I have to disagree with the opinions expressed about the NS line in this thread.
-it was for $25-30 mil per KM (depending on what you include), including vehicles, park and rides, and the maintenance facility and other projects like pedestrian bridges, much cheaper than any Transit City Line. It was also fully funded from Provincial/Federal pledges, development charges, reserves, and gas tax. The planned EW line would have been perfectly timed for stimulus money.
-the line would have had 42,000 shortly after opening, 72,000 by 2021 and 92,000 by 2031, more than many entire systems in the US and certainly good value for money.
-the line significantly improved service not just for the suburban communities but for the O-Train corridor and especially redeveloping areas near Preston Street, not to mention a number of development proposals cancelled because of the LRT cancellation. It would have siginifcantly improved service to Carleton University and the Confederation Heights employment areas.
-As it was greenfield, single tracked (south of Leitrim), and at-grade, Riverside South/Barrhaven was a relatively small portion of the cost (except for the Stranherd Armstrong Bridge, but that was being built anyways as a road bridge and LRT was a small part of the cost) but it made up 40% of ridership
-*Any* line to the suburbs in Ottawa has to go through the Greenbelt, so there's no point complaining about that since at this point its not likely the Greenbelt will be developed. Kanata, Orleans, and Barrhaven all already have BRT/dedicated highway lanes through the Greenbelt (with the Cumberland Transitway and upgrades to the Kanata/Orleans routes to come)
-Riverside South had been planned since the early 90s, with rapid transit as part of the plan ( you can see the basic route designated as a future rapid transit corridor in the 1997 TMP). Rapid transit was always going to go there, with the successful pilot project of the O-Train and the RTES they decided it would be LRT. It's not something dreamed up by developers, it was a key part of Ottawa growth strategy for years before anyone was living in Riverside South.
-I don't think they should have put the downtown portion on Albert/Slater in the same lane as the buses, and they should have implemented signal priority in the downtown as well
-In any case, they are still building the NS line as part of the new plan (I like the new tunnel plan too)
-WRT to the tunnel, with the previous 2003 TMP plan basically the arguement was that given the limited funding resources and cost to convert the transitway they should be building new corridors until absolutely necessary. They had said it was not needed for 2021 provided improvements were made to Albert-Slater (I don't think they've been made yet)... I'm happy we now have the political will for a tunnel and hopefully we'll get the funding too!
I have to disagree with most of that. Here's why:
1) I liken the LRT to Riverside South as the Spadina Subway for the Allen Expressway. They would not have been accepted if the provision for transit wasn't there. Having said that, and having been to Riverside South, there is no way that any of the development occuring there could even qualify as being transit-oriented development, so the idea that an LRT would suddenly turn it from sprawl central to a transit-oriented neighbourhood is bogus. A density of 8 people per hectare is barely even suitable for a local bus, let alone a major LRT route. Simply put, the LRT provision was put in there so that the developers could continue building sprawling neighbourhoods, but at the same time save face and look like they were doing something that was somewhat transit accessible.
And the extension to Barrhaven is even worse! 1 tracked means a) lower frequencies than the Transitway buses, and b) it would have taken longer to reach downtown by LRT than by bus! How on earth can you justify building a system that is slower than the system already in place?
2) The idea that we needed to build the north-south line first was also completely mis-intentioned. We already HAVE a north-south line. Granted, it is limited in it's capacity, but it's there. Upgrading the N-S line first still only leaves you with 1 line when all is said and done. Spend the little bit extra and build the E-W line, that way you have two lines running (albeit, totally different frequencies and technologies, but still 2 different lines).
3) The tunnel is the most needed part of the entire line. The system works relatively well, except for the downtown portion. Heck, I'd bet we could even get by with a BRT tunnel, but I agree we need to go to LRT eventually, so now is a good time to start.
On a completely different note, my vision for transit in Ottawa is different than what is being proposed now, so I'll outline it:
Ottawa should take a page from the GTA, that is to say, two different transit systems, serving 2 different trip generators (local transit, and regional rail). There are rail corridors (some are now being used as bike trails, but could easily be recouped) that travel to every major suburban hub in Ottawa, and beyond. Why not use them? The only time the bus system is even close to at capacity is during rush hour, outside of that it works just fine.
My approach is two-fold:
1) Use GO Transit to provide a similar service to the NCR that they do to the GTA. Use the current train station in Ottawa as the hub, similar to Union in Toronto. Train services could be run from there to Kanata, Stittsville, Barrhaven, Riverside South, South Keys, Orleans, and theoretically all the way out to places like Manotick, Carp, Smith Falls, and Carleton Place, all for a fraction of the cost of upgrading the entire Transitway to LRT.
2) Build a combo LRT-BRT tunnel along the current alignment, only have the LRT run from the train station to Bayview. The LRT would carry the passengers from the train station into downtown. For people from the suburbs, even with this transfer, it would still be faster than the current BRT system, as there would be fewer stops. The other option (and a much more far-fetched one at that) is to tunnel from the current rail line to the old train station across from the Chateau, whereby it would truly be a Toronto Union station, as people could walk from there to work.
The idea is that the LRT would be used to shuttle people from the train station to downtown, and vice versa (also handling the inceased load on the busiest part of the line). The tunnel would also be used by the current BRT system. This leaves the door open for incremental expansion of the LRT east and west if needed, and also creates a truly regional transit system.
The basic philosophy underlying this idea is that people in the suburbs frequently drive to the BRT station anyway, so why not have them drive to a train station (in the case of Fallowfield, the two would be one and the same). Meanwhile, people inside the Greenbelt would use the existing BRT system, as it is fairly sufficient for them.
3) The capital cost for vehicles would be virtually nothing. GO is electrifying many of the lines in Toronto, which requires new rolling stock. A lot of the rolling stock used by GO is relatively new (in the case of some of the locomotives, brand new). Ship these up to Ottawa and use them there.
I really think that a dual-layered transit approach is the best solution for Ottawa.
EDIT: For times of the day where train service to certain areas is uneconomical, a bus service could be run instead, similar to how GO buses replace GO train routes at certain times of the day.
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