'Gods of Rock', another controversial OC ad campaign

Since Virgin Radio bought out The Bear radio station (106.9 fm) a few weeks ago, they've blitzed the city with their 'Gods of Rock' advertising campaign, featuring the slogan, "Lock up your daughters, the gods of rock are now in Ottawa' accompanied by photographs of pregnant young women. It's received its fair share of criticism.

Carleton University master's student Laura Sparling championed the campaign to have the ads pulled, stating her position in a letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen:

The city bus shelter ad originally drew my attention because I suspected it was promoting a social support service, with the photograph of a pregnant and troubled young woman between the ages of 16 and 22. Imagine my shock when I read the caption: "Lock up your daughters; the Gods of Rock are now in Ottawa." Excuse me.

While Virgin Radio attempts to create humour and irony by featuring ads of pregnant women, these ads are anything but funny. Through statements that openly promote female subjugation and condone the sexual objectification and ravaging of young women, this ad series sets the feminist struggle for ownership over our bodies and our choices back decades.

Sparling also started a Facebook group called 'Demand that Virgin Radio Remove Sexist Advertisements' to put pressure on the new radio station to pull their ads (although I can't seem to find the Facebook group), and she organized an online petition, which has just under 500 signatures as of writing, to demonstrate how citizens felt about the issue.

And apparently, the public pressure has worked. According to an article in the Citizen on Feb. 18, Virgin has voluntarily dropped their advertising campaign because, according to Pete Travers, program director at Virgin Radio Ottawa, "It was not our intention to offend anybody."

As recently as Monday, Feb. 23, there were still the ads on billboards on Sparks Street. Still, the decision by Virgin to pull the ads demonstrates that sometimes corporations will cave to public pressure.

What I want to know is how a radio station is going to impregnate my daughter.

Tunnel Open House: Feb. 26, 2009

On Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, the City of Ottawa will be making a presentation regarding the planning of the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel (DOTT). The presentation begins at 7 p.m. and is in City Hall (110 Laurier Ave. W) in Jean Piggot Hall.

Below is the City's description of the event. I would recommend you visit the City's website on the consultation to get a sneak peak at some of the documentation they will be presenting.

We want to hear from you!

The tunnel study is the first step in developing a world-class transit system that starts with a trip down an escalator. The tunnel will ultimately enhance how quickly and efficiently we move around Ottawa for generations. This is a groundbreaking project for Ottawa that will shape the city for generations to come and the City wants to hear from you.

All elements of this city-building project require careful consideration in order to
find the best possible solutions.

For that reason, we are looking for your input in developing the design of the Tunnel project.

• Where do you think the stations should be and what should they look like?
• How should the stations integrate into the surrounding area?
• What design features - such as public art - are important to you?

Consultation venues will be offered throughout the duration of the Tunnel study. Outreach activities will include public consultations, agency and interest group meetings, as well as open houses and information will continue to be updated on ottawa.ca.

The study team will be available at the open house to discuss the study findings to date.

Some express routes among service resumption today

As some commuters may have noticed this morning, several green Express routes--the 27, 61, and 77--had service resume this morning (Feb. 23), as well as a number of local feeder routes. Check the official website for continued updates, but currently rush-hour service looks like this:

Starting Monday, February 23, the following routes will operate during peak periods.

* O-Train and Rapid transit routes 94, 95, 96, 97 and 98.
* Major routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 85, 86, 87, 101 (see below *), 102, 106, 111, 114, 117, 116 and 118
* Local feeder routes:

• Routes: 124, 129, 148
• In Gloucester North: Routes 140, 142, 143, 146 and 147
• In Nepean Centre: 166 and 178
• In central Ottawa: Routes 5, 18, 111, 112, 151, 152, 153, 154 and 156
• In Nepean: 172 and 174
• In Orléans: Routes 127, 130, 135, 136, and 137
• In Riverside South/Leitrim: Routes 144 and 145
• In Kanata: Routes 160, 161, 164, 165, and 168
• In Barrhaven: Routes 170, 171, 173 and 176
  

* Express Routes:

• Routes 27, 61, and 77

* Peak-period routes 40, 102, 105, 182 and 184
* School service is operating
* Connexion 400 service is running to Senators hockey games and special events at Scotiabank Place.

Deadline for December pass refunds Feb. 21

Looking at the Ottawa Metro, looks like the last day for interested parties to receive a refund for their December bus passes. According to the story, riders may be better served getting their refunds, paying half-price far for the remainder of February, and then purchasing a regular-priced March bus pass:

But, as alert transit rider Chris Siu pointed out Thursday, getting a full refund on the December pass ($81), paying half-price fare until the end of the month ($10), then buying a March pass for full price results in a savings of $21.60 for passengers.

Something to think about for transit users.

Is council micro-managing public transit in Ottawa?

According to the Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa city councillors have taken issue with the decision of OC Transpo management that the Atheist Bus Campaign's advertisement was rejected (more about that here), and have decided to have a full debate on the decision in city council. The city's transit committee voted on the issue, but because the vote was a tie Bay Ward Councillor Alex Cullen vowed that he would bring the issue to full council vote next week.

Although the Atheist Bus Campaign is a controversial issue on its own, the decision by some councillors, including Cullen, to debate an issue of the day-to-day management of OC Transpo brings to mind a grander discussion of whether or not Ottawa city councillors are micro-managing the city's transit utility, OC Transpo.

Past decisions have also arguably bordered around micro-management from council. When dealing with transit plans, budget cuts, and virtually any decision made with regards to OC Transpo, councillors have seemingly debated everything from grander visions to the most minute details of implementation of the plan. This degree of political involvement does not only politicize the decisions made, but it also serves to frustrate citizens--myself included--trying to keep up-to-date on all the technical issues being debated by council, a phenomenon that's been referred to as 'transit fatigue'. While it's valuable for our elected officials to have input in the direction of OC Transpo, how much is too much involvement?

So I pose a few discussion questions to readers:

1. Do you think councillors are micromanaging OC Transpo?
2. How much council involvement is too much in OC Transpo?
3. Could council's time be better spent dealing with larger issues, and leaving technicalities to OC Transpo staff?
4. Would establishing an arm's-length transit commission solve this problem, if you do think it's a problem?

Please feel free to answer any or all of the questions in the 'comments' section.

Zero-fare public transit

Now that's a way to boost ridership.

Zero-fare public transit is a government-, taxation-, or business-sponsored transit service that doesn't require users to pay fees when boarding. The system could have a few possible benefits:

• Reduced boarding times
• Less fare-related aggression or disputes
• Increased accessibility, especially for low-income residents
• Community integration
• Increased magnitude of regular transit's benefits

The administration and funding of such an undertaking would, naturally, be quite an undertaking. A few cities have city-wide free public transit, but none nearly as large as the City of Ottawa. Some cities, however, do have 'zero-fare zones', including Halifax and Calgary who both have free zones in the downtown core.

The system could also have some detriments, though. Not everyone would benefit equally from such an arrangement, but they may have to contribute equally if it's a tax-funded system. And fares are often used to shape traffic, encouraging people to spread out their use over peak and non-peak periods, such as is the case with Ottawa's express buses.

Would it work for Ottawa? Who knows. It may be worth thinking about, though, in the spirit of promoting the use of public transit in Ottawa. And especially with Free Public Transit Day coming up on March 7, 2009.

If Toronto gets transit funding...

That's quite a bit of cash.

If you don't want to read all that, here is the story's lede:

The stimulus train rolled into Greater Toronto on Tuesday, as the federal and provincial governments announced they will pump about $500 million into transit projects, most notably by building parking lots at 12 commuter rail stations around the GTA.

Can Ottawa expect some sort of similar, if smaller-scale, announcement?

Another call for some form of transit privatization

Don Butler writes a feature in the Citizen that makes several arguments in favour of at least partial privatization of transit service in Ottawa.

Here is a quick breakdown of some of Butler's musings and conclusions about privatization...

Pros:
- Cheaper to operate on the whole (wages for operators tend to be lower on average, and ceilings are lower and harder to reach)
- Theory that private-system operators are less likely to go on strike than public counterparts (many disagree with this assertion, including Ottawa transit committee chair and councillor Alex Cullen)

Cons:
- Might fragment Ottawa's integrated transit system, which would lead to rough transition
- More costlier insurance and other costs avoided by public system

That's really just a glimpse into some of the arguments in the story. There are several reasons to take this article very seriously, and TransitOttawa.ca will no doubt have more to say about privatization issues in the future.

Especially about Denver. That transit system consistently generates a lot of buzz, including within the above-linked story.

For now, though, we will superficially object to privatization because, well, this website's title would be made instantly obsolete by such a move.

"No God" bus ads rejected by OC Transpo

The Ottawa Citizen tells us that the bus-based atheist ad campaign that was on its way to Ottawa recently had its bid to place ads on buses turned down by OC Transpo.

The city has rejected a “no god” bus ad campaign, a move that organizers hope will serve as a rallying cry for proponents of free speech across the country.

“We need to get people as offended about censorship as they are by the ad,” said Justin Trottier, president of the Freethought Association of Canada.

Trottier's group was hoping to use Ottawa buses as part of a larger campaign to promote “principles of various world views.”

And why were the ads rejected?

The decision was made based on a subsection of the transit advertising policy which says that “religious advertising which promotes a specific ideology, ethic, point of view, policy or action, which in the opinion of the City might be deemed prejudicial to other religious groups or offensive to users of the transit system is not permitted. Religious advertising will be permitted if the information is designed to promote a specific meeting, gathering or event and the location, date and time of said event.”

No one from OC Transpo was available for comment Saturday.

So, readers ... Is rejecting the ads censorship?

Taxi drivers accused of inflating city-sponsored chits

According to a report on CBC.ca, some taxi drivers may be facing charges for inflating fares from taxi chits the city had offered select residents to get around the city. Some of those chits cashed in by drivers were for fares of double what was expected, according to city staff. From the story:

Some drivers, she said, repeatedly cashed in vouchers worth $60-$70 during the strike — double the price of an average fare.

The city is looking at charging 18 of Ottawa's taxi drivers.

"We actually have enforcement staff with taxi meters in their cars," said [the city's chief by-law officer, Susan] Jones. "We know what a fare should be."

She says that by-law officers realized there was a need to investigate when the taxi chits being handed in by some drivers were $30 or $40 higher than they should be.