On Jan. 6 at 6 a.m., the O-Train’s Trillium Line welcomed its first passengers since May 2020.
The system’s track has grown by 19 kilometres since reopening, connecting hotspots like the Ottawa Airport and Carleton University to the rest of the city.
To properly experience the Trillium Line and write an honest review, I had to position myself as an everyman going on a simple trip to the grocery store.
My ride began at 5:30 p.m., with a craving for butter chicken. I had all the ingredients to make the sauce from scratch, but the craving for the pre-made jar was insatiable.
My usual shopping routine would be taking the bus from Carleton to Billings Bridge, but with the new O-Train running every 12 minutes, I would get to the Walmart at South Keys faster.
Although the train can bring me to my butter chicken sauce more effectively than any bus, OC Transpo is still holding back on the Trillium Line’s full potential.
A train coming every 12 minutes sounds much better than the 10 Hurdman arriving late and sitting in traffic. However, O-Train Line 1 arrives as frequently as every five minutes during peak times.
At Carleton, OC Transpo service at peak times used to mean ravenous mobs forming at all bus stops when the B2 bus arrived 20 minutes late and completely full.
When the train opened, I was excited by the prospect of no longer having to use my weirdly pointy elbows as a means of crowd control each time I walked past a bus stop. Although the train alleviated some of the transportation strains on campus, I was surprised to board a mostly empty train car that I almost had to myself.
My first trip on the southbound train felt like I was on a spaceship jetting through the galaxy at lightspeed. The seats were a fresh blue complemented by bold yellow handrails and sleek computer screens digitizing the journey.
Although I was blown away by a shockingly comfortable ride, it didn’t feel like the OC Transpo we all know and love. There were no questionable stains, broken doors or weird metallic scents to remind you that you live in Ottawa.
The good news is the Trillium Line is opening in three phases, so hopefully OC Transpo will figure out how to make Line 2 smell like corroding metal by phase three.
Although my trip to the grocery store was uncomfortably good, my journey back to campus was catastrophically terrible, like all OC Transpo rides should be.
On the ride back, the sleek computer screens had frozen with Limebank as the next destination, despite the train going north to Bayview. Even though I am a university student, this glitch caused me to open my compass app for the first time to make sure the train was actually heading toward campus.
After being unsuccessfully gaslit by a train, my seat randomly started vibrating like a massage recliner. At first, I thought I was sitting in the first-class cabin, but no flight attendant came to bring me mixed nuts.
After a short 14-minute journey, I arrived back on campus.
Now with a jar of butter chicken sauce in my clutches, I stood outside the train station trying to process how this thing took five years to build.
For me, OC Transpo is like that one unreliable friend you met in high school. You can randomly make plans at the last minute and they are somehow always available, but if you mention doing anything that requires planning, they’ll have a breakdown and never show up.
If you want to make butter chicken last minute using a recipe found on a jar of pre-made sauce, hop on Line 2 and it will take you right to the doorstep of that big-box Walmart at South Keys.
However, if you think it would be cool to rely on the Trillium Line to get you somewhere important, maybe go make some new friends instead.
Featured image by Elissa Mendes.
