Wellington Street Part 12: 50 Years of Rapid Transit in Ottawa

Part 12: 50 Years of Rapid Transit in Ottawa

   [Show/Hide Contents]

• NCC Boost and Interprovincial Bus Loop
• Regional studies lead to first bus lanes
• Preston Street Extension
• What of the Albert-Wellington spaghetti?
• Context for rapid transit
• References

I wanted to pick up the narrative of Wellington Street to line up with an important milestone in Ottawa transit history: the 50th anniversary of bus lanes in Ottawa. It doesn't involve much in the way of the theme of this blog series—the connections, disconnections, and renamings of Wellington Street—but there is a dash of that. Alas, I missed the 50th anniversary for this blog post (by over a year!) but I did get a September 2023 article on the topic published in the Centretown BUZZ newspaper.

In the previous post in the series, we left off with the 1974 opening of the Portage Bridge, connecting the west end of Wellington Street, at the Ottawa River Parkway, to Hull, and severing Wellington Street from itself in LeBreton Flats. Today, we'll rewind a couple of years to look at how rapid transit in Ottawa began to reshape traffic patterns on the various Wellington Streets, such as here on the Ottawa River Parkway:¹

Chinese New Year Dragon Parade 2012

Today's post follows the theme of last week's 3D photo of the Chinatown Gateway Arch, in that the Lunar New Year is around this time of year.

Every year, there is a dragon dance through Chinatown down Somerset Street. Last year, I made a point of checking it out, and I got some great photos. The parade is physically short, only a handful of floats, but the performances and audience interaction stretches out the time of the parade.

The parade stretches twice as far if you count these four #2 buses that slipped by in a gap after being held up behind the dancers:

The last signs of urban rail in Centretown

[Sorry about the lack of posts. The Bluesfest Bike Park, while fun, is always a big interruption, and I'm just now starting to catch up on things. Hopefully I'll be back up to three posts again soon!]
Previous streetcar references on this blog have either been historical (such as the 50th anniversary of the last streetcar in Ottawa, or dealing with wooden streetcar rail ties dug up as part of major road reconstructions.

Streetcars were, of course, a part of daily life in Centretown from the 1890s up to April 20, 1959. this Canadian Encyclopedia article gives a concise overview of the history of streetcar technology.

Along with the streetcars are their less-celebrated accompanying infrastructure, including wires and the poles that held them up. These were all removed in the months and years after the streetcars stopped rolling. Here's a photo from the end of July, 1959, of workers removing the trolley poles at Confederation Square in the shadow of the Parliament buildings:

Capital Day

While we're still coming off yesterday's Canada Day high, I figured a photo of Capital symbols was appropriate for today.

I was over at the War Museum the other day having a look at the set up for Bluesfest and CfSC's free Bluesfest bike parking compounds when this photo opportunity presented itself:

Three symbols of Canada's capital, the Canadian War Museum, a Capital Bixi bike share station, and an OC Transpo bus.

The fenced field area in the foreground is one of the two bike parking compounds I'll be in charge of during this year's Bluesfest. It's free, and anyone can use it, whether you're a Bluesfest patron, volunteer, or not even coming to see Bluesfest!

In addition to the bike parking service, we'll have lots of free safety information available, as well as maps and lights for sale. More information on the Citizens for Safe Cycling website.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Peds on Weds: Waiting for the bus

On Elgin street, at 3pm in winter: at least seven people are waiting for one of three northbound bus routes that serve the stop at Elgin and Cooper. They're crowded on a busy sidewalk that is barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. If you've ever tried to walk into the front doors of the Mayflower a few minutes after the last bus arrived, you probably have had to move aside some people waiting for the bus to do so.

The City's Downtown Moves study has recommendations for measuring pedestrian levels of service. This is a first for pedestrians in Ottawa, but is used rigorously by the City's traffic department for ensuring motor traffic moves smoothly to the detriment of all other road users.

The chart shown for pedestrians, as well as others in the documents (which I don't think are online) talk about pedestrian levels of service in terms of flow of pedestrians, as well as how many of them bunch up at corners waiting to cross in one direction while others are trying to get through in the other direction. I didn't see anything about pedestrians bunched together waiting for the bus.

Not that it's a surprise, but the pedestrian levels of service are obviously designed so conservatively that no sidewalk, except maybe in the middle of the downtown core, will every be considered to have a "failed" level of service and therefore require widening. Not to mention that this is a planning document intended for discussion, not an engineering standard to which the traffic engineers are so faithfully wedded.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Peds on Weds: Rideau Spiral

I almost never use the east entrance to the Rideau Centre, but even if I did, I probably wouldn't have noticed the neat spiral pattern of the pavers. It's a great looking space on its own, but it's surrounded on three sides by cars, cars, cars!

A report released yesterday that will be going to the City's Finance and Economic Development Committee next week indicates that a primary entrance to the underground Rideau Street light rail station will be built into an expansion of the Rideau Centre on the adjacent parking lot along Rideau between the mall and the former Ogilvy's department store. The lot in question is to the left of the scene in the photo above.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Metcalfe stop, park, don't pass

The Transitway stop at Metcalfe Street on Albert Street is under construction, so a temporary one was installed on the West side of Albert Street, outside the World Exchange Centre. A waiting platform was built out into the curb lane with asphalt and temporary curbs.

What really struck me in this picture, though, was the little sign on the far right. It's a "no passing" sign, necessary due to the lane restrictions (in fact, I'm surprised parking is still allowed in the left lane). This photo was taken during mid-day, but I can guess that that sign wouldn't be visible to its intended audience--presumably, people in the lane that's on the left of the bus lane. If there isn't a truck parked in front of the sign, the rush-hour bus convoy will certainly block it.

What's more, it looks like this sign was installed specifically for this temporary bus stop, as it doesn't show up on Google Street View (photo below links to the location on Google Street View) from when the lanes were in their regular configuration:

Weird, eh?

City of Ottawa steps forward

Car ads on buses are a bugaboo of mine, so back in May it was a nice surprise to be stuck behind a bus to see this ad for the iwalkibike.ca campaign by the City of Ottawa and Province of Ontario:

It reads "Reason #74 - a social time on the way to class". This ad at a bus stop on Gladstone has the same message:

It's a refreshing change from the days just a couple of years ago where the City allocated barely enough money for barebones staff for ped/bike initiatives, with no money to implement any of the initiatives to be carried out.

I first realized the absence of pro walking/biking ads in Ottawa when I was in London, Ontario a few years ago and saw this giant billboard ad paid for by the local government promoting carpooling.

This is no replacement for safety campaigns, but I nevertheless hope they keep up this program beyond the warm months.

Centretown Events and Updates for June 2011

The following message was sent to the CCCA's e-mail announcement list early this morning, announcing upcoming events. Contact ccca@centretowncitizens.ca to be among the first to receive CCCA e-mail updates a couple times per month.



Dear CCCA members and followers,

Here are your Centretown events for the coming month. Enjoy your summer!

Upcoming meetings and events in Centretown - including tonight!

The following message was sent to the e-mail list of the Centretown Citizens Community Association early this morning. Join the CCCA and get on the e-mail list to receive 2-3 updates per month from the CCCA. Note that Images of Centretown is my personal blog and not a blog of the CCCA.


Dear CCCA members and followers,

There are some important meetings coming up in the next couple of weeks:

Tonight, Wednesday, March 23, 7-9pm
Public meeting on 224 Lyon (at Gloucester) development
7pm, Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier (Richmond Room)

The CCCA has already submitted comments lauding many positive aspects of the plan, but asking that the height and setback limits not be increased. The CCCA has also asked that mature trees removed for this development be replaced by more trees (on site or elsewhere), asking for visitor parking to be included, and asking that, if the City grants the height increase, that it seek a Section 37 agreement for the increased density.

The City of Ottawa has more information on this proposal here:
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__7FKLD1


Other rezoning applications

Four modes

[Side note: The monthly CCCA meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7pm in the Honeywell Room at City Hall. The agenda is on the CCCA website.]

A bus without ads is a rare sight. I stared at this #14 on Gladstone at Bronson for a few seconds before noticing the gas station sign in the background. I liked how this juxtaposed two different transportation options, so I quickly pulled out my camera before the light changed. As I took the photo a pedestrian serendipitously walked into the frame, adding a third mode to the picture.

The fourth mode is the bicycle, as in the one I was on when I took the photo!

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Montreal part 6: Bikes on Trains

Welcome to Part 6 in the series "What I learned in Montréal," documenting the day trip a friend and I took in May to check out Montréal's cycling and transit infrastructure for lessons that can be applied in Ottawa. Previously, in Part 5, I talked about the aesthetic aspects of the Métro stations.

In today's post, I'll talk about how Montréal integrates its subway system with its cycling network. Bicycles are allowed on metro cars, but they must use the front car, as indicated by these yellow decals on the platforms.

As these "Bienvenue aux vélos" signs indicate, they are permitted all day on weekends, and on weekdays between 10am and 3pm, then from 7pm to midnight. The sign also lists other restricted hours for special events, and includes a general warning that bicycles may be refused at any time if it gets too busy:

We only saw two bicyclists on the Saturday that we were there, though we didn't check out the front car, which can be a long walk from the stairs, as this cyclist demonstrates in Outremont:

That cyclist took the escalator, but the fixie-rider in this photo at Berri-UQÀM opted instead for the stairs. The unicyclist was indecisive.

At many stations, cyclists can't get through the turnstiles, and instead must get the attention of the ticket clerk to remotely open one of these gates.

Unfortunately, these gates are often far from the ticket booth. Here in Côte-Vertu, the ticket booth is off camera, to the left of the turnstiles. At one station, the ticket person was so engrossed in her crossword that the cyclist couldn't get her attention; we had to knock on her window to get her attention on his behalf.

Outside the stations, there is limited bicycle parking. Here at Lionel-Groulx, you can make out some racks on the other side of the glass. They're obviously difficult to get to, which is good for deterring thieves, but inconvenient, I'm sure, for cyclists. I don't know if the rack was empty because it was a weekend, or because it was too far out of the way.

At Outremont, there were some more bike racks which had a number of flaws: they aren't bolted to the ground, they aren't spaced conveniently, and they aren't covered by a canopy. (see my June 2009 post on Bike Rack Blunders in Ottawa. Also, the APBP has released the second edition of its Bicycle Parking Guidelines, available to non-APBP members for $45. The first edition remains free for download). There is also a Bixi station around the corner.

There are a few lessons for Ottawa, many of which are already a part of our Transitway and O-Train infrastructure. Good, secure, weather-protected bicycle parking is important at our major stations--especially those outside the downtown core. Elevators will be helpful for cyclists getting to the surface. Transit stations should also include room for bike rental stations, to help fill in the "last mile" of the trip.

Stay tuned for the next post in the What I learned in Montréal series: Part 7: Bixis and Bicycle Parking.

Montreal part 5: Métro station look and feel

Welcome to Part 5 in the series "What I learned in Montréal," documenting the day trip a friend and I took in May to check out Montréal's cycling and transit infrastructure for lessons that can be applied in Ottawa. Previously, in Part 4, I talked about our brief look at the bus system.

Station design is one of the few things the public is being consulted on for Ottawa's Transit Tunnel system, most other aspects of the system resembling a foregone conclusion. While I discussed more of the functional aspects of station design in Part 3, in this post I'll look at some of the more aesthetic aspects of station design.

Many of the station entrances used diner-style flipping doors, such as these at Place-d'Armes. Apparently they are useful in dealing with the significant changes of air pressure that occurs when a train pushes into and out of the station. Otherwise, the doors would be very difficult to open when a train arrives.

Each station had a unique look, and many had artistic motifs on the walls. At Henri-Bourassa station, there were some neat terra-cotta patterns that raised out of the walls.

At Outremont station, there is an installation called "light well"--as in a well of light--that brings light all the way down to the platforms. Because of these efforts, the Métro's deep stations are much more open and welcoming than Toronto's, which are shallower but much darker and more cramped. I've got a photo of the ground level end of this light well coming up in part 7 of this series.

At Charlevoix--which has the deepest platform in Montréal's system, another scheme to brighten up the depths of the station is this faux-stained glass motif on the light well alongside the escalators to the mezzanine level.

Further down Charlevoix, switching from light themes to darker ones, this service passageway is gated off from the platform, but still in plain view. You can see the last little bits of light coming down the light well that didn't spill out of the coloured windows. I suspect it also functions to balance the air pressure between the stacked platforms.

The Jean-Talon station has platforms on both the orange and blue lines. As a subtle but clear way of informing passengers of which line they're on, the Sialex floor tiles are coloured accordingly. You can see the blue stripe leading to the escalator down to the blue line platform.

On the blue line platform, which intersects with the orange line one level down, there are blue tiles. A two-storey mural covers the wall of the opening looking down from the orange line.

Not all platforms have large open spaces. The Place d'Armes platform is just one floor below the entrance we saw at the top of the post. As a result, it has a relatively low ceiling. Nevertheless, the side platform configuration and bright lighting keeps the station open.

Back again at Outremont station, the open area and wide balcony reminded me of a brutalist version of the extravagant Moscow metro.

The Place-des-Arts station is very bright, and the perimeter balcony reminds me of the Carlingwood library. You'll also note the blue light, which indicates the location of the emergency telephone.

In the discussions for the Ottawa tunnel stations, one of the suggestions was to leave the excavated rock exposed. There was some romantic notion used to justify this idea, which is really just a cost-saving measure. On this escalator bank heading down to the yellow line at the Berri-UQÀM station, the ceiling is finished with a nice, clean geometric pattern.

Benches are another element that can define the style of a station. Montréal's métro platforms have many benches, and each station has a unique design of bench to match the station's style. By contrast, I was in Toronto last week, and the subway platforms have very few benches and they are an afterthought to the station design. Many waiting passengers squatted on the ground, even just for a couple of minutes.

While some stations had benches just sticking out from the wall, some had recessed areas for benches, presumably to allow other passengers to walk by unobstructed:

The walls of Place-des-Arts platforms are angled, again allowing lots of room for others to walk past:

The benches are made of sturdy blue materials:

One of the items brought up at a meeting on the design of stations was the relationship between benches and terrorism. One participant suggested that benches should be designed so that bags can't be left underneath them, lest they contain suspicious materials (this after concerns about homeless people leading bench design to prevent people use the tops of them either). So these little square marble ones at Charlevoix would be okay (though maybe not--there's a gap behind them)...

...but these stone benches at Outremont would be out.

There were a few stations with rather peculiar designs. These yellow bucket seats at Côte-Sainte-Catherine meet the can't-leave-anything-underneath-them requirement, but look very uncomfortable.

These seats at Plamondon remind me of Playskool toys, but otherwise look utterly uncomfortable. Points for creativity, I guess.

While a discussion on bench design may not be to everybody's fancy, well-designed benches contribute to each station's unique look and identity, which in turn can help passengers navigate the system. In the next post in the Montréal series, I'll talk about bicycles and the Métro. In the meantime, why not catch the game on the big screen on the platform at Lionel-Groulx?

Montreal part 4: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

Welcome to Part 4 in the series "What I learned in Montréal," documenting the day trip a friend and I took in May to check out Montréal's cycling and transit infrastructure for lessons that can be applied in Ottawa. Previously, in Part 3, I discussed the functional design of Montréal's subway system, the Métro.

We got off the métro at Côte-Vertu, the end of the line, and took a short walk around the neighbourhood to see how they do things. This building is the main métro station building:

Two other surface access points are connected by an underground walkway.

Côte-Vertu connects with a lot of bus routes, as shown in this map. What's interesting is that each queueing area ("Quai") only serves one or two routes, as opposed to Ottawa's method of having many or all buses stop at the same place. This can help organize passengers, but it also disperses people.

The bus canopies at the Metro station were sizeable and look relatively new. But because the routes are dispersed around the station, the canopies are too. If you want to provide a heated waiting area, you have to do it for each canopy. Ottawa's system of having one large canopy area means that a large number of people waiting for one route still have a place to wait indoors, and you only have to heat one or two areas per station.


Case in point, there was no canopy for the route we wanted. There was, however, a bus lane. We waited at least 12 minutes for the bus that would take us to the other end of the metro line.

Like the metro stations, the buses allow you to use the Opus smart card for your fare. We found that it took 1-2 seconds for each passenger's card to register with the system. This slowed loading considerably--for the ten or so people getting on the bus at this top, I had enough time while waiting in line to get my camera out, move to the front, and take a photo of the people getting on board.

As we travelled the route, we passed few notable things (I'd compare it to taking the 85 down Carling Avenue from the Queensway to Lincoln Fields). The standard bus stops were not unlike those in Ottawa.

The only other thing to say about our short look at the bus system in Montreal--and only because I like to end my posts with something a bit more interesting than the above photo--was this long bus. We don't have articulated Novabuses in Ottawa-Gatineau, just the 40-foot model. Montreal does.

Stay tuned for the next Montréal post, where we'll head back down into the Métro and look at some more aesthetic aspects of the stations.