Should council decide to make bus rapid transit projects a bigger priority?

At the end of June, the city will be gearing up to debate its Transportation Master Plan, a roadmap to how the city’s transportation system should build and expand into the future. 

One of the key points to that is a new Baseline Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network and perhaps another on Carling, two routes which have long been talked about, but with little action.

While there are no timelines or funding, councillors for both of those wards are eager to see the projects get off the ground.

Some work on the Baseline BRT has begun, with intersection improvement coming to Baseline and Greenbank. College Ward Coun. Laine Johnson said that stretch of road has seen increased congestion, leading to issues with OC Transpo’s Route 88, which has seen a rebound in ridership since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“People are asking why we would spend the money updating one intersection when the congestion is being shown to be east of Algonquin. The argument is to create a transit priority lane through Baseline and Greenbank for the 88,” Johnson told the Lookout. “It’s something that we’ve been collecting money for over the last several years, it's already funded, so now it’s just a matter of deploying it.”

Doing that work now could also prevent the BRT from costing more in the future. 

Johnson said it also makes sense to focus on that stretch because of bus connections that will come to the Queensview Pinecrest LRT station once the Confederation Line expansion opens. There’s also the potential for possible future development in the area near the Ikea mall. 

But the biggest benefit will come when the next phase is started between Algonquin College and Heron Road. 

“Just think of all the future development parcels along there and all of the towers that are happening or slated to happen around Merivale and Clyde,” noted Johnson. “Keep going and you’ve got proposed developments near the Experimental Farm, including towers where the Lone Star building is.”

The final stage would build bus-only lanes from Greenbank to Bayshore, though Johnson said some councillors would like to see it expanded even further west to Stittsville and Kanata South through Robertson Road. 

The College Ward representative said the business case for this phase will only grow with the Queensway Carleton Hospital’s capital development plan to expand its site.

In total, the project would create 13.8 kilometres of bus-only lanes, at a price tag of $400 million in 2022 dollars. While not cheap, Johnson noted it’s pennies compared to what Ottawa’s light rail system has cost. It would also see investments made to sidewalks, better pedestrian crossings, and the addition of bike lanes. 

In total, each commuter would save about 11 minutes per ride. Johnson said that adds up in a week and could encourage more people to take public transit. She herself is planning to ditch her car once the Algonquin College Baseline LRT station is in operation by 2027. 

A similar plan for Carling 

Over in Bay Ward, Coun. Theresa Kavanagh has been advocating for its BRT project which, would build bus-only lanes down that stretch of road. So far it has been identified as a lesser property than its Baseline counterpart. 

“There are lots of costs involved which is why Carling is not going first,” said Kavanagh. “What I thought was imminent has now been pushed off down the road. And I've been very frustrated with that. I've also been asking for cycle infrastructure over and over again stating how important it is. And the city is just not making those investments.”

Kavanagh said she’s happy to see the work begin with the Baseline BRT, but says the city hasn’t put money aside for such projects, which creates a “tug of war.” 

Her concern is that if the current trends continue, it could jeopardize future development plans along Carling. 

“Why would the properties get developed, especially since they have reduced parking? They're going to rely on Route 85, which surely to goodness we could make better,” said Kavanagh. ”Even in its current form now, we have to make it more frequent and reliable. Having a dedicated bus lane was the way to go. It seemed like an inexpensive option because you're just talking about painting saying, ‘hey, this lane is for buses only’, but it seems to have been stalled and I'm frustrated.”

Competing with light rail transit 

To complete either bus rapid transit project, will require funding from the province. But the Ontario government has already committed to taking over the finances of Ottawa’s light rail project and expanding the system out to Barrhaven, Kanata and Stittsville. 

A part of what councillors will debate during the Transportation Master Plan review is their ranking of Phase 3 LRT on the list of priorities. Currently, it’s at the top. 

But its future has been called into question since ridership patterns changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and OC Transpo found itself with fewer than the projected number of riders. 

Councillors that the Lookout has spoken to are mixed on how useful it would actually be today. There seems to be a better business case for continuing with the expansions out to Kanata and Stittsville. Barrhaven is already served by BRT lanes, with some councillors mulling the idea of taking the trains only as far as Fallowfield Station instead of Marketplace — a difference of three stops. 

The entire Phase 3 project is also expensive, with a price tag of $6.5 billion — which could be even higher today due to inflation. So it begs the question: is the province willing to fund both this and two giant bus lanes?

That answer is unclear, and decisions on the transportation master plan will help the city at least decide where it wants to put its time and money. Johnson wrote in January that she believes it’s time for the city to “cut its losses” with Stage 3 and pivot to bus rapid transit. 

When it’s up for debate later this month, Johnson said she hopes conversations will inspire a better transit system as a whole. 

“I get frustrated when we say things like, ’we're investing more money in transit than we ever have before.’ Well, of course we are; we’re building a train,” she said. “This is a transformative moment and we’re talking about a dollar-for-dollar kind of calculation. What we are not talking about is the experience that we promised to create when we make those investments. And without having that vision at the end of the day, transit's not going to ever be the North Star that it should be for everyone in this city.”