My first visit to Ottawa in 1987 saw me and my brother utilize public transportation extensively to commute within the city. The north-south transitway was under construction at the time, with a bus stop every block.
When I relocated to Ottawa, a transit strike occurred, worsened by election pledges and downloading from the federal and provincial governments, beginning in 2010 with Mr. Harper and Mr. McGuinty's determination to rescue the automobile industry. McGuinty was embroiled in a scandal that exacerbated the situation, leading to his resignation. Our mayor, over the course of three terms, maintained that all was well despite consecutive 2 percent tax increases, resulting in further cuts to transit.
Now, the question is: Does transit benefit bedroom communities like our ward systems that lack transit? When is the Federal and Provincial governments going to pay their fair share? This is capital of Canada after all.
Comments
The question is: is transit in Ottawa in crisis?
No... a crisis looks different that what is happening in Ottawa.
There is poor routing, poor service, poor scheduling, poor management, no reliability, excessive wait times, let downs, shut downs , slow downs but not a crisis: that looks different.
Can you see what can be? unburdened by what has been?
I visited Washington DC this spring, and Montreal too. Let me say that Ottawa has a very long way to go to reach the reasonable standards set by these metropolises.