The recent opening of the extended O-Train Line 2 from Bayview to Limebank marked the end of a nearly three-year-long saga of delays and replacement bus service.
Line 2 offers some refreshing dependability for students like me who have become accustomed to having low expectations for Ottawa’s transit. And that’s why Ottawa must continue pushing for further light rail development.
A chaotic commute to Carleton University with a replacement bus which often took me more than 20 minutes during rush hour now only takes five minutes.
While the delays in opening Line 2 mean this improved commute comes only five months before I graduate, students who start their university lives in the fall will benefit immensely from this long-awaited improvement.
It’s important to note that despite this advancement, there are signs that OC Transpo still hasn’t fully learned from its ongoing issues with Line 1 that trace back to its initial rushed opening in 2019.
Despite nearly two years of testing and dress rehearsals on Line 2, many basic transit features have suffered problems since day one.
For frequent riders like me, it’s common to experience frozen departure screens, trains entering stations unannounced and delays caused by malfunctioning track heaters.
But these problems are nothing compared to the litany of issues that Line 1 has faced. However, there is little evidence to suggest that Line 2’s trains will derail or be shut down due to design flaws or inexperience.
Line 2 existed well before it was shut down for upgrades in 2020, and its positive historical safety record has proved to be similar to other rail systems in Ontario.
Aside from these immediate concerns with Line 2, there remains the serious question of Line 2’s ability to serve residents in south Ottawa given its limited reach.
Currently, Line 2 only stretches as far south as Limebank due to its originally proposed terminus in Barrhaven being axed in 2006.
Currently, Barrhaven will continue to rely on OC Transpo’s aging bus fleet.
Barrhaven’s growth is far surpassing OC Transpo’s capacity. The suburb is one of the fastest-growing areas in the city, and its population now surpasses more than 100,000. As of 2023, Barrhaven welcomes around 1,500 new households a year, and a suburb growing this fast requires a modern train system to connect it to the rest of Ottawa. In 2025, we shouldn’t continue to use a city council vote in 2006 as an excuse for no train service to Barrhaven. The demand is there, the need is urgent and action needs to be taken soon to give the residents of Barrhaven the transit service they deserve.
Line 2 already terminates on the edge of Barrhaven in the neighbouring suburb of Riverside South, and the opportunity exists to extend the line to the suburbs west of Limebank before the sprawling developments make it impossible to build a line through an endless sea of residential cul de sacs. Line 2 is currently quite short compared to other Canadian urban lines, so with some extra trains, it has the potential to give Ottawa the transit connectivity that Montreal and Toronto already take for granted.
Line 1 has given Ottawa too much trouble for its worth, so extending the more reliable Line 2 makes sense both physically and technically. Living farther away from the city center mustn’t automatically equal worse transit, and Ottawa has a unique opportunity to prove that.
There are solutions: if this rightfully concerns you, consider writing to your councillor or the mayor to extend Line 2 to Barrhaven.
Ottawans must insist that Line 2’s last stop at Limebank Station is not the end of the line.
Featured image from files.
