The O-Train has its problems, but...
Canada's capital used to be a long-time transit success, and it still can be.
I was in Ottawa recently and much earlier this year for a few construction-related tours, and sometimes I wonder what the future holds, transit-wise, for the city.
Historically, Ottawa’s Transitway BRT system was really quite good: It was twenty-four hours, fast, frequent, and it went almost anywhere you could want. And while it certainly wasn’t sexy, the current rail system just isn’t doing all of those things quite yet.
Ultimately, Ottawa was always a city that had a really respectable transit system, with a lot of those features being things you’d expect only in bigger cities in Canada. One of the great features of Canada is that it has a lot of sizeable, good cities with attractive transit systems, and with all of its local growth and the growth of Ontario and Quebec in general, Ottawa seems to have the potential to become a Vancouver-sized metro area in a few decades — which is promising and could give the O-Train a much needed boost in ridership.
A large part of my feelings here are probably inspired by thinking about the Washington Metro. For all of the system’s problems (sound familiar?), it has an incredibly strong foundation, with large trains, epic stations, a vibrant and rapidly growing region to serve, quite an extensive and modern set of infrastructure to work with, good connectivity, and the sense that it really matters that a country as important as the US has a great rail system for its capital.
I feel the same about a lot of these things with regard to Ottawa and the O-Train, and given that Ottawa is sprawling (like Washington), any transit will likely serve a dual regional/local purpose. That being said, given the more modern nature of the O-Train and the fact that transit generally does better in Canada than the US, you’d hope things were going better, but alas…
For example, when I was visiting (in winter), it was really clear that the station structures are not well adapted for Ottawa’s climate — there is just too much glass and not enough enclosure, leading to riders being bombarded by a lot of cold wind. During the hottest times in summer, I can imagine this would create the inverse problem of it being to hot and greenhouse-like. Ultimately though, this is really a case of stations being poorly adapted to their climate — which will only get worse over the years, and all that glass is likely to be a maintenance nightmare, both for cleaning and long term durability.
There were also still a lot of operational issues I noticed, although these might improve and might even already be better since I was last in Ottawa. For one, the cameras meant to be utilized by rail operators to check that train doors and the platform are clear before departing still weren’t properly working, and human spotters had to be present on the platforms. The ride was also somewhat rough, and while the train did not have the sharp shrill squeal I associate with trains going through tight corners (or just the entire deep level underground), they did certainly make a low hissing squeal.
Then there are just the weird oversights, such as the poor design of some of the bus terminals (Hurdman & Tunney’s Pasture come to mind) with their long walks and poor integration (lacking integrated bus shelters, etc.). At the same time, the existence of some sections of track and stations like Hurdman in their current locations is deeply frustrating: The design of the alignment of O-Train Line 1 was heavily influenced by the original BRT alignment, and which it in retrospect it probably shouldn’t have been! The bike infrastructure at a lot of stations is also quite underwhelming, especially given the fact that Ottawa generally has pretty good bike infrastructure, especially around its existing rail lines.
The good thing is, while the O-Train (Confederation Line mostly for the purposes of this post) does have some serious issues that will likely need to be addressed in the future, it’s got a lot going for it.
One of the best elements of the current/under-construction rail network in Ottawa is that even if it doesn’t always do so in the most logical way, it connects a very large portion of the city’s important trip generators. The airport, the train station, major schools, shopping centres, hospitals, and the downtown & parliamentary precinct are all connected, and you can go between them quite quickly thanks to the high speeds and wide stop spacing on the rail network.
Something that was absolutely nailed in the Confederation Line and the subsequent expansions that are currently going on is the aesthetic of the stations and infrastructure. This extends to things like the wayfinding — which is excellent — and also public realm elements like the giant “O” totems used to identify stations, and the light box elements with the station names and fare machines. This is something the Washington Metro also does very well, albeit Washington’s stations are of an even greater scale, in line with a city like Montreal (which makes sense as it’s a much bigger city-region than Ottawa).
Now, while the scale of Ottawa’s stations is always more modest, what I will say is that I think everything makes more sense in Ottawa than in DC. The suburban stations in Ottawa are more minor but also more attractive, and while the downtown stations are attractive, they are designed for capacity foremost. The three large underground stations downtown are one of the best features of the O-Train system in my personal view — two of them even have full length New York style mezzanines!
Something else that also makes the tie-in between regional transport and the O-Train feel much better to me is the wonderful multi-use path connections. I don’t feel like Toronto has anything comparable, but a lot of O-Train stations drop you off right along excellent cycling and walking paths!
Ottawa has also been able to nail down some features that other Canadian systems have not. There is open payment despite the system using Presto, so if you’re visiting from out of province, you can pay with credit or debit. The system also has its iconic “O” indicators on Google Maps — something which Sydney, New York, and London have managed, but which Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto sadly have not.
And the most important thing of all — frequency of service — is 100% there. Trains have never been crammed when I have been riding (which is almost always off-peak), but trains have been running every few minutes — which, even with the problems Ottawa has faced, is the most important way it can grow ridership in the long term.
At the same time, while Ottawa’s problems are real, the problems are also fixable.
Capacity
If capacity becomes a serious concern on Line 1, full double-tracking and a downtown tunnel extension of Line 2 under Sparks or Wellington (with an underground interchange at Rideau and Bayview) could free up lots of capacity on Line 1, particularly from the busier western end, and such a tunnel could serve more branches to the east and west long term as well. This tunnel could also become the basis for the first truly “RER” style systems in Canada, and could support a leg into Quebec as well as higher top speeds than Line 1.
Station Design
As I mentioned before, station designs are not ideal in Ottawa for a number of reasons. Fortunately, since Ottawa built its stations above ground, rebuilding them in the future to improve shelter and climate resiliency as well as connections to local transit should be practical — this type of more incremental buildout of things like better platform canopies and bus connections is something you see a lot in systems like Vancouver’s SkyTrain and Calgary’s C-Train, and would also make a lot of sense in Ottawa.
Trains
Probably the biggest problem with the O-Train right now are the Citadis trains (name another city with major train issues - I’ll wait… *cough cough* Washington). It might be that the model’s debut in North America just has had its bugs and can be sorted out with time. Now that Metrolinx has started taking delivery of very similar units, perhaps there will be more design/maintenance changes that can be implemented to help with reliability and the like. But ultimately, the nice thing about low-floor light rail vehicles — yes, this is me, Reece, saying this — is that they are pretty interchangeable. If it comes to it, Ottawa can buy Flexities like Toronto and Waterloo, or Urbos units like Calgary, or even buck the Canadian trend completely and buy from Siemens. Ottawa has options for the future, and things should only get better from here on out.
So, suffice to say, while Ottawa is not out of the woods yet, and still has a lot of things to fix with its rail system, it’s already getting better. And the big problems can and likely will be fixed in the future!