Insider: End of an LRT era

Good day!

It’s good to move on. Which means it’s probably a good sign the city will wind down its regular reporting on progress completing the recommendations from the LRT inquiry.

Then again, this is Ottawa, and we’re talking about the rail system, so things can always go quite poorly. But while it is comforting — or at least familiar — to lean into cynicism, maybe things really have turned a corner. Maybe the city and its private partners have been able to get things together enough that the bright rail future we were all hoping for might actually arrive.

Of course, it’s taken several disastrous years of running and a public inquiry to get to the point where we can say, “Hey, things might be okay maybe,” so it’s not exactly cause for a parade or anything.

But progress is progress. 

So let’s get to it.

Editor’s note: In the last issue of the Insider on the story about insurance rules for community groups, I got a little loose with the language. The insurance provided by the city to certain community organizations grandfathered in from the pre-amalgamation days covered more than just community associations, but also included groups like tennis clubs, youth clubs, and more. The Lookout regrets the error.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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TRANSIT

End of an era (of sorts) for the LRT

What happened: City council voted to close a chapter in the long saga of the LRT, by formally accepting that the recommendations put forward by the LRT inquiry were substantially complete. 

The but: There is a but to all this. While most of the actions are done, they’re not all done-done in the sense that they’re fully complete. But, staff recommended that it’s no longer necessary to issue specific reports on progress through the nearly 100 recommendations of the inquiry because they’re essentially done.

• “Although there are a few remaining items that are considered in progress, staff believe that further updates on this work can be made through regular operational reports to the Transit Commission or through construction updates to the Light Rail Sub-Committee.”

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