The public likes it, the planners recommended it yesterday, the mayor is on board, and the city's most senior transit official says the $4-billion rapid transit plan is an 'investment' in Ottawa's future.
By Jake Rupert
(Published in the Ottawa Citizen on April 17, 2008.)
The plan calls for a downtown subway and light-rail spine running east and west on the current transitway to the edges of the Greenbelt and south past the airport.
Under the plan, the suburbs of Orléans, Kanata and Barrhaven would be connected to rail by bus transitways with transfer stations at Blair Road, Baseline Road and Lincoln Fields shopping centre.
The system would be built in phases starting with the subway, as money became available.
"The cost of this is already built into the city's long-range financial plan," said Nancy Schepers, deputy city manager of planning, transit and the environment.
She said the city's 10-year financial plan called for at least a $700-million investment in transit infrastructure. Traditionally, such spending is matched by the provincial and federal governments, making for a total of $2.1 billion.
Since building the system was expected to take more than 10 years, she said, money earmarked for the following 10 years of transit infrastructure would also be used.
In short, she said if the city is content to spread the building of the new system over 20 years, it's fully funded. However, she said, the work could be done faster.
For instance, she said the work could be done very fast if the city wanted to borrow much of the construction money all at once and spread out repayments over 20 years.
Ms. Schepers also pointed out that the cost to operate the system would be lower than continuing to rely on buses, so the city would save money by not having to build, widen and maintain as many roads. Furthermore, the system is expected to spur economic development and increase the property-tax base.
"This is an investment that will lead to savings in a number of areas," she said. "It's affordable as a capital project, but it's also affordable from an operating investment perspective."
Mayor Larry O'Brien agreed: "When you think of the things that will be deleted from our costs because of this, and the hundreds of millions of economic activity it will bring, we've more than covered the cost of this."
This is true as long as the city's initial estimates of the cost of the system hold true after detailed costing is done, and the upper-tier governments continue the tradition of picking up large shares of the capital costs of transit. So far, the provincial and federal governments have committed $200 million each based on an earlier plan first budgeted to cost $600 million.
Ms. Schepers and other transit officials say they are confident in their estimates.
Knoxdale-Merivale Councillor Gord Hunter and others, however, say they will need to see more detailed costing and clear benefits from the system before they commit. In fact, Mr. Hunter said that, at first blush, he had some big problems with the system.
He said he had doubts it would attract as many new riders as Ms. Schepers expected, and he suspected the costs were underestimated.
"I hope this cost is right," he said. "We have to look at the costs in much more detail than we have before we can have the full picture on this."
City staff's work and recommendation were reviewed by an international panel of transit and city-planning experts, and they support the vision, with one slight disagreement. They think the north-south light-rail line should stop at the airport.
During his presentation on the plan, review board member Glen Leicester, a former vice-president of Vancouver's transportation authority, said Ottawa's future planning decisions should build communities so the system becomes not only a commuter link, but also the main mode of transportation all the time.
"Rapid transit should not only be thought of as moving people, this is about shaping the city for the long term," he said.
"This is a very expensive facility, but it will last 100 years."
In her presentation on the plan, Ms. Schepers disputed all assertions that the system wouldn't attract new riders and would cost too much. She said studies suggest it would increase ridership, and she said projections showed it would be able to handle the demand for transit past 2031.
During public consultations on several options for the future of transit, the plan staff recommended yesterday drew the most support.
In fact, many people said the city wasn't thinking big enough and it should move to get rail to the suburbs as soon as possible.
Councillor Alex Cullen, who chairs the transit committee, said this would double the price of the plan, which the city couldn't afford.
Furthermore, he said, ridership studies don't support doing this yet. City staff have said that if council wants to spend the money, however, the work can be done.
The city will now hold six public consultation sessions on the preferred option. Then council's transportation and transit committees will vote on the recommendation, followed by a city council vote on the plan in late May.
In the fall, council is scheduled to decide on what sections to build first and how to pay for them. Next spring, that plan of action is scheduled to be approved and included in an updated official plan for the city.
The plan recommended yesterday combines buses for the suburbs and trains for the city.
Downtown Tunnel: Trains run on buried track from LeBreton Flats to University of Ottawa
Transitway converted: Rail from Baseline Station north and east to Blair Road, and from Bayview south to Bowesville in South Gloucester
Busways extended: Bus-only roads extend to Kanata North, Stittsville, Barrhaven and Orléans
Airport link: Take the train to catch a plane
April and May: Six public consultations around the city to gather Ottawans' views
May 21: Council's transportation and transit committees vote
May 28: Council votes on the general plan
October: Council decides what to do first
March 2009: New transportation plan is merged with Ottawa's overall urban plan
$3.82 billion: Staff estimate of the whole construction cost, over 20 years
$1 billion: Rough cost of the downtown tunnel, subject to detailed studies
Two-thirds: Share the city expects the provincial and federal governments to pay
$434 million: Annual cost to operate the system, the least of all the possible plans