

“Disappointed, it’s not going to do anything,” said life-long transit rider Diane Larabie.

“I think we should have continued the parallel bus service a little longer.”

I can certainly understand their doubt,” said Hubley.

“All I can say is let us try this and see if it works.”