Commuters could be riding the LRT Trillium Line this November

We now have a month for when OC Transpo plans to launch its Phase 2 light rail Trillium line to passengers, but there is still no exact date in sight. 

At a technical briefing on Thursday, the transit organization said the trial would commence on Oct. 7. If it goes well, trains could be ready for commutes as soon as mid November. 

• “TransitNext has spent the last several years preparing for this test. This is TransitNext's final exam, and it will be a rigorous one,” said OC Transpo general manager Reneé Amilcar. “TransitNext and OC Transpo have studied hard, have practiced multiple times and we are united in our confidence in the reliability of the system. But the proof will be in the daily testing results.”

The trial runs must take place without issues for at least 21 days before opening and will be done in two increments of seven days — one week for on-time performance evaluation and one week for maintenance and operations evaluation. 

A performance level of 98.5 per cent is needed over the 14 day average. Once that part of the testing is over, maintenance and operational teams will be tested for possible issues that could arise such as door jams, which stopped Stage 1 trains early in its opening. 

• CTV wrote a comprehensive list of all the steps that need to be taken. 

The trains will commute between Bayview Station where it connects to Phase 1 all the way to Limebank Road in Riverside South. Another train will travel from South Keys to Uplands and the Airport. Once in operation the trains will provide better connectivity for Carleton University students who should have their commutes shortened. 

If it seems like OC Transpo is being cautious with opening the train line, that’s because they are. The 2019 o-train of the Confederation Line was widely criticized by Justice William Hourigan, who was in charge of a judicial inquiry into the problems with Stage 1. Many key officials including former Mayor Jim Watson and city managers were criticized for putting pressure on the rushed opening. 

• “As I’ve stated many times, the 104 recommendations from the public inquiry report and lessons learned from Stage 1 LRT have been incorporated into trial running,” said Amilcar. 

Amilcar said while she’s hopeful testing will go off without any major ordeals, issues — like with any system — will arise. Still, the system is much different than its Confederation Line sibling. While it doesn’t have sharp curves or bearing assemblies, it does have switches that move the trains down the tracks which can be “very sensitive.”  

To better serve transit riders with the opening of more LRT stops, OC Transpo is drastically changing its bus routes to accommodate the LRT changes. Those alterations — which will result in about 75,000 fewer service hours — were supposed to come into effect this fall with Lines 2 and 4 opening, but have now been pushed back to the spring. 

Amilcar said they did not want to drastically change the service at a time when winter service adjustments were already being made. They are now expected to start in April 2025. That means R2 bus service between Bayview Station and South Keys will continue running until then. 

After the Ottawa Lookout wrote about the bus route changes for Insider members, Stittsville Councillor Glen Gower, who is also chair of the transit committee, emailed us a response to put the cuts into context. He said it’s more like 74,000 hours — totalling about 3.5 per cent of the 2.111 million service hours in 2024.

• With the launch of O-Train lines 2 and 4, 62,000 hours of train service are being added — meaning only a reduction of about 12,000 hours. 

When the Trillium Line opens, it will be over two years after its initial proposed summer 2022 timeline. Construction on the Confederation Line extensions have also been delayed with the eastern expansion out to Orleans expected to open in summer 2025. The western expansions out to Moodie Drive and Baseline Station at Algonquin College are now in the books for late 2026 or early 2027. 

OC Transpo knows it has a lot on the line with Stage 2 opening. Ridership is low and is facing difficulty climbing back during cuts to the service. There is hope a new train — which runs differently than the problem-plagued Stage 1 Confederation Line — will take commuters out of cars. If ridership increases, then OC Transpo says it can provide more resources again. There is also an uncertain future over Phase 3 expansions out to Barrhaven, Kanata and Stittsville. Many councillors are renewing calls for expanding the bus rapid transit system instead.