This is not 'as good as it gets' on LRT bus detours. We can do better.

A bit of good news last week: the City will finally explore diverting empty buses from Albert and Scott Streets to reduce peak Scott bus traffic by 14%.

Most in the community consider this a good first step toward a meaningful reduction in diversion traffic.

Few consider that this is enough.

The reduction will mostly be accomplished by diverting empty buses to the Parkway. That door was opened by MP Paul Dewar at the request of the Hintonburg Community Association well over a year ago. We’ve all sat disbelieving that Councillor Hobbs failed to act on this or work with the community to do more.

Now, she wants to take credit for the hard work of members of this community.

And, she won’t try to do any more (see CBC News clip at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/oc-transpo-to-reduce-detour-buses-o....

I’ve written several times about potential diversions and creative routings that could be considered to reduce the volume by a meaningful amount. While I might be proven wrong, I don’t believe that the City has undertaken any kind of substantive analysis of the options available to it. Removing the empty buses is a slam-dunk. It should have been committed to well over a year ago when community members suggested it. We can do much, much better.

Hopefully, Councillor Hobbs, city staff, and their consultants will come prepared at an open house scheduled for June 16 at 7 pm at Tom Brown arena to explain why it can’t accomplish more than a 14% reduction.

How seriously does Councillor Hobbs take this major issue? Apparently, not very. She has announced her campaign launch party for the same night as the open house.