2010 Election: O'Brien on walking and cycling

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Mayoral incumbent Larry O'Brien is happy with what he's seen in terms of investment and promotion of walking and cycling in the city of Ottawa. He thinks that with the city's cycling infrastructure where it is now, and with the consideration of cyclists nearly built in to the road-building process, the bigger challenge today is ensuring that drivers and cyclists are adequately respectful and safe towards one another, and that would be his challenge for the coming term if elected.

The city has been doing a huge amount of work over the last five or six years in terms of preparing for the bike lanes. It isn’t just a visit over to Europe, which one of my council colleagues went over to in the summer along with the head of the NCC and Mayor Bureau from Gatineau. We have been working very closely with the NCC and Gatineau to harmonize our bike path strategy.

Quite frankly, bikes has now moved to the level where it’s about safety. In the downtown, until we get the buses off the streets and replace them with mass transit, it’s not going to be safe for bicycles to go through the core of the city, and my first responsibility is for the safety of the citizens.

2010 Election: Watson on OC Transpo

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Ask just about anyone in this city, and you'll likely get an idea from them on how OC Transpo could improve their service--and maybe you'd get as many different answers as people you've asked, running the spectrum of feasibility from easily-implemented to downright impossible. And mayoral candidate Jim Watson has some ideas of his own. Obviously, Watson wants to establish a transit commission to manage the utility, but he's also entertained other ideas.

Among the most pressing concerns Watson has is the cool relationship between OC Transpo staff and management. Watson had some critical words for current mayor Larry O'Brien regarding the transit strike, and suggested a change in mayor would--in his opinion--be positive of OC Transpo relations. But he also prescribes a general change in the tone of discourse, from the combative stance that seems to have taken over to a more co-operative one.

I think it starts at the top. I have respect for all the employees, I don’t treat them as subservient or as an irritant, I see them as a vital part of providing a good public service. I think one of the first things that any new mayor is going to have to do is to bridge those relationships on a more positive footing. It’s a very unpleasant environment at OC Transpo, from all the bus drivers and mechanics that I’ve spoken to, even supervisors and management, I think they feel very frustrated, and we still have not resolved all the problems that have emanated from the strike.

But beyond improving staff relations, Watson also wants to improve the efficiency of the service, to avoid rising taxes and rising fares. He thinks the new commission will have its hands full finding ways to do that, but one small suggestion he has made is the use of smaller buses run through lower-density areas to bring riders to the main routes.

I often will go into a suburban neighbourhood where there’s a huge bus going through and there’s two or three people on the bus. Calgary has a feeder-bus system where it’s almost like minivans will go in and pick people up; saves on fuel, saves on overhead costs, makes the system more efficient. So are there things that we can do to make the system more efficient from a creative point of view? I think there are, and I think that’s one of the mandates to give to the transit commission when they conduct their review of this. If there’s ways of saving money and improving service at the same time, then we should keep our minds open to those ideas.

2010 Election: O'Brien on LRT affordability

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Numbers are a huge part of the discussion when it comes to Ottawa's light-rail transit plan. As should be the case, really, when it comes to a $2.1B project that some have called the largest infrastructure project in the history of the city. The incumbent in the mayoral race, Larry O'Brien, has long maintained that the plan is affordable for the city, and he continues to feel that way. In his words, he's "past being confident" that Ottawa can afford it, and is now certain of it.

The city is far from broke. We have a balance sheet that most companies would be very proud of. Now, you add to that, the fact that of the tax coverage--the taxes that we collect--only 4.6 per cent of those taxes are used to pay the interest on our debt. The province has looked at this thing every which way but Sunday, and they say that most municipalities can deal with up to 25 per cent of their taxes going to cover their debt; well, we don’t want to get anywhere close to that. But even after, when you do the performance into the future, even after we’ve borrowed the money that we need to build the LRT, we’re only going to slightly over 5.5 per cent debt coverage.

To me, this is a no-brainer. This is something we need to do, we can afford it, we take the money and run.

2010 Election: O'Brien's transit commission

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

One of the common threads of some of the most well-known candidates in the 2010 mayoral election has been the desire to establish a transit commission to manage the day-to-day operations of OC Transpo. Incumbent Larry O'Brien is one candidate who has thrown his support behind the idea, suggesting that some councillors approach issues with too much of a ward-centric approach.

I think it’s nothing short of bizarre who are supposed to act as a board of directors are arguing over bus routes.

[...]

We have things that we’re supposed to be responsible for, and one of them isn’t determining what the bus routes should be in the city of Ottawa. That’s all about service, and I think that should be far, far away from politics. That should be a decision as to how a city works well, not who’s got the best arguments for adding four routes in their ward.

Under O'Brien's model, the transit commission would have some city council presence, but would be made up mostly of independent professionals.

I think it’s primarily independent, with, just like the hydro board where we have three or four councillors on it. Instead of being on a transit committee, they could be on the transit commission. They would be our representatives on the board, and the balance of the board—the majority of the board—being outside people. Perhaps somebody from the federal government, and also people who are professionals in terms of running a transit system.

2010 Election: O'Brien on the transit plan

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Larry O'Brien, the incumbent in the 2010 mayoral race, is a stranger to no one in Ottawa. And his unwavering support of the current $2.1B (first-phase) of Ottawa's light-rail transit plan is equally well-known, so it should come as no surprise that his campaign this year includes a commitment to continue moving forward with it. The big reason for his support, according to O'Brien, is that the current plan will take Ottawa through this century and into the next.

This term of council, we’ve reinvigorated the transit plan, and concluded fairly clearly, and with a fair amount of oomph, that light-rail east-west with a tunnel through the core of the system is the best way to start building a transit system that will enable the city to grow through the balance of this century. And I think that’s a key issue. What we’re doing right now with the light-rail investment is making an investment that will form the basis by which we will be able to expand our mass transit light-rail system over the coming 60, 70, 80 years. When you’re mayor, you have to the responsibility of not just dealing with the issues based on a day-to-day basis, you also have to think about the long-term solution. And I think we have in place now a long-term solution that, in fact, will be a driving influence in the way the city grows over the balance of the century.

In O'Brien's mind, the city's bus-rapid transit system has served us well so far--but that the city has outgrown it, and he thinks it's time the city moves on.

We all knew we had to go to rail when the city got to a million people, and by the time we have this system built, we’ll hit that number. I think it’s a very exciting time, and our timing on this is bang-on perfect.

The bus-rapid transit system was designed by a visionary by the name of Andy Haydon, but he was clear all throughout the documents in the ‘70s and ‘80s that the system had to, eventually, be converted to light-rail. And we’re just delighted to be, now, fully loaded in terms of money: We have $1.2B from both other levels of government, we have our own money well under control, and it’s time to take action. Time to get on with it. Time to start building a transit system for the 21st century.

Recap of the mayoral debate on the environment

The first ever Ottawa mayoral debate on the environment took place at Saint Paul University on Sunday night, and there was no shortage of... excitement for those in attendance.

Fireworks started right off the bat, when candidate Jane Scharf questioned the fairness of the questions participants were to be asked, and withdrew from the debate. This opened up a spot for candidate Andy Haydon (who hadn't responded in time to be an official member of the debate), but he declined the opportunity--but still joined into the debate, informally and periodically. Candidate Joseph Furtenbacher was also in attendance, but because he hadn't responded in time to become an official candidate (he said he wasn't invited, possibly because he joined the race late) [Ed. note: Mr. Furtenbacher contacted be to explain that he wasn't invited to the debate because invitations were sent out prior to his registration as an official mayoral candidate], he wasn't invited to participate, and simply sat in the seat vacated by Scharf--without participating.

And all that excitement was before the debate had even officially started.

Over the course of the debate, a large number of environmental issues came up, from protecting aquifers and sensitive ecological areas to water management to 'smart growth' and urban planning. Although no question was directly asked about public transit, it did come up periodically, and there was a significant discussion about cycling in Ottawa.

As for public transit, candidates spoke up about their plans. Incumbent Larry O'Brien spoke about his support for the current plan, as did Jim Watson; Mike Maguire and Clive Doucet each briefly mentioned their alternative transit plans; Andy Haydon very briefly mentioned his support for expanding Ottawa's BRT system, and called Ottawa's transit system Canada's best (citing ridership per capita to support his claim); and Robin Lawrance one again expressed his concerns for public safety with regard to the plan to build a tunnel. The only other speaker given an opportunity were César Bello--who didn't discuss transit plans, but did say he'd ensure no more transit strikes--and Charlie Taylor, who didn't speak much to public transit in general (but has in the past expressed grudging support for the city's current transit plan).

As I write this post, hours after the debate, I'm still not sure what to think about what I just witnessed. There were some good points made, but they were rare gems hidden in the personal attacks and ideological statements and slogans that dominated the debate. And, as was pointed out by Taylor, the whole thing was dominated with 'greenwashing', and many of the candidates were definitely speaking to the audience in front of them.

Still, the debate can be seen as nothing but a positive thing for this city. There were a couple hundred people in attendance (it was standing-room only by the time it started), and most of the audience were very interested in what was said. In terms of getting the environment on the radar for the mayoral race, as well, the event was a huge success.

Good news for those of you who missed the debate, but want to watch it: It will be on Rogers 22 in Ottawa this Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 8:30 p.m. Tune in, if you can; you won't be sorry.

Watson, O'Brien, and Haydon have different ideas for OC Transpo transit commission

At his transit platform presentation on Wednesday, mayoral candidate Jim Watson announced his support for establishing a transit commission, becoming the third candidate to make such a promise heading into the October 25 election.

Watson's website said he would be looking to:

Seek Council approval to create a transit commission that would be made up of a majority of councillorʼs and a minority of citizens with experience in the fields of transit, management, finance etc, including users of transit.

The commission as proposed by Watson would, as stated above, include mostly city councillors, but also members of the public at large. This is a slightly different format than that posed by other candidates who've promised commissions, including Larry O'Brien and Andy Haydon.

While O'Brien hasn't specified the structure of his proposed commission, his pledges to "detach the day-to-day management of OC Transpo from the day-to-day politics of City Hall" and "put the management of this asset in the hands of professionals" leads one to conclude that neither councillors nor members of the public would help form his commission, instead putting it in the hands of transportation experts.

Candidate Andy Haydon has taken a third approach, choosing to identify a group of six or eight councillors along with the mayor to form the transit commission. His commission would have total authority over OC Transpo including "route designation, purchasing and fare structures", according to Haydon's website.

Although it doesn't recommend a specific structure, the 2007 Mayor's Task Force on Transportation Moving Ottawa report did recommend "separating OC Transpo from the City bureaucracy and setting up an arm's-length operating entity with an appointed board fully accountable to City Council." And, in fact, they recommended it be done within 12 months of the June 2007 submission of their report. The three proposed formats for this election appear to meet those criteria, but differ in their

O'Brien promises transit commission for OC Transpo

Larry O'Brien's transit platform is obviously going to include his continued support for Ottawa's transit plan in its current form, but when the incumbent in the mayoral race launched his campaign on Wednesday night, he threw in a new detail: A promise to create an independent transit commission to manage OC Transpo is re-elected.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

"I as mayor am not happy with the governance of OC Transpo," he said. "There are many reasons for this, but all of the improvements that I can see have to start at the top. The drivers are not the issue."

O'Brien said public transit, the city's single largest budget line item, is plagued by micromanagement, and councillors have no
business deciding transit routes or union contracts. "We must detach the day-to-day management of OC Transpo from the day-to-day politics of City Hall," he said, adding that running transit through a commission would save money.

(O'Brien used the opportunity to try to smooth things over with the transit union; by all accounts, O'Brien isn't popular with OC Transpo's bus operators.)

At first, I was rather surprised by the pledge, and then I remembered that this isn't the first time he called for it: On Rogers Talk Ottawa program back in March (long before he'd announced his intention to run for a second term), O'Brien said that it was an idea that had his support. It's also an idea that was given high priority by O'Brien's 2007 mayor's task force report, but hasn't had much political weight behind it yet.

It's an idea that's been discussed before, and the main criticism--which Alex Cullen said in March and David Reevely blogged about today--is that an unelected management team won't likely be as accountable to the public as a group of elected city councillors. As Reeveley said in his blog, Greater Ottawa:

I've said before that outsourcing the oversight of the city's single biggest program is a bad idea because it would put accountability in a no-man's land. Either councillors sit on the commission and it's not really any different from having a transit committee the way we do now (that's the TTC model) or it's a mixed body and councillors share power with people who answer to nobody (that's the Hydro Ottawa model, and isn't that a model of excellent and responsive service?), or it's all independent ousiders and basically we're all helpless supplicants to our transit overlords (nobody uses this model).

It seems a bit of a trade-off: While a commission may not be as accountable as a council-managed utility, it seems likely that it will be more knowledgeable about the issues facing transit and transportation in a modern city.

Calls for Ottawa to build fewer roads, more transit

A few sources have recently spoken out about the City of Ottawa's plans to expand and add to roadways in the city, and instead re-direct that money to public transit and cycling infrastructure. The first is a report written by University of Ottawa political studies professor Matthew Paterson and released by Ecology Ottawa (which you can download in .PDF format here), proposed an outright moratorium on new road projects over the next 10 years, which would result in $1.5B cut from the budget (and, one would assume, significantly increase congestion on roadways in the city). From CBC.ca:

"The report, prepared by the non-profit environmental group Ecology Ottawa, argues the high costs of roads needed to service urban sprawl are directly related to spiraling taxes and increased greenhouse emissions."

Mayoral candidates have also spoke out about the issue, coming on to either side of the debate. In the Ottawa Citizen, Clive Doucet suggested that the City of Ottawa is in need of a "road diet", and Alex Cullen has also said that expanded roadways are not the only, or even optimal, way to reduce congestion in the city's transportation system. Incumbent Larry O'Brien, however, noted that Ottawa's size makes new roadways necessary in order to allow people, especially in suburban and rural areas, to move about the city. Although not quoted in the Citizen's article, mayoral candidate César Bello has outlined "a halt to the steady growth of the city's road network" as part of his platform.

Halting new road construction would help the city encourage public transit use, and would be a stiff-armed way of forcing people to reconsider single-rider car commuter. But it's a difficult line to walk, given the fact that Ottawa's transit system already seems to be bursting at the seams. It will be interesting to see the shape that this discussion takes through the election campaign.

Where does public transit fit in the upcoming election?

The City of Ottawa will go to the polls to elect its next mayor on October 25, 2010. Nine candidates have come forward so far (Cesar Bello, Alex Cullen, Mike Maguire, Stanley Pioro, Sean Ryan, Jane Scharf, Charlie Taylor, Jim Watson, Samuel Wright, with current mayor Larry O'Brien non-committal), but it looks like a two-horse race between Alex Cullen and Jim Watson so far.

Given the C.V.'s of these two candidates, one must expect public transit would figure high on the list of election issues this year: Cullen is currently chair of the city's Transit Committee, while Watson (who in January resigned his position as provincial minister of municipal affairs and housing) has been openly uncertain, if not flat-out critical, of the city's current light-rail transit plan.

There's still plenty of time left in the campaign, but little has been said so far about OC Transpo and public transit in general in the city. I'm looking forward to hearing the plans of, and hopefully talking to, the city's mayoral candidates.

O'Brien calls for independent transit commission

Mayor Larry O'Brien has recently called for OC Transpo management to be handed over to an independent transit commission rather than answer directly to city council, CTV.ca is reporting.

On Rogers 22's Talk Ottawa program on Monday night, O'Brien cited declining customer service ratings and the politicization and micro-management of OC Transpo as problems he's come to understand, and he believes an independent commission would help address them. He pointed to the recommendations of his 2007 Task Force on Transportation and also of a report by consulting firm Oliver Wyman in June 2008, both suggesting the city would benefit from establishing an independent commission.

Although O'Brien has yet to publicly say whether or not he's going to be running for re-election, a transit commission may figure to be a key issue in the upcoming municipal elections. Mayoral candidate Alex Cullen, currently Bay Ward Councillor and chair of the transit committee, challenged O'Brien's contention that the current management structure breeds politicization of the issues, and also questioned the accountability of an independent commission.

City approves $2.1B transit plan

Ottawa City Council voted strongly in favour of the $2.1B light-rail transit plan, including light-rail rapid transit from Tunney's Pasture station through a downtown tunnel and onto Blair Station, by a count of 19 in favour and four against. The plan will now move forward with environmental assessments before construction ultimately begins.

The overwhelming tone of the meeting was strong support. Somerset Councillor Diane Holmes was anxious for the street-level rejuvenation it could offer particularly to Albert and Slater streets, currently used as bus-rapid transit corridors. Bay Ward Councillor and mayoral candidate Alex Cullen offered his thanks to the councillors, committee members, and city staffers who'd put time into the project before stating his excitement at having given yet another show of support for the project. The final member of council to speak on the matter was Mayor Larry O'Brien, who offered his thanks to councillors and staff for moving forward with the plan, and especially highlighted the 2006 Report from the Mayor's Task Force on Transit and having achieved one of its major recommendations.

Although only four councillors were against the plan, they voiced strong opposition to it. Capital Ward Councillor Clive Doucet was vehemently opposed, declaring his long-standing criticism against a plan which, in his opinion, "is the wrong project, in the wrong place, for the wrong cost." Knoxdale-Merivale Councillor Gord Hunter was concerned that, by his estimation, all this plan guaranteed suburban commuters is a transfer which they don't have to deal with currently.

The City, which has already received a pledge of $600M from the Province of Ontario, will now officially request funding from the Federal Government. Should the Federal Government match the provincial funding amount, the city will be left with the remaining $900M remaining for the total $2.1B price tag on the project. It is unclear whether or not the City will work on funding more than the anticipated one-third of the project, or whether they will try and tweak the specifics of it to bring the total cost closer to $1.8B.

Province pledges $600M tunnel funding

Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario provincial government announced on Friday that the province will give Ottawa its one-third share of the first phase of the city's ambitious transit plan.

The first phase of the plan is now estimated to cost $2.1B (higher than earlier estimates of $1.8B), and includes light-rail transit from Tunney's Pasture to Blair with a tunnel below the downtown core. With its pledge of $600M, the province tripled their previous funding promise to the city and ensured Ottawa now has two-thirds of their funding in place. There are suggestions that the announcement puts pressure on the Federal government to pledge their share of the price tag (although I'm not sure the Feds are the type to be pressured into anything, and certainly not pressured by a Provincial Liberal government).

From the Ottawa Citizen:

“In Ottawa we’ve talked a lot about moving forward with rapid transit. Today, together, we take a giant step towards making our shared vision a reality,” [Ontario Premier and Ottawa South MPP Dalton] McGuinty said. “We are making the biggest transit investment in Ottawa’s history … This commitment is all the more significant given the challenging economic times we all find ourselves in.”

And from Mayor Larry O'Brien's blog:

This significant funding announcement illustrates the Ontario Government’s clear confidence in the City of Ottawa’s transit future. As your Mayor, I am pleased that the Province is on board with, and committed to, the transit plan that we currently have on the table - a transit solution that will change the pace and efficiency with which you, the residents, move around our great City.

Premier McGuinty also expressed strong confidence in City Council’s ability to make the necessary decisions to move this critical project forward, and to eventually implement our plan for light rail and rapid transit across Ottawa.

A new organizational structure for OC Transpo

In the Ottawa Citizen this past weekend, columnist Randall Denley penned an opinion piece opining the politicians responsible for managing our city's transit authority. In short:

"In the perfect world, the bus company called OC Transpo would be run by a board of directors consisting of people who know something about transit and something about business. Instead, we have city councillors whose business experience is negligible to non-existent and who think their job is to be hands-on managers of the bus company, even though they're not qualified for the job."

Denley went on to describe why, exactly, he feels that "These people simply can't run a bus company": Councillors aren't qualified transit planners; they fail to see the big picture, because they have short mandates; they base decisions on political considerations, such as the routes that run in their wards, rather than efficiency and economy; they sometimes (perhaps often) disregard the input of their staff. Although not all councillors are guilty of these weaknesses, some can be, and that inhibits the decisions made for OC Transpo.

Denley's recommendation is certainly interesting, and timely, but he's not the first to make the suggestion. In Moving Ottawa: The Mayor's Task Force on Transportation, which was commissioned by Larry O'Brien after the cancellation of the city's north-south light rail project and delivered on June 1, 2007, one of the chief recommendations of the task force was "to set up an arm’s-length operating company, in most cases reporting to an independent board of directors appointed by the City Council." The argument presented is convincing:

"Public transportation in cities is one of the major challenges of urban life and as such deserves a dedicated entity within the City government—as opposed to a division of a City department that is dependent on many other departments to achieve performance. OC Transpo is currently a department of City government reporting to Council via the City Manager. This arrangement is not optimal. OC Transpo staff and management complain that bureaucratic obstacles, caused by the fragmentation of management and operational functions, reduce their ability to serve the interest of citizens. An independent governance model incorporating OC Transpo would help ameliorate current problems associated with cumbersome decision-making, cost control, supply of services, union relations and operational decisions relating to route planning."

Most important, however, was that the task force declared re-organizing the management structure of OC Transpo as one of the most important recommendations, suggesting it be complete within 6-12 months. Although that may have been an ambitious timeline, it has been over two years and four months since the report was delivered, and there has been no indication of political will or urgency to institute what the mayor's task force--which Mayor O'Brien has been vocally proud of--recommended with such urgency.

On this website, I've asked before whether or not city council is micro-managing public transit in the city. It looks like some, at least Denley and the Mayor's task force, are concluding that it is, and that something has to be done to get public transit run more efficiently and effectively in Ottawa.

In the news: $36.7M to get nothing, and more Ottawa transit headlines

Quite a few transit-related news items this week, beginning with one of the most controversial transit-planning related issues of the day: Ottawa's cancelled north-south transit line, and the $36.7M settlement it may require stemming from lawsuits around its cancellation.

The Ottawa Citizen quoted Mayor Larry O'Brien about the lawsuit, which he says is a necessary cost for the City to "move away from the old, tragically flawed LRT plan and move on to something the citizens of Ottawa would really embrace". Recently some politicians, including Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi in an interview with Public Transit in Ottawa as well as Capital Ward councillor Clive Doucet, have questioned whether the cancellation of the north-south line, which would be finishing at around this time, was the right decision. The project was to cost an estimated $600M (EDIT: and the actual contract for which was $778M), two-thirds of which was already pledged by federal and provincial governments, and $54M has already been spent on preparing for the transit plan--money which will now be written off by the City, the Citizen says.

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With reports that only 80 per cent of transit stops are being called out by OC Transpo operators, and the Canadian Transportation Agency demanding that number be 100 per cent, the City is still looking into an automated system to ensure compliance with the regulatory body's order. Council had previously approved a $6.7M expenditure on the technology, but 580 CFRA is now reporting that the system will cost the City almost twice as much; $12M to install on the entire OC Transpo fleet.

The $12M bid, from Clever Devices, would also include "bus time arrival information and vehicular system condition monitoring", and would be presented visually as well as aurally in English in French.

According to CBC.ca, the city might take a step further with the retrofit, bumping up the cost to $17M but including further increases in bus-tracking and efficiency, as well as a move to ease the installation of a wireless SmartCard system.

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OC Transpo is making moves to help prevent 'free rides' on buses, including a Communication Plan to inform people of the fees that come with detected non-paying riders, according to 580 CFRA. The transit utility may also implement measures including no back-door boarding, but they're saying the real solution will be implementing a SmartCard system through the entire fleet.

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Finally, the City is looking into a number of measures to lower the 'carbon footprint' of the public transit system, accoring to an official press release. The measures include looking into the following actions:

• Examining the cost of bio-diesel as an alternative fuel
• Providing annual greenhouse gas emission reports for buses and trains
• Completing the implementation plan for 177 diesel-electric hybrid buses, which will be used on low-speed transit routes with frequent stops
• Converting the fleet to more environmentally friendly No.2 diesel fuel
• Preparing to use urea as an exhaust after-treatment agent in buses with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2010 certified engines
• Completing a study on tire pressure monitoring and tracking
• Finalizing the testing and evaluation of its three double-decker buses

What if the ATU votes against binding arbitration?

In a little under a month, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279 union will vote on whether or not to accept binding arbitration in all future contract negotiations, thereby relinquishing their right to strike in exchange for a third-party to dictate terms for the new deal signed.

The vote is part of the resolution to the Union's 52-day strike in the winter of 2008-09, but, according to reports on 580 CFRA, it's far from a certainty that the operators and mechanics in the union will approve the arrangement:

The drivers, mechanics and dispatchers will vote on the agreement on September 24th. Although the deal ended last winter's lengthy and bitter strike, it also gave up the union’s powerful right to strike, in favour of sending outstanding disagreements to binding arbitration.

[...]

One driver source says a big reason for opposition to the deal is that it would look good on Mayor Larry O'Brien -- who was villainized by the union, and actually was on leave when the deal was struck.

Putting aside the fact that voting down an agreement that many see as favourable to unions and which will ensure no stoppage in the union member's work (and keeps their paycheques coming) in order to spite a mayor whose four-year mandate will be over shortly might seem impulsive, what could a no-vote mean to the City of Ottawa and its residents?

First of all, it won't mean an immediate transit strike. Both sides of the recent dispute have both agreed to arbitration to settle this current contract negotiation.

But, according to that same report on CFRA's website, it could be a blow to the city's reputation when negotiating with other unions in the city. Ottawa has had issues negotiating with unions in the past, the winter strike being the most recent example, and such a vote wouldn't set a very positive precedent for future negotiations.

Finally, it would mean residents could be faced with another transit strike whenever this current agreement--whose results are anticipated by the end of September--comes to an end. The most recent transit strike was hard for many citizens and businesses, and left both sides with egg on their face. Although ridership has rebounded strongly since the strike came to an end, another transit strike so closely following this past one would run the risk of damaging OC Transpo's ridership numbers irreperably--a scary prospect with a $5B transit system upgrade coming soon.

Queen's Park giving transit cash; Ottawa hopeful

After a $9B transit funding announcement from the Province of Ontario for Toronto transit projects, City of Ottawa officials are hopeful that the province will kick in their third of the City's multi-billion dollar light-rail transit plan.

From the Ottawa Metro:

The announcement should free up provincial politicians to turn their attention to the premier's hometown, said Mayor Larry O'Brien.

Ottawa is looking for the federal and provincial governments to each pay a third of a $1.4 billion first phase of a rapid transit network that would see a 12-km light rail line running from Blair Station through a downtown tunnel to Tunney's Pasture.

O'Brien said Ottawa is in a very similar position that Metrolinx (formerly the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority) was in around a year ago and he expects Ottawa to catch up by the end of the year.

"You have to through a number of stages. The first stage is you have to get the buy-in to the vision and we're anticipating that will happen much sooner than six months to nine months," he said.

Talks break off... again...

According to the Ottawa Sun, the Amalgamated Transit Union has walked away from the negotiating table after deciding the city hadn't sufficiently improved its contract offer to the union of 2300 memers:

"The city failed to change its key offers," says Andre Cornellier, president of ATU Local 279.

Cornellier says there is no evidence the city's bargaining team has a new mandate.

Mayor Larry O'Brien, however, has disagreed, and is stating that the city is working on addressing the concerns the drivers have with the contract:

"The city has shown that it is willing to negotiate and compromise," O'Brien said. "The only way to end this strike is for both sides to work together. However, we would like to see the union come back to the table with those items they are willing to compromise on."

And the city's much-discussed 'new mandate', which had been previously unknown due to a media blackout, apparently involves meeting the union's demanded pay raises and an offer to establish a joint committee to negotiate scheduling issues to reflect the demands of the city and the union:

The city also said to arrive at a solution, it removed the $2,500 signing bonus and replaced it with an additional 2% wage increase over two years. The city was originally offering a 7.25% increase over three years, while the union was asking for 9.25% over the same time period.

The city has also offered to set up a temporary joint management and union committee to devise a scheduling system that includes work-rest rules it argues would improve service reliability.

Cracks in city council's position of solidarity

As we wait for the Jan. 14, 2009 City Council meeting to complete their in-camera session--going on seven-and-a-half hours now--here is a briefing of the recent developments within council, which they will have spent at least some of this marathon in-camera session discussing.

The first sign of stresses within City Council's solidarity came after union members voted 75 per cent against the city's most recent offer, after which Transit Committee Chair and Bay Ward Councillor Alex Cullen suggested that the city may need to "reassess" their position on the strike. From a report in the Ottawa Sun:

"This will be Day 36 and we need to reassess how we are handling the strike," said Cullen. "We are not at the table and there is no end in sight. We want the strike to end.

[...]

"It [the City's strategy] has to be discussed," he said. "It's been a contest between two players (O'Brien and union president Andre Cornellier) and this is not conducive to settling a strike. I don't want to undermine the mayor but we have to reassess what works and what doesn't work."

In the same Sun story, Capital Councillor Clive Doucet had some harsher words for Mayor Larry O'Brien and his tactics:

"I want him out of there. I have been betrayed by his leadership," said Doucet.

Doucet is also calling for new city negotiators."We have negotiators that are out of touch and it's not something you joke around with."

Doucet was also quoted by the Ottawa Citizen in saying he and the rest of council were "misled" by O'Brien, and had some even more pointed comments on CBC.ca:

"He comes out of the private sector, he's never worked in a unionized environment before, he's never worked in the public sector environment before," he said. "We've got someone who not only is a politician but clearly maladapted to the situation he finds himself in."

There were rumours of potential legal action against Doucet for, according to Orléans Councillor Bob Monette, weakening the city's bargaining position, but--pending the outcome of the current ongoing in-camera session--there has been nothing pursued against the councillor. According to CBC.ca, however, Doucet may face sanctions from some of his council colleagues:

"City council went behind closed doors shortly before noon to discuss possible sanctions against Capital Ward Coun. Clive Doucet and other matters related to the transit strike. By late afternoon, councillors had still not emerged."

And that's about where we sit right now, waiting for council to exit their in-camera session so we can find out what they may have been talking about, and what they may have decided or be deciding publicly.

Ottawa Transit Strike: Day 34

Late last week, as reported by CBC, the city of Ottawa announced that they will be temporarily laying off or re-assigning 40-60 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1760, representing OC Transpo administrative staff. The ATU 1760 is the much smaller sister-union of the striking ATU 279, the latter representing OC Transpo mechanics and operators. According to Mayor Larry O'Brien, the decision came in light of the ATU 279's voting against accepting an offer from the city and therefore prolonging the transit strike.

It was also announced that at some point today, according to reports in the Ottawa Citizen, both the city and the ATU 279 will be meeting with a federal mediator to try and reach some resolution to the ongoing strike. Apparently the city is now willing to negotiate scheduling concessions, as long as the bottom line is the same cost-savings and safety and reliability improvements, according to city manager Kent Kirkpatrick. In the Citizen story, Kirkpatrick was quoted as saying, "As long as it’s the same total financial cost, it doesn’t have to come out of scheduling."

According to a report on CBC, researchers have determined that the strike is costing the city millions of dollars, including about $4M to the local economy every week in "increased commuting costs alone." The article goes on to explain that the results of increased expenditures on commuting mean that people have less to pay for other local or value-added goods and services, reducing overall output and therefore negatively affecting overall productivity.

Finally, in the first publicized violent expression of frustration with the transit strike, an Ottawa driver has been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle when he hit and dragged a woman walking the ATU 279 picket line on Jan. 7, according to the Ottawa Sun. The woman was thankfully not injured.