Ottawa’s new Light Rail Transit (LRT) system has the city bustling with excitement for hope of a quicker and safer transport system. However, most of us are getting antsy waiting for it to finally open.
Originally set to open in May 2018, the Rideau Transit Group (RTG), the organization responsible for the construction of the Confederation line, failed to meet its requirements by that date, forcing the project to be pushed forward five months.
After missing their November 2018 deadline as well, the company was fined $1 million, and a third deadline was set for March 31.
With that date fast approaching, John Manconi, the general manager of OC Transpo, said he had concerns about the company being ready to hand the project over to the city by the end of the month.
At a city finance and economic development committee meeting in early February, Manconi said, “I’m happy to be wrong, but I’m highly skeptical that they’re going to achieve March 31.”
At the beginning of March, Manconi admitted that the LRT will not be ready to open by March 31 and will miss its third deadline. “(RTG) has advised us that they will hand over the system to the City in [the second quarter] of 2019,” he told the committee.
Many city councillors were hoping the project would finally meet its deadline, since the longer the date is postponed, the higher the city’s final budget will be. At this point, the city has put nearly $700 million into the second stage of the project, and therefore must find ways to get the LRT schedule back on track.
With almost one million people in this city, I find it utterly ridiculous the LRT system has been continually postponed. It’s shocking that the RTG keeps wasting money by setting deadlines for the LRT opening that they can’t meet.
Given that each missed deadline puts the company an additional $1 million in the hole, I wish the RTG would overestimate the time they need to meet requirements. This would save the company money and stop giving the citizens of Ottawa false hope.
The biggest concern with the delays is that no one is aware of what’s currently happening in the LRT system’s development, or what the RTG has been doing to maintain its progress.
For example, the RTG has failed to provide the public with a realistic end date for the LRT project. We don’t need to be given the exact date of completion, but a rough guess would be fantastic. I think the city’s own staff should be the ones to provide us with this information, given that the RTG has now failed us twice with its estimates.
Another area of concern is about how well the trains will work. There have been no official reports released about what the trains are capable of, including no evidence that the cars are running—or not running—the way they should. This calls to question why the RTG is taking so long to hand over the project to the city. Are there issues with the LRT we should be aware of? Why are they being so secretive about their development and testing process?
The only information that has been released so far is that they have 24 out of 34 working cars. What’s wrong with the remaining 10? This information should be released.
I hope the City of Ottawa and the RTG will soon answer our questions about their latest LRT developments and finally get the transit system right when it opens to the public.
