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Trim Rd. Yesterday.

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The City completed a land exchange with a developer somewhere near Trim. I don't think the name of the developer or plot of land were disclosed, but I'm hoping it's Brigil and the City Yards that they would need to build a bridge to the north end from the station. There's great potential north of the highway with major Brigil projects and the college, but the access is absolutely garbage as it stands. I'd like to see Brigil build a skywalk between the station, all their developments and the college, maybe even to the Beach.

The City should have tried to find a developer partner for the Park and Ride (PnR) to create a high density development with parking garage PnR and enclosed bus loop.
 
The brilliant minds at OC Transpo will be cutting Line 1 frequency between 9am and 3pm to 10 minutes from 5 minutes, just in time for back to school and public servants starting 3 days a week at the office. It will save the transit agency a whopping $1.5 million on their $768 million budget per year (0.002%). I'm guessing they didn't consider the millions of revenue lost from riders who'll decide they might as well drive.


As a reminder, they cut the weekend frequency from 5 minutes to 10 minutes months ago, while also reducing trains to single cars (so 1/4 capacity).

I've emailed Mayor "Stop the War on Cars" (when truly it's a war on transit) and the Transit Commission demanding an emergency meeting to stop this none-sense and the removal of the people in charge who came up with such a moronic idea. I implore everyone to do the same.
 
It is a waste of time trying to fight it. Their consultation on the bus service cuts (not yet implemented) was really non-existent. When the justification given for a bus route cut is that 10 single family home owners complained (after decades of bus service on that street), the average person is beyond hope in influencing change. We all deserve worse traffic. At least automatic speeding tickets will continue to increase to fund everything but transit.
 
In case this was missed, a van took out two of the Blair bike shelters July 8.

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I was there yesterday. The shelters have been removed, the staple bike racks fixed, but they have rental construction fencing around the site. Seems they could have placed cones over the electrical connections and left the bike racks accessible while waiting (hopefully) for the new roof structures. How much is the City paying to rent the construction fence? Why doesn't the City or OC have its own? Hoping the driver of that van will be forced to pay for the damages.

This are still has two shelters left for bike parking.

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Wonder what the plan for the area is after station is completed and open. Hopefully they can redevelop and add housing nearby. I hate how much "greenspace" and open fields & parking we leave around some of our LRT stations, it makes them that much less convenient to use.
 
From Sutcliffe's presentation this morning.


We've been massively short changed on transit, with Ottawa ending up paying 50% of transit capital projects (O-Train) while the GTA gets sweetheart deals. We work hard to make the transit lines as cheap as possible while the GTA blows up their budgets with unnecessary tunnels and massive underground stations in fields.

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On the Federal work from home policy, I think a good way to get the Feds to contribute to the deficit and increase transit ridership without asking for a handout might be a Federal Public Servant uPass for anyone who lives within the transit service zone (Ottawa and Gatineau).
 
From Sutcliffe's presentation this morning.


We've been massively short changed on transit, with Ottawa ending up paying 50% of transit capital projects (O-Train) while the GTA gets sweetheart deals. We work hard to make the transit lines as cheap as possible while the GTA blows up their budgets with unnecessary tunnels and massive underground stations in fields.

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Good grief, what are we doing? Why is Phase 2 funding worse than Phase 1? Wasn't the airport spur and Trim extension fully funded by the upper levels of government. So, what was the arrangement for the main part of Phase 2? I am sorry, but this funding breakdown is beyond belief and how did this city get into this? I don't remember any discussion suggesting that Phase 2 was funded mostly by the city. This comes across as incompetence. Then, for years we were fed that rail was going to save on operating costs. Buses were much more expensive. This also appears to be a big falsehood. As a taxpayer, I am shocked by the financial reality of rail, and how it has failed to deliver better service on top of everything. This is pitiful.
 
Here's a breakdown of the P2 funding history:

1. The original estimate for P2 was $3 Billion, so we asked for 1/3-1/3-1/3 and got it.
2. Then the Feds offered to pay for the Trim extension and the Airport spur (probably worked out with Watson and Blais), at an estimated cost of $155 million.
3. Estimate now $3.6 Billion, with the City absorbing the increased cost.
4. Then the City added Moodie when they moved the Yard and said "hey, no problem, we found efficiencies and it will still fit in the budget".
5. City got developers and the Provincial Liberals to fund a one stop extension of Line 2 to Limebank, at an estimated cost of $30 million (Provincial Conservatives didn't have a choice but to accept that deal when they are elected).
6. Bids came in at a $Billion over City Staff's terrible estimate. We decide to absorb those overruns as well, but Watson promises Stage 3 will be fully funded by Feds and Province exclusivly.

7. Feds and Province say "yeah yeah sure, we support Stage 3". Sutcliffe runs on "Yeah yeah sure, I support Stage 3". Few years later, Ford says "City of Ottawa miss-managed Stage 1, so no funding for Stage 3 until it's "fixed" (whatever that means). Sutcliffe agrees with Ford "yeah yeah, we miss-manage everything. I agree, don't give us a cent" instead of asking to fund BRT to support rail and provide redundancy/alternatives. No one bats an eye at Metrolinx's transit miss-managements like Crosstown, while they continue to receive Billions upon Billions for new projects.
 
During the Watson era, there was a lot of magical thinking about the money. They all chose to believe they could build a mile of subway below the waterline in the soggy gravel banks of the Ottawa for the same cost as at-grade. This was the 100 day solution. Should have been called the 300 hundred mil sinkhole.
 
Here's a breakdown of the P2 funding history:

1. The original estimate for P2 was $3 Billion, so we asked for 1/3-1/3-1/3 and got it.
2. Then the Feds offered to pay for the Trim extension and the Airport spur (probably worked out with Watson and Blais), at an estimated cost of $155 million.
3. Estimate now $3.6 Billion, with the City absorbing the increased cost.
4. Then the City added Moodie when they moved the Yard and said "hey, no problem, we found efficiencies and it will still fit in the budget".
5. City got developers and the Provincial Liberals to fund a one stop extension of Line 2 to Limebank, at an estimated cost of $30 million (Provincial Conservatives didn't have a choice but to accept that deal when they are elected).
6. Bids came in at a $Billion over City Staff's terrible estimate. We decide to absorb those overruns as well, but Watson promises Stage 3 will be fully funded by Feds and Province exclusivly.

7. Feds and Province say "yeah yeah sure, we support Stage 3". Sutcliffe runs on "Yeah yeah sure, I support Stage 3". Few years later, Ford says "City of Ottawa miss-managed Stage 1, so no funding for Stage 3 until it's "fixed" (whatever that means). Sutcliffe agrees with Ford "yeah yeah, we miss-manage everything. I agree, don't give us a cent" instead of asking to fund BRT to support rail and provide redundancy/alternatives. No one bats an eye at Metrolinx's transit miss-managements like Crosstown, while they continue to receive Billions upon Billions for new projects.
Yeah, yeah, go for funding prior to having a proper cost. We did that with Phase 1 as well. And cancel projects that cost many millions for nothing. The history of LRT planning and spending is beyond irresponsible. I am no politician and no financial expert, but some of this stuff was pretty obvious and preventable.
 

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