Bus strike over, music sale on

End Hits, an indie record store at Rideau and Dalhousie, is celebrating the end of the transit strike with a pretty phenomenal sale.

The store is selling all merchandise (except tickets) at a discounted price of 25% off the sticker.

Pretty cool. It lasts until tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Strike could cost city big, councillor alludes

The chair of the City's transit committee, Alex Cullen, told the Ottawa Citizen that people might be in for a "shock" when they hear how expensive it will be to get OC Transpo's services running at full capacity.

The cost might soak up a lot of the City's "savings" earned during the strike -- reportedly about $3 million every week -- due to the demands of "mitigation measures such as free parking and advertising to keep Ottawans informed, as well as plans to attract riders back to the system."

As the strike neared an end, some observers wondered about those "savings". At least one group -- the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa -- has suggested that the City is now in a good position to absorb some of the costs of a $125 universal bus pass and sent a letter saying as much.

That the city is not exactly flush despite the millions in weekly savings could be a sign that groups hoping to capitalize on that money might be out of luck.

Auditor General goes after transit tax credit

When the federal government announced a transit tax credit in its 2006 budget, it was not exactly heralded by environmentalists as the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it was also not rejected out of hand, because it did encourage public-transit use. As well, some tax-relief advocates applauded its efforts to give taxpayers something there.

Yesterday, however, auditor general Sheila Fraser came down hard on the program as part of a larger condemnation of the government's action on the environment in a review of all programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This is a lede from an Ottawa Sun story on Fraser's report:

The federal government hasn't got a clue if the billions it spends on green initiatives are working or where it's even being spent according to a sweeping report by Canada's environmental watchdog.

One of those initiatives, the 15.5-per-cent transit tax credit that was slated to cost $635 million in foregone tax revenue over two years, was roundly criticized for being ineffective. This is among the most relevant passages from her report (emphasis ours):

In its 2007 Climate Change Plan under the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, Environment Canada stated that the Tax Credit is expected to result in emission reductions of 220,000 tonnes each year from 2008 through 2012. This was approximately double Finance Canada's estimate of the resulting emission reductions in its strategic environmental assessment. In its 2008 Plan, Environment Canada amended the figure for expected reductions to an average of 35,000 tonnes per year—about 16 percent of the original estimate. Given the lowered figure, the Tax Credit will have a negligible impact on Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

And even if the program did have any measurable impact on cutting emissions, that impact would apparently be quite hard to quantify (again, emphasis ours):

Many factors influence public transit ridership, including the price of gasoline. The result is that it is almost impossible to measure actual greenhouse gas emission reductions attributable to the tax credit. With regard to other air emissions, Environment Canada could not provide any analysis to support the assertion that the Tax Credit would result in measurable impacts.

Do readers take advantage of this tax credit?

Province fast-tracks bus inspections

The Ottawa Sun and the Ottawa Citizen reports today that the Ontario government is doing what it can to get OC Transpo buses back on the road as soon as possible. From the Sun:

Premier Dalton McGuinty said 160 buses will be fast-tracked through the provincial inspections process to speed up the resumption of transit service following the 53-day strike.

More than 280 buses were in need of provincial safety certificates after the strike.

[...]

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has modified the inspection cycle to speed up the process. Essential tests will be conducted before a bus is put back on the road, but the plan allows non-essential tests to be delayed. The first 60 extra buses should be running by Feb. 23.

Don't take the bus (says councillor)

"I'm telling people not to take the bus until full service is returned," said Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder. "I am telling people not to take it unless they need to."

Harder said with the incremental roll out of buses over the next 10 weeks, riders aren't going to know when or where buses are going to be available.

"It's going to be chaos," she said.

Harder is recommending residents stay in their vehicles or continue carpooling.

So read a story in the Ottawa Sun where Gloucester-South Nepean councillor Steve Desroches agreed with Harder.

"I won't dissuade them from that," he said.

What do readers think of Harder and Desroches' message to commuters?

Sun reporter Derek Puddicombe also wrote about the return of commuters to the now-running O-Train. People are back on the rails, he reported:

During a briefing at yesterday's transit committee meeting, OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier told councillors there has been a "healthy return" of riders to the O-Train since it started running Monday.

On the first day back, the O-Train carried 4,600 passengers and another 5,500 passengers Tuesday.

On an average day, it carries 9,000 passengers.

Whether or not O-Train ridership continues to rise as the days and weeks progress will be interesting to watch.

Bike-share program to be tested on Ottawa streets

Ottawa is about to embark upon a trial bike-share program, according to the Ottawa Citizen. From the story:

This summer’s project aims to pave the way for a permanent bike-sharing service in 2010, the commission said. “This project lays the groundwork for a broader, progressive initiative that will see both residents and visitors in Canada’s Capital Region travelling in an environmentally friendly way, at little cost,” said Marie Lemay, chief executive of the NCC, in a written statement.

A spokeswoman for the commission said the details of the trial project have not yet been determined, but a feasibility study is about to begin to establish the launch date, costs, rental locations and how the service will operate.

“We’d like to launch 45 to 50 bikes in the coming biking season,” said spokeswoman Kathryn Keyes.

Here at TransitOttawa.ca, we spoke to renowned local environmentalist David Chernushenko about such a program a few months ago.

Chernushenko cautioned that if a bike-share system were to work properly, simply implementing a program is not enough.

In order for [a bike-share program] to work, however, the proper infrastructure must be built. Chernushenko suggested that if the City commenced work immediately, it would take 10 years to complete Ottawa's transformation into a bike-friendly city.

"We would start by saying every time a street or a sidewalk needs repair, we can seize that opportunity not just to replace the sewer infrastructure and the telecom cables and everything else that’s there. We’re actually going to redesign that street," he says, suggesting that residents from Nepean to Beacon Hill could conceivably cycle to work on a daily basis.

Councillors want input on transit resumption plan

The Ottawa Sun reports that come councillors are upset about the City's plan to roll out buses because they charge that council didn't have enough input.

Some city councillors are "infuriated" that staff are telling them they can't make any further changes to the plan to restore transit service.

The councillors were reacting to an e-mail from deputy city manager Nancy Schepers sent this morning. The e-mail said in order to schedule drivers for the selected routes "this plan cannot be adjusted at committee on Wednesday."

The transit and transportation committees are meeting at City Hall beginning tomorrow morning to discuss the revised roll-out plan for buses announced yesterday.

Which councillors are frustrated, according to the Sun?

• Kanata North councillor Marianne Wilkinson - "I find this infuriating."

• River councillor Maria McRae - "I begin to wonder why we have to take all the blame when service is lacking and are being told we can't change anything!"

• Knoxville-Merivale councillor Gord Hunter - "I still believe the damn Transitway routes could and should be running by Wednesday but I guess that opportunity has slipped."

Winners and losers? Let's just move on

This morning's Citizen takes a look at the transit strike's winners and losers. The story concludes that ATU 279 is sort of a winner by default, and the reporter consults several local experts in relevant fields, including:

• Former transit commission chair Al Loney
• Carleton University political scientist Katherine Graham
• University of Ottawa Labour law expert John Manwaring
• University of Ottawa political scientist Caroline Andrew
  

I don't want to devalue the opinions expressed by these people. It's an interesting story, and it's inevitable that this city and its citizens will try to identify winners and losers after such an intense and drawn-out battle.

But my question is: Who cares?

Some of the experts expressed a similar opinion to the Citizen, according to the story's lede (emphasis ours):

After the heavyweight clash that was the 51-day Ottawa transit strike, many experts are declaring it a bruising draw, with the city and union battered and bloodied.

They say the question is not so much who won or lost, because in a strike as damaging and costly as this one, there are no winners -- especially since both sides capitulated in the face of back-to-work legislation, without getting what they really wanted.

Agreed. There are no winners. But the scads of people in this city who suffered were definitely the strike's biggest losers. And as far as commuters are concerned, whichever side won or lost has no tangible effect on their daily usage of the system. Besides, as Andrew points out towards the end of the article, we probably won't know who "won" until arbitration concludes, anyway -- and that could take months.

In the mean time, let's just take the bus. It serves the same valuable function that it did before the strike when, as most readers likely know, ridership was at an all-time high.

Buses back ahead of (rather arbitrary) schedule

The Ottawa Citizen tells us today that OC Transpo buses will be back earlier than next Monday. Indeed, they will be running as early as this Saturday. Apparently, enough buses will be tuned up to "meet the demands of [OC Transpo's] normal weekend schedule."

Read further in that story (or here, at the OC Transpo page) for a breakdown of when your bus route will be back. Weekday service will be reduced when commuters line up next Monday and it will take until the first week in April for all routes to be back running at full capacity.

Also in the news, the Sun reports on the small group of protesters that met mayor Larry O'Brien and OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier when they greeted commuters on the O-Train as it revved up yesterday.

Finally, Mercier explains the service resumption plan to Sun Media:

TransitOttawa.ca on CBC's Ottawa Morning

TransitOttawa.ca will appear on CBC Radio One's Ottawa Morning this coming Monday, February 2 some time after 7:30 a.m.

We will be discussing the aftermath of the 51-day transit strike that many observers say will adversely affect ridership, which had been at an all-time high before the strike began.

Listen live here or at 91.5 FM.

UPDATE: Local transit blogger Ken Yam also appeared on the segment, which we will link to as soon as a clip is available.

UPDATE TWO: Here is the clip.