Latest news with #OCTranspo
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
Firefighters battle 2-alarm fire at Kanata strip mall
Firefighters battling a two-alarm fire at a Kanata strip mall on Eagleson Road in Ottawa. (Sean Vardon/CTV News Ottawa) Ottawa firefighters battled a two-alarm fire inside a restaurant at a Kanata strip mall Monday afternoon. Ottawa Fire Services public information officer Nick Defazio says a 911 caller reported smoke coming from inside the washroom of a restaurant in the 700 block of Eagleson Road at approximately 2:09 p.m. A second alarm was called in about 20 minutes later as flames spread through the roof and began to impact nearby businesses, he said. Firefighters initiated a 'fast attack' and advanced a hose line inside the structure, the fire service said in a news release. Defazio says the hot and humid weather made conditions dangerous for firefighters. Temperatures reached 32 C with a humidex of 38 in Ottawa this afternoon. An OC Transpo bus was called in to provide firefighters a refuge away from the heat. The fire was declared under control at 3:13 p.m., just over an hour after the blaze began. High-pressurized fans were used to ventilate residual smoke from the structure. An Ottawa Fire Services investigator is working to determine the cause and origin of the fire. No injuries have been reported.
CTV News
a day ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Firefighters battling 2-alarm fire at Kanata strip mall
Ottawa firefighters are battling a two-alarm fire at a Kanata strip mall Monday afternoon. Ottawa Fire Services public information officer Nick Defazio says a 911 caller reported smoke coming from inside a washroom of a business in the 700 block of Eagleson Road at approximately 2:10 p.m. A second alarm was called in as flames spread through the roof and began to impact nearby units, he said. Defazio says the hot and humid weather is making conditions dangerous for firefighters. Temperatures reached 32 C with a humidex of 38 in Ottawa this afternoon. An OC Transpo bus has been called in to provide firefighters a refuge away from the heat. Ottawa police are on scene directing the public away from the area, Defazio says. No injuries have been reported. This story will be updated
Ottawa Citizen
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Ottawa Citizen
Pellerin: Why can't OC Transpo be more like F1?
Article content It's summertime, and the living should be easy. With carefree sensations like a movie about speed or a new, record-breaking roller coaster. Not a hard, painful Death Spiral of Doom like Ottawa commuting times so long that riders get dinged twice for fares. Article content The movie of the summer, at least for those of us who don't care about superheroes or whatever species Stitch is supposed to be, is Jerry Bruckheimer's ode to fast cars, F1. I went to see it on Monday night with my movie buddy, with whom I've unfailingly enjoyed great films since the summer of Barbenheimer, in sharp contrast with my teenagers who insist on dragging me out to clunkers like the baffling 28 Years Later. Article content Article content Article content Reviews of F1 are generally positive, especially from people who had been feeling the urge to sit in a theatre for 156 minutes of Brad Pitt doing that thing with his lower lip while driving very expensive cars very fast around very pointless bends. Article content I kid, of course. That's in keeping with a mid-summer column in which we are supposed to enjoy the wind in our hair and levity in our hearts and nothing heavy on our minds or infuriatingly slow traffic gumming us up on the bus while our transfer window ticks by. Despite the occasional overflow of corniness, the narrative arc made F1 interesting, and I enjoyed the interplay between Pitt's character and that of his old buddy played by the excellent Javier Bardem and the slightly arrogant rising star portrayed by the impressive Damson Idris. Article content You know what else is fun and happy this summer? The new ride at Canada's Wonderland. I took the teens to experience the brand-new AlpenFury on Tuesday and wow, it's a great (and record-breaking) launch coaster that shoots you straight up 50 metres into the sky at 115 km/h only to drop you right back down but inverted and also spinning. Article content Article content We giggle-screamed the whole entire 80 seconds and spent about 10 minutes putting our hair back together on our heads afterwards. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a gem of a ride. Article content Article content One big improvement in modern theme parks is the ability to pay extra for quicker access to the big rides so you don't spend your day waiting in line. It's a perfect option for those of us who only care for drops that cause us to regret eating that spicy breakfast burrito back in 2012. And it keeps admission prices down for folks who prefer not to get their skeletons rattled. The kids and I rode a lot and waited little in the course of a 10-hour day. Pure bliss. Article content The complete opposite of riding OC Transpo from the suburbs to work downtown. Recent media stories detailed how an increasing number of commutes are taking so long that riders get charged twice for fares. Article content The transfer window on transit is 90 minutes. That's how long you get to ride when you tap your card upon boarding your first bus or train. One man told CBC he used to take the LRT from the University of Ottawa to Tunney's Pasture, then an express 200-series bus to Barrhaven. That bus route got cancelled so now the man has to take two buses from Tunney's to his home. A journey that can take two hours. OC Transpo can refund passengers who get dinged twice on the same journey, but it takes time and it's a pain. Article content Summertime is when the living is supposed to be easy, not an incredibly slow Proletarian Chariot to Nowhere. At a minimum, the transit window should be extended at once. And express routes brought back. But that's just a Band-Aid. I know a transit system is not like a theme park or a Hollywood movie, but between F1 speeds and two hours to go from UofO to Barrhaven, there's a lot of room for improvement, regardless of season.
Ottawa Citizen
5 days ago
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
How OC Transpo's New Ways to Bus is making commuting from the suburbs worse
Article content Buses like the 88 Hurdman are now overcrowded and only reliable during peak hours, Ledgley said. The routes should be replaced with the previous ones and OC Transpo should 'reverse this route review,' he said. Article content 'Everything has gotten worse since April 27,' he said. 'What we are hearing from these residents, mostly, is that it was fine before (OC Transpo) made the cuts.' Article content Coun. David Hill for Barrhaven-West ward says the New Ways to Bus system has 'essentially changed the concept of busing' in the city. It would be difficult to revert back to the old routes when the investment into making an efficient bus system has already been made. Article content 'We're making evolutionary progress and improvement,' Hill said. 'What we need to focus on is identifying the issues that are coming up and fixing those.' Article content Article content Hill says OC Transpo and the city need to prioritize winning transit riders' trust back when it comes to bus routes. He's introducing a motion to the city's transit committee to increase the current 90-minute transfer window to ensure riders aren't paying twice for the same trip. Article content Article content 'The challenge is that there's an additional transfer that happens locally that didn't used to happen, and that's the reason why someone could potentially be getting double charged,' he said. 'It just shouldn't be the case where somebody going from point A to point B ends up paying twice for their ride.' Article content Hill mentions mitigating factors that could delay a commuter's ride, like ongoing construction, rush hour traffic and general delays. With the New Ways to Bus system, an additional transfer occurs for Barrhaven residents locally. Article content 'The core issue we need to focus on for the New Ways to Bus system to be effective is those afternoon peak buses that are leaving Tunney's Pasture,' he said. 'If those are reliably on time and consistent, then we won't have the problem with the transfer window issues and then ultimately …it can be a better system.' Article content Article content But Ledgley says no route should take longer than 90 minutes in the first place, especially when it takes around 25 minutes to commute from the suburbs to downtown Ottawa by vehicle. Article content 'That's only solving one part of the problem,' Ledgley said. 'It's also that nobody wants to be taking two and a half hours for their commute, right?' Article content Hill says transit coming through Tunney's Pasture station could be more reliable for commuters, alongside extending the transit fare windows. Article content The transfer window becomes an issue when commuters run errands around the city and encounter unreliable bus frequencies and delays, says Nick Grover, an executive member with Free Transit Ottawa. Article content 'It's not an enjoyable experience, even before New Ways to Bus,' he said. Article content In a July 23 emailed statement, Katrina Camposarcone-Stubbs, a public information officer with OC Transpo, said that they were analyzing the 'potential impacts' of extending the transfer window in response to Hill. Article content 'This analysis will include a review of whether any routes consistently exceed 90 minutes,' she wrote. 'At this time, the scheduled duration of the majority of customer trips take place in less than 90 minutes; however, staff will be investigating travel times further.' Article content Article content Transfers also became an issue when a route was eliminated and replaced by at least two others, Grover says. Article content 'If you're going from A to B, there's more transfers involved, resulting in longer commutes and also a worse last-mile challenge,' he said, referring to bus stops that were removed and installed five or 10 minutes away. Article content With Ottawa's weather behaving in uncertain ways — like increasing heat waves, smog and thunderstorms — Grover says people are 'checking out' of the public transit system and opting to purchase personal vehicles. Article content Article content 'Or they're having to suffer through it because they have no other choice,' he said. 'For some people, that just means going out less … We're leaving people isolated and with less access to the city.' Article content Off-peak service is another essential area where OC Transpo could improve, so commuters relying on transit outside of peak hours can travel around the city more easily, Grover says. Dedicated bus lanes could also help alleviate traffic, causing the route delay, and free fare for certain demographics within Ottawa could be considered. Article content These things are necessary so that people 'so poorly treated by this transit system' may think about returning to it, he said. Article content Villeneuve-Elson, must account for the extra time they would spend on an OC Transpo bus if they left work a little later and missed an express bus back to Stittsville. Article content 'My commute home changes from being about an hour to an hour and a half to being well more than two hours,' they said. Article content Article content How did we get here? Article content Coun. Wilson Lo, representing Barrhaven East, says there were 'several layers' that got Ottawa's public transit to where it is today. As a former OC Transpo bus operator, some of the reasons he's experienced delays are as simple as 'hitting the right combination of red lights.' Article content 'It's created a lot of frustration (and) a lot of burden on our passengers,' Lo said. 'A lot of people have left transit.' Article content Discontinuing some express buses has hit residents hard, especially those relying on them during peak weekday hours. Factoring in the ' trauma of the LRT launch' and transit users reminiscing about a time when transit was efficient, Lo says the changes have been 'negative' for a lot of commuters. Article content The 'psychological barrier' of more transfers down the line has been a drawback for residents, and the promises of reliable transit have not 'panned out' as planned. Article content 'That unfortunately overshadowed a lot of the positive, good changes that have happened,' he said, referring to improved off-peak local travel in Barrhaven. Article content With the New Ways to Bus route changes, Camposarcone-Stubbs says OC Transpo understands that each commuter's journey is 'unique' and that some may be experiencing longer travel journeys, additional transfers or a longer walk to the bus stop. Article content 'Since New Ways to Bus launched, staff have been monitoring ridership levels across the network, gathering feedback from customers, and collecting observations from frontline staff,' she wrote. Article content That feedback is used to inform future adjustments to OC Transpo's bus network through service change processes, Camposarcone-Stubbs says, which take place four times a year. Article content Article content No, there are not. Article content Article content A maintenance backlog continues to impact OC Transpo's fleet, with a number of defects found during inspections. Their current fleet is set to surpass its 15-year life cycle and must be retired by April 2026. Article content In addition, they've been facing challenges in procuring e-buses due to production delays affecting deliveries to the Ottawa market. These are some of the factors outside of OC Transpo's control, Lo said: 'This is an industry-wide issue.' Article content Theoretically, if Ottawa can get the delayed vehicles right now, it would be an 'easy fix.' But there are not enough buses to return to the old network, Lo added. Article content Villeneuve-Elson says OC Transpo's buses are constantly breaking down, which leads to route cancellations or not enough buses to cover all the city's required routes, impacting people's commutes and delaying bus schedules. Article content 'It cascades through the day, kind of like a set of dominoes,' they said. Article content Article content Horizon Ottawa has been consistently advocating for free transit every year, Ledgley said: 'It should be run as a public service, not as a business.' Article content When the New Ways to Bus system first launched towards the end of April, OC Transpo offered free-fare service for the first weekend of May. At the time, then-transit service manager Renée Amilcar said it was a way to introduce the 'new OC Transpo' and encourage riders to try it out. Article content During Bluesfest's nine-day stint, OC Transpo saw ' strong ridership ' throughout the festival, with an estimated 650,000 customer trips on Line 1 and 87,000 trips on Line 2. This was the first year when Lines 2 and 4 ran alongside Line 1 during the festival. Article content Grover says these were examples of when ridership on public transit skyrocketed. Article content 'It's a great way to remove a barrier while also compensating for the fact that the service has been incredibly subpar,' he said.
Ottawa Citizen
5 days ago
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Adam: Tim Tierney should know better than to mess with road pylons
Ottawa councillor Tim Tierney turned into a vigilante last week when he took the extraordinary step of tossing construction cones off city roads because they blocked traffic. Comrade-in-arms Coun. Matt Luloff was by his side in this escapade. Article content The two east-end Ottawa councillors took matters (law?) into their own hands out of frustration at unannounced road and ramp closures on Highway 174 that they say caused traffic chaos. Roads and ramps east of St. Laurent Boulevard on the 174 have been routinely closed during Stage 2 LRT east extension apparently without proper notice, and this has riled residents. The councillors claim the cones were left blocking roads even when construction was already completed. 'I know that brings a lot of discussion about (safety),' Teirney said of his action. 'If I can open up a lane of traffic seven or eight hours in advance of the next crew coming to move those cones, I'm just going to do it. It's sad when a councillor physically has to do it.' Article content Article content Article content So, what we've come to is that councillors can take it upon themselves to throw cones off roads if they feel the pylons don't belong there. And Luloff agrees: 'When they make these changes without any notice, there's very few viable routes for us to get into the core or move about the city. What are you supposed to do?' Article content Go rogue and throw cones off the roads, of course. Article content But then, what happens if there is a serious accident on the arbitrarily re-opened roads? Who takes the blame? The city, the contractor or the councillors who took matters into their own hands? Article content When I read the story in the Citizen, I wondered if you or I pulled that kind of stunt on a public road, would we find ourselves on the front page of the Citizen or in the back of a police cruiser being interrogated for, say, vandalism? But we are not Tierney and Luloff, are we? Article content Lane closures are happening all over the city as the construction season kicks into full gear. You'll find major roads closed, and often access to malls blocked. It can be frustrating, and it may well be that the extent of the problem in the east end is much worse. Commuters sitting in traffic for hours unnecessarily is not fun. The councillors are right to be frustrated at OC Transpo and the contractor, and right to demand better. Any contractor of a major road project should have the sensibility to understand the importance of putting up proper signs about road closures so commuters can plan their routes ahead of time. And if an LRT contractor is failing in its duty, OC Transpo should have stepped in much earlier to fix the problem. Article content Article content But if the closures were causing chaos, as the councillors say, it is surprising that the issue was not raised at Transportation Committee, Transit Commission or council itself for remedy. Article content OC Transpo general manager Renee Amilcar has apologized for a Montreal Road ramp closure that happened without proper notice, and the contractor has promised it won't happen again. Article content Tierney and Luloff are right to be frustrated and angry, but that is no license to arbitrarily remove cones because they feel the pylons shouldn't be there. They should know better. It sets a bad precedent. The summer months are a time for road construction, which comes with high frustration—from commuters who have to put up with detours to businesses that are losing customers. But we don't want other people to think they can also take matters into their own hands and start removing inconvenient pylons.
