Ottawa city councillors unhappy with LRT service cuts coming this fall

More reductions to O-Train service are on the way and Ottawa city councillors aren't happy.

"We have a tsunami of passengers coming in September. Why make those changes to their routes weeks before?" said River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington.

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Starting Aug. 26, trains on the Confederation Line will arrive every 10 minutes instead of five during weekday off-peak hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

OC Transpo announced the changes last week, with the evening reduction confirmed on Friday, a move that caught College Ward Coun. Laine Johnson off guard.

"To see a reduction in service does not give riders confidence in this system," Johnson said.

"It's not only the reduction in service that's worrying to me, but it's also the manner in which we're delivering this type of information to the public. To receive a memo on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend, it doesn't pass the smell test for accountability, does it?"

City staff defend the timing of the announcement.

"We sent it out as soon as we could," explained Pat Scrimgeour, OC Transpo's director of customer systems and planning.

The adjustment is being done is an effort to reduce costs, according to Scrimgeour, who adds ridership is not as high as the budget that was set back in the winter had predicted.

"We're short by about $6 million in the first part of the year. We could see that ridership is still continuing to be low on the train, and this was an option to save some money as we go into the fall of this year, to achieve those savings in this calendar year."

Hannah Milne commutes from Little Italy to uOttawa every day for work.

"That's not very convenient for me. I rely on it a lot," she said. "I've been watching Ottawa try to rebuild trust with the public in the LRT system and with OC Transpo; it's kind of tough when the frequency of the trains is reduced."

Once council returns in September, several councillors, including Brockington, are ready to push back.

"I don't support this," he said. "I think this is the wrong direction and I'm asking staff to reconsider this. That does not sit well with me coming out of the inquiry, which talked about the need for better communications, better transparency."