Report to/Rapport au:

Report to/Rapport au :

Transportation Committee

Comité des transports

and Council / et au Conseil

23 October 2008 / le 23 octobre 2008

Submitted by/Soumis par:

Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint

City Operations / Opérations municipales

Contact Person/Personne ressource : Michael J. Flainek, M.Eng., P.Eng.,

Director/Directeur, Traffic and Parking Operations/Circulation et stationnement

613-580-2424 x26882, Michael.Flainek@ottawa.ca

Ward 12 – Rideau-Vanier

Ref N°: ACS2008- COS-TRF-0032

SUBJECT:	BUS TIME POINT ZONES FOR THE SOCIÉTÉ DE TRANSPORT DE L’OUTAOUAIS (STO) – KING EDWARD AVENUE, GEORGE STREET AND YORK STREET

OBJET :	POSTES D’ATTENTE D’AUTOBUS POUR LA SOCIÉTÉ DE TRANSPORT DE L’OUTAUAIS (STO) – AVENUE KING EDWARD, RUE GEORGE ET RUE YORK

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

That Transportation Committee and Council:

1. Approve the removal of the bus waiting areas on York Street, George Street and King Edward Avenue, except for the re-designation of the bus waiting area on the south side of George Street, between Cumberland Street and King Edward Avenue, to be in effect at all times.

2. Approve the designation of a bus-only lane, southbound, on King Edward Avenue, from Monday to Friday, 2:00 to 7:00 p.m., with implementation to occur as phases of the construction are completed.

3. Direct City staff to continue to work with STO to identify and consider traffic operational measures and bus waiting areas for STO operations in Ottawa, including any necessary changes to transit routings, and to report back to Transportation Committee and Council by April 2009.

4. Direct City staff to continue to work to identify any required changes to OC Transpo inter-provincial services resulting from Council’s directions on STO operations in Ottawa, and to report back to Transit Committee as required.

RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité des transports et le Conseil:

1. Approuvent l’enlèvement des zones d’attente pour autobus aménagées sur les rues York et George et sur l’avenue King Edward, à l’exception de celle située du côté sud de la rue George, entre la rue Cumberland et l’avenue King Edward, qui sera désignée de nouveau voie d’arrêt et sera en vigueur en tout temps.

2. Approuvent la désignation d’une voie réservée aux autobus sur l’avenue King Edward en direction sud, du lundi au vendredi de 14 h à 19 h, qui entrera en vigueur quand les diverses étapes de la construction seront terminées.

3. Demandent au personnel de la Ville de continuer de collaborer avec la STO pour déterminer et prendre en compte des mesures opérationnelles de circulation et des zones d’attente d’autobus réservées aux opérations de la STO à Ottawa, y compris toute modification nécessaire aux parcours du transport en commun, et de rendre compte au Comité des transports et au Conseil d’ici avril 2009.

4. Demandent au personnel de la Ville de continuer à chercher à déterminer toute modification aux services inter-provinciaux d’OC Transpo rendue nécessaire par suite des directives du Conseil relatives aux opérations de la STO à Ottawa, et de rendre compte au besoin au Comité de transport en commun.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Assumptions and Analysis:

City Council directed that STO be requested to use its new bus waiting spaces in Gatineau and the new bus waiting area at the north end of King Edward Avenue; that the STO be advised that the designated bus waiting areas on King Edward Avenue, George Street and York Street will no longer be available; and that the STO be informed that STO buses must be provided with bus waiting areas in Gatineau.

In 2006, STO’s weekday service had 572 scheduled trips each weekday with recovery time in Ottawa, and an additional 298 trips used time points in Gatineau before arriving into Ottawa. As part of the King Edward Avenue reconstruction work, STO has relocated the majority of their services to new locations in Gatineau and to the temporary bus waiting area, referred to as the “Union terminus” located on the northerly extension of King Edward Avenue under the south approach of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge. Currently, 439 trips use the Union terminus daily to stop and wait, while 484 trips stop and wait at various locations in Gatineau. Effective September 1, 2008, 34 trips remain scheduled to stop and wait on York Street during the morning peak period. During the afternoon peak period, the York Street waiting area and the George Street (south side) waiting area are used for late running buses. The waiting areas on King Edward Avenue, and on the north side of George Street (previously for use in the evenings and on weekends) are no longer in use.

The STO has requested measures to help maintain the on-time reliability of their services, and to facilitate the permanent removal of bus waiting areas on King Edward Avenue, George Street and York Street. The long-term use of the temporary Union terminus bus waiting area was being examined as an option, however, as STO bus waiting must occur outside Ottawa, as directed by Council on August 28, 2008, this option is no longer under consideration. With the future removal of the temporary Union terminus, staff have not been able to identify any significant measures to effectively accommodate the 439 STO bus trips that currently use this waiting area, except for the implementation of a southbound transit only lane on King Edward Avenue, during the weekday afternoon period.

The continuation of buses stopping to wait on York Street or on George Street is contrary to the Council direction. The removal of the bus waiting areas will address the long-standing concerns from adjacent residents. However, STO have indicated that a lack of a suitable bus waiting areas will result in operational issues, significant costs, delays, unpredictability in service, and will impact ridership. Unreliability in bus arrival times will result in longer wait times for STO customers on Rideau Street and Wellington Street. Impacts on the City of Ottawa include: buses idling or stopping in no parking areas, no stopping areas, on other streets, or as necessary to await the start of their routes; buses circulating on City streets, impacting other area streets and the neighbouring community; increased crowding on sidewalks (Rideau, Wellington); and possibly increased traffic, resulting from reductions in transit service and reliability.

The STO has applied to the Ministère des transports du Québec (MTQ) for assistance in providing additional bus staging facilities in Gatineau. A new bus staging facility in Gatineau would provide an alternative for the services in the afternoon peak period which currently stop and wait at the temporary Union terminus, but will not address the all-day STO services which currently operate in both directions on Rideau Street, Wellington Street, and the Portage Bridge and which turn around in the By Ward Market area. Consideration should be given to providing a designated bus waiting area for STO buses on the south side of George Street, between Cumberland Street and King Edward Avenue, in effect at all times, to accommodate this all-day transit service, while minimizing the impacts on the adjacent community.

Some reorganization of current STO services will be required to comply with Council’s directive. STO will need to determine how they plan to serve customers in Ottawa upon the completion of the King Edward Avenue reconstruction project. Once that is known, staff will work with the STO to determine the need for traffic measures to support their modified operations through Ottawa. The relocation of STO waiting areas to locations in Gatineau may affect the current OC Transpo waiting areas in Gatineau, and some reorganization of OC Transpo services may also be required. Staff will evaluate possible changes to OC Transpo services which may include requirements for bus waiting areas in downtown Ottawa, and will report back to Transit Committee.

Financial Implications:

Funds are available within the Traffic and Parking Operations Branch Operating Budget for the estimated $2,000 for sign changes and installations.

Any financial implications associated with traffic operational measures and bus waiting areas to be reviewed with City staff and STO will be included in the report to be brought back to Committee and Council in April 2009.

Any additional budget pressure for transit services in 2009 to maintain inter-provincial transit services operated by OC Transpo will need to be determined.

Public Consultation/Input:

Councillor Georges Bédard organized a meeting on September 16, 2008, with City staff and invited members of the Lowertown Community Association. Staff presented a summary of the steps taken to date, the challenges, and the options that could be considered.

BACKGROUND

At its meeting of August 28^th, 2008, City Council approved the following recommendations:

1. That la Société de Transport de l’Outaouais (STO) be requested to use its new lay-by spaces on the Gatineau side of the Macdonald Cartier Bridge for at least 7 buses and be invited to use the new bus lay-by area for 14 buses under the new access ramp on the Ontario side of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge.

2. That the STO be advised that the bus lay-by on the following three streets, King Edward Avenue, George Street and York Street, will no longer be available, subject to staff bringing forward a report by the end of October 2008 for consideration by the Transportation Committee on the steps to be taken to immediately implement the removal of STO buses and to accommodate the STO in the short term.

3. That the STO be informed that STO buses must be provided with bus lay-by areas on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River and that one year be provided for the STO to provide this accommodation.

DISCUSSION

To provide service for transit customers travelling to and from downtown Ottawa, STO buses arrive via the Portage, Alexandra and Macdonald-Cartier bridges. Rideau Street at King Edward Avenue is a strategic location for STO operations because all in-service buses depart from Ottawa by travelling west from this intersection and picking up customers at bus stops on the north side of Rideau and Wellington Streets. STO services in Ottawa are described in detail in Document 1.

City staff have been actively working with STO in an effort to address concerns raised by residents of the By Ward Market area, and specifically residents in the vicinity of the locations designated by the City of Ottawa for STO buses to stop and wait for their next scheduled departure on York Street, George Street, and King Edward Avenue. The study area is shown in Document 2, and the bus waiting areas on York Street, George Street and King Edward Avenue are shown in Document 3.

Council Direction No. 1

In 2006, STO’s weekday service had 572 scheduled trips each day with recovery time in Ottawa. An additional 298 trips used time points in Gatineau before arriving into Ottawa. On weekends, 171 trips and 124 trips were scheduled to use the waiting areas in Ottawa on Saturdays and Sundays, respectively.

Since the start of the King Edward Avenue reconstruction work, staff have been working with STO as part of the traffic management strategy for this road construction project. As King Edward Avenue would not be available for buses to stop and wait, STO has relocated the waiting time for the majority of their services to new locations in Gatineau and to the temporary bus waiting area, referred to in the remainder of this report as the “Union terminus”, located on the northerly extension of King Edward Avenue under the south approach of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge (see Document 4). Currently, 439 trips use the temporary Union terminus daily to stop and wait, while 484 trips stop and wait at various locations in Gatineau. This is consistent with Council Direction 1, above.

Council Direction No. 2

The Council direction is to identify steps to remove the bus waiting areas on York Street, George Street and King Edward Avenue. As noted above, the vast majority of the STO bus waiting activity has been relocated to Gatineau and to the temporary Union terminus for the construction period. To accommodate the relocation of STO buses from the bus waiting areas on King Edward Avenue, York Street at George Street, the following actions have taken place:

By STO:

o Relocation of bus waiting to locations on boulevard des Allumettières in Gatineau;

o Relocation of bus waiting to locations on rue Laurier in Gatineau near the Canadian Museum of Civilization;

o Relocation of buses during the afternoon peak period to boulevard Fournier in Gatineau and use of the bus lane in the reverse-peak direction as a waiting area;

o Rescheduling of some trips during the afternoon peak period to start on Wellington Street at the Château Laurier, with buses scheduled to wait in Gatineau; and,

o Relocation of buses to the Union terminus during the afternoon peak period (in 2007) and during all time periods except for the morning peak period (as of fall, 2008).

By the City of Ottawa:

o Temporary provision of a reserved bus lane on Sussex Drive northbound, between Boteler Street and King Edward Avenue, to facilitate access to the temporary Union terminus;

o Establishment of a temporary stopping prohibition during the afternoon peak period on the east side of Cumberland Street, between St. Patrick Street and Clarence Street, to facilitate northbound transit movements;

o Establishment of a U-turn prohibition on King Edward Avenue at Sussex Drive to facilitate transit right-turns from Sussex Drive to King Edward Avenue;

o On-going traffic monitoring and adjustments made to the traffic control signal timing and phasing at various intersections in the By Ward Market and Lowertown areas; and,

o Relocation of OC Transpo bus waiting areas in Gatineau to boulevard Maisonneuve, to make space available on boulevard des Allumettières for STO buses.

As a result of these initiatives, a comparison of the use of bus waiting areas by STO routes serving Ottawa in 2006 and currently (September, 2008) is shown below:

	Scheduled Trips
	2006	2008
King Edward Avenue, George Street and York Street	572	34
Union Terminus	N/A	439
City of Gatineau	298	484
Totals	870	957

Note: The increase in total trips between 2006 and 2008 reflects the increases in transit ridership and transit service levels between those years.

Effective September 1, 2008, 34 trips (all during the weekday morning peak period, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) remain scheduled to stop and wait on York Street. Typically, two to three buses would be expected to be at this waiting area at any one time during the weekday morning peak period. The STO has indicated that it is not possible to relocate all of these trips from York Street to the temporary Union terminus before their next schedule change at the end of 2008, and that because of the fixed size of their current bus fleet, beyond 2008, it is not possible without reducing service across their network at the busiest time of the morning peak period. The STO expects that the use of the York Street bus waiting area will be further reduced to about 20 buses during the morning peak period from the beginning of January to the end of March 2009. Schedules beyond April 1, 2009 have not yet been determined.

After 9 a.m., Monday to Friday, and all day Saturday and Sunday, most buses arriving in Ottawa via the Portage Bridge are now travelling east on Rideau Street, north on Cumberland Street, west on St. Patrick Street, north on Sussex Drive and south on King Edward Avenue to access the temporary Union terminus. During the midday and afternoon peak periods, some limited use of the York Street waiting area may be necessary for late-running buses (buses that do not have time to drive to the Union terminus and back before their scheduled departure time). However, such use is intended to be occasional and of short duration. The George Street (south side) area may also be used during the afternoon peak period for late-running buses only.

STO has indicated that there will be no use made of the York Street area in the evening or on weekends. Further, the waiting area on the north side of George Street in front of the Andrew Fleck Day Care Centre (previously used in the evenings and on weekends) is no longer needed and the signs that permit its use will be removed by City staff.

The bus waiting areas and their current status are summarized in the following table:

Street and Side	Between	Spaces	Effective Times	Actions Taken and Planned
George St. – north side	King Edward Ave. and Cumberland St.	4	Evenings and weekends.	Removal in fall 2008. No longer in use.
George St. – south side	Cumberland St. and King Edward Ave.	5	Afternoon peak period.	Temporary during construction. Removal in fall 2009 per Council direction. Use limited to late buses.
King Edward Ave. – west side	Clarence St. and York St.	4	Afternoon peak period.	Closed due to construction. Removed fall 2008.
King Edward Ave. – west side	York St. and George St.	7	All times.	Closed due to construction. Removed fall 2008.
King Edward Ave. – both sides	Union St. and Boteler St.	17	All times.	Temporary during construction. Removal in fall 2009 per Council direction.
York St. – south side	Cumberland St. and King Edward Ave.	5	All times.	Existing time point. Removal in fall 2009 per Council direction.
Note: All time points authorized by the City of Ottawa.

The continuation of buses stopping to wait on York Street is contrary to Council direction and will not be satisfactory to the adjacent community. Removal of all bus waiting activity on this street will address longstanding concerns from adjacent residents.

STO have indicated that a lack of a suitable bus waiting area in the Rideau/King Edward area will result in operational issues, significant costs, delays, unpredictability in service, and will impact ridership. Unreliability in bus arrival times will result in longer wait times for STO customers on Rideau Street and Wellington Street.

If STO services are not accommodated in Ottawa to a certain degree:

Buses may idle or stop in no parking areas, no stopping areas, on other streets, or as necessary to await the start of their routes;
Buses will circulate on City streets, and impact other area streets and the neighbouring community;
There will be unreliability in bus arrival times, and resulting longer wait times for STO passengers, which will result in increased crowding on the sidewalks (Rideau Street, Wellington Street); and,
Increased traffic may result from reductions in transit service and reliability, should current transit customers change modal choice.

Council Direction No. 2 also speaks to accommodating STO. Staff have explored several approaches that may help to provide a balance between the community concerns and the accommodation of the operational needs of the STO and its customers.

The following approaches are not feasible, within STO’s current operational limitations:

Relocate the remaining York Street bus waiting to the temporary Union terminus. STO has indicated that they have insufficient buses in their fleet to be able to redirect all of the morning services to the Union terminus. The result will be reduced service across their system; and,
Relocate the remaining York Street bus waiting to a new location in the Rideau/King Edward vicinity. City staff have investigated alternative locations for buses to stop and wait in the area east of the Rideau Centre. Staff are unable to identify any feasible options. Any alternative locations would negatively affect other residents and/or businesses.

The following may be feasible, but do not fully address the Community concerns:

Reduce, but do not eliminate use of the York Street bus waiting area. STO plans to reduce the current 34 trips to 20 trips as of January 2009. STO could be required to continue to reduce the number of trips using this location. However, further reductions will have cost and service implications; and,
Retain the current level of use of bus waiting areas on York Street. As the Union terminus does not and will not accommodate the morning peak period (Portage- Wellington-Rideau) services, one option is to retain the morning peak waiting area on York Street, but reduce the number of spaces from five to three.

The following is feasible and would eliminate bus waiting on York Street, but will impact others on George Street:

Relocate York Street bus waiting to spaces on the south side of George Street. This would retain the current level of use of the bus waiting areas. While this would be opposite the day care facility, it would remove all STO bus waiting activity from York Street. The frontage of the south side of George Street consists of a grocery store, a parking lot and an LCBO store. This would also minimize the distance travelled by STO buses providing the Portage Bridge-Wellington-Rideau service.

Council direction is for staff to report on steps to eliminate the use of all of the existing bus waiting areas on King Edward Avenue, York Street and George Street. The areas on King Edward Avenue and George Street (north side) are no longer in use. The remaining areas are on George Street (south side), for afternoon peak use, and York Street (scheduled morning peak use, with some occasional midday and afternoon use). Most of the previous bus waiting activity has been relocated to the temporary Union terminus and to various locations in Gatineau. Currently, 34 weekday trips are not accommodated elsewhere. This is expected to reduce to 20 weekday trips effective January 1, 2009. To address the community concerns of buses waiting in front of or near residential properties, the York Street bus waiting activity could be relocated to the south side of George Street.

Council Direction No. 3

In a letter to the City dated August 19, 2008 (Document 5), STO requested that several measures be implemented to facilitate the permanent removal of bus waiting areas on King Edward Avenue, George Street and York Street.

The first request of STO was for the permanent use of the temporary Union terminus. The long-term use of the temporary Union terminus bus waiting area was being examined as part of a possible plan that would have been brought forward to Transportation Committee and Council for consideration in late 2008 / early 2009, with implementation, if approved, made upon completion of the King Edward Avenue rehabilitation project. Several other items were founded on the use of the Union terminus. As a result of Council Recommendation 3, that STO bus waiting must occur outside Ottawa, most of these options, as listed below, are not being considered further.

Measure	Purpose	Status
Union Terminus – Permanent	To provide STO a staging area directly accessible to Rideau Street.	No further consideration, as per Council direction.
King Edward Avenue - Southbound Reserved Bus Lane – Afternoon transit peak period	To provide STO a direct access to Rideau Street.	Recommended in this report.
Sussex Drive – Northbound, Boteler to King Edward- Reserved Bus Lane – all times	To provide STO with an efficient and reliable means of accessing the Union terminus.	No further consideration, resulting from Council direction.
Sussex Drive at King Edward Avenue – Right turn transit priority measure	To provide STO with an efficient and reliable means of accessing the Union terminus.	No further consideration, resulting from Council direction.
King Edward Avenue – Union Terminus – northbound turn-around	To provide access for STO buses northbound on King Edward Avenue to access the Union terminus.	No further consideration, resulting from Council direction.

STO was advised verbally of the Council Direction No. 3 on August 29, 2008, with written notice given in a letter dated September 9, 2008 (Document 6). STO has provided to the City a document, dated September 10, 2008 outlining the anticipated impacts of the closing of the bus waiting areas in Ottawa (Document 7).

With the requirement to relocate STO lay-by areas to the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River, it is unknown at this time how and on which roadways in Ottawa STO service will continue to operate. STO have requested transit priority measures to help to maintain the on-time reliability of their services. With the Council-directed elimination of the temporary Union terminus, and associated traffic measures, City staff have not been able to identify any significant measures to effectively accommodate current STO operations (including the 439 daily trips that are currently being accommodated at the Union terminus), except for the provision of a southbound transit only lane on King Edward Avenue. Minor improvements, such as traffic signal modifications (timing changes, turning arrows to favour STO routing), on-street parking prohibitions, no stopping zones, etc. can be considered on roads used by STO while operating in Ottawa.

STO reports that they have applied to the Ministère des transports du Québec (MTQ) for assistance in providing bus staging facilities in Gatineau. A new bus staging facility in Gatineau would provide an alternative for the services in the afternoon peak period which currently stop and wait at the temporary Union terminus, but would not address the all-day STO services which currently operate in both directions on Rideau Street, Wellington Street, and the Portage Bridge and which turn around in the By Ward Market area.

The relocation of STO waiting areas to locations in Gatineau will affect the current OC Transpo bus waiting areas in Gatineau, and so some reorganization of OC Transpo services will also be required, which will have negative impacts on current customers. Staff will evaluate possible changes to OC Transpo services, including the possible need for bus waiting areas in downtown Ottawa, and will report back to Transit Committee.

For the longer term, STO and City staff will also discuss whether there are ways that the STO and OC Transpo route networks can be further integrated, to improve service for transit customers and to reduce the need for buses of both systems to turn around and wait in the downtown areas of both Ottawa and Gatineau.

CONSULTATION / PUBLIC NOTIFICATION

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

Funds are available within the Traffic and Parking Operations Branch Operating Budget for the estimated $2,000 for sign changes and installations.

An additional budget pressure for transit services in 2009 to maintain inter-provincial transit services operated by OC Transpo will need to be determined.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Document 1 - STO Transit Services in Ottawa

Document 2 – Study Area

Document 3 – STO Bus Waiting Areas – King Edward Avenue, York Street, George Street

Document 4 – Temporary Bus Waiting Area – “Union Terminus”

Document 5 – STO Letter Requesting Certain Measures, dated 19 August 2008

Document 6 - Notification to STO of Council’s Decision dated 09 September 2008

Document 7 - STO Letter – Anticipated Impacts of Closing Lay-By Areas dated 10 September 2008

DISPOSITION

Recommendation 1

Subject to approval, City Operations staff will remove the existing bus waiting area signage and markings on King Edward Avenue, York Street (between Cumberland Street and King Edward Avenue) and the north side of George Street (between Cumberland Street and King Edward Avenue), and will re-designate the existing waiting area on the south side of George Street as a bus waiting area, in effect at all times, and update applicable sections of the Traffic and Parking Bylaw.

Recommendation 2

Subject to approval, City Operations staff will install signage and markings to designate the bus-only lane on sections of King Edward Avenue, to be in effect from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday, as sections of the King Edward Avenue road construction are completed, and update applicable sections of the Traffic and Parking Bylaw.

Recommendation 3

Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability and City Operations staff will work with STO staff as required. Once STO operations in Ottawa for the future are determined, and traffic operational measures have been identified, staff will report back to Transportation Committee and Council, by April 2009.

Recommendation 4

Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability staff will review any required changes to OC Transpo inter-provincial services and report back to Transit Committee as required.

DOCUMENT 1

STO TRANSIT SERVICES IN OTTAWA

· Buses that arrive in service from the Portage Bridge turn around east of the Rideau Centre using streets in the By Ward Market area, wait for their scheduled departure time at one of the designated bus waiting areas in the area and return to Gatineau via Rideau Street, Wellington Street and the Portage Bridge. These are all-day services providing two-way service between Ottawa and Gatineau, seven days a week.

· Buses arriving via the Alexandra Bridge use waiting areas in Gatineau before travelling east on Murray Street, south on King Edward Avenue, west on Rideau Street and Wellington Street and returning to Gatineau via the Portage Bridge. These are all-day services providing a one-way loop service between Ottawa and Gatineau, seven days a week.

· Buses arriving from the MacDonald-Cartier Bridge during the afternoon peak period have been using waiting areas in Gatineau, as well as the temporary bus waiting areas on King Edward Avenue near Union Street since December 2007. From the north end of King Edward Avenue, they operate directly to Rideau Street to pick up customers there and along Wellington Street before returning to Gatineau via the Portage Bridge. Buses follow this route to pick up customers from Ottawa in the afternoon peak period, Monday to Friday. (The corresponding buses providing service in the morning return to Gatineau immediately after dropping of their last customers in Ottawa, and do not stop to wait in Ottawa.)

DOCUMENT 2

STUDY AREA

DOCUMENT 3

STO WAITING AREAS – KING EDWARD AVENUE, GEORGE STREET, YORK STREET

DOCUMENT 4

TEMPORARY BUS WAITING AREA “UNION TERMINUS”

DOCUMENT 5

STO LETTER REQUESTING CERTAIN MEASURES

Gatineau, August 19, 2008

Nancy Schepers

Deputy City Manager

Planning, Transit and the Environment

City of Ottawa

110 Laurier West

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1J1

Subject: King Edward Terminus

Dear Ms. Schepers,

This letter is to update you on the matter of the King Edward Terminus.

The Société de transport de l’Outaouais makes more than 62,000 trips daily. including 17,400 to or from Ottawa. This public transit service contributes to maintaining the high employment level and a strong economy in downtown Ottawa. Transportation for workers by bus rather than by vehicle helps to greatly reduce traffic congestion in the downtown core and the number of parking spots required at places of work. In general, public transit is a benefit when it comes to cutting travel costs, pollutants and greenhouse gases. Motorists also gain considerable time because public transit lightens the burden on the road system.

Almost all the buses leave Ottawa from the King Edward Terminus, which is a strategic location for the STO's operations. The proximity of the King Edward Terminus to the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and also Rideau Street, which is used by most of the STO's bus routes, provides direct, rapid access to the bus departure point and promotes service efficiency and punctuality. Before leaving, vehicles wait in the areas set aside for this purpose on King Edward, York and George streets, and in the area on Union that was installed last year.

The major redevelopment work along King Edward over the last few years has affected operation of the terminus and the waiting areas.

Consequently, joint STO and City of Ottawa working groups were set up to identify operational alternatives.

Various actions have been taken jointly over the last year, including:

- Building a waiting area with 14 spaces, plus 8 double-length spaces, north of King Edward – Union Terminus. (City of Ottawa);

- The reserved lane along Sussex (City of Ottawa);

- Adding 3 street parking spaces – Allumettières (STO);

- Adding 4 street parking spaces – Laurier (STO);

- Using the counter-peak reserved lane along Fournier for 15 parking spaces (STO);

- Relocating the departure point to Château Laurier – 46 trips (wait on the Quebec side of the river - STO);

- Reducing the number of trips leaving from Ottawa and gradually moving trips to the Union Terminus:

o Number of departures per weekday on King Edward, York and George: 2006 = 572, 2008 = 34.

Starting September 1, 2008:

- Moving all trips on Saturday (171) and Sunday (124) to the Union Terminus (STO);

- Moving practically all weekday trips to the Union Terminus for a total of 439 trips (STO).

Planned:

- Installing intelligent transportation systems to manage bus movement – spring 2010 (STO);

- Installing 15 parking spaces under Des Draveurs Bridge – St-Louis – spring 2010 (STO).

Total investments of close to $3 million are required to complete this work. The STO is awaiting a response from the Quebec Ministry of Transport.

Regarding the overall process, the STO is awaiting a response from City of Ottawa representatives on the following issues that will make it possible to free up the waiting areas on York, George and King Edward:

- Making the waiting area on Union permanent;

- Installing washroom facilities for bus drivers at the Union Terminus;

- Setting up a snow clearing agreement for the Union site;

- Establishing a southbound reserved lane along King Edward to Rideau that is accessible at the exit from the Union waiting area;

- Making the reserved lane from Boteler to Sussex permanent;

- Introducing priority measures to allow buses to turn right onto King Edward from Sussex;

- Allowing access to the Union waiting area from King Edward northbound.

Many concrete actions have been taken individually and jointly by the STO and the City of Ottawa in the past two years to resolve the operating problems and nuisance issues related to operation of the King Edward Terminus. Other actions will be taken between now and 2010 to provide this sector with adequate service. The action plan requires a commitment from all the partners involved in this issue.

In order to ensure that the action plan is carried out, provide monitoring to regularly assess the progress of activities and make the required adjustments, the STO would like to continue with the work of the City of Ottawa-STO-OC Transpo operational committee. All the implemented and planned actions, as well as the commitment from the different partners, should resolve the problem of the King Edward Terminus and ensure efficient service for the STO's clientele.

We remain at your disposal for any other information you may require.

Sincerely,

Michel Brissette, CGA

General Manager,

cc: Michael Murr, Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Business Planning – City of Ottawa

Alain Mercier, Director, OC Transpo

Salah Barj, Director, Planning and Development – STO

Robert Lapointe, Assistant to the Director of Operations – STO

DOCUMENT 6

NOTIFICATION TO STO OF COUNCIL’S DECISION

DOCUMENT 7

STO LETTER – ANTICIPATED IMPACTS OF CLOSING LAY-BY AREAS

Anticipated Impacts of Closing the
Lay-by Areas for the
King Edward Terminus in Ottawa

September 10, 2008

LAY-BY AREAS IN ONTARIO

· 28,000 trips per day in downtown Ottawa.

· 74% of STO bus routes go through Ottawa.

· Number of bus trips on lay-by (weekday):

	2006	2008
- King Edward – George – York sector:	572	34
- Union Terminus:	0	439
- Gatineau:	298	484

· Effects of abolishing lay-by areas in Ottawa:

Clientele:

o Additional delays for passengers on board;

o Deterioration in service reliability (delays);

o Poor load distribution (overloads);

o Budget not available – decrease in the service offered.

Road system:

o Increase in the number of private vehicles (drop in clientele);

o Increase in the number of bus trips through downtown Ottawa and Gatineau.

Ontario clientele that uses the STO's services (Place Vincent-Massey, Fontaine, Crémazie, Louis St-Laurent, Place de la Cité, 22 de Varennes buildings, others):

o Increase in walking distances and/or travel times;

o Waiting time on buses before crossing the bridges.

OC Transpo system:

o Displacement of lay-by areas on the Quebec side (recovered by the STO: 10 to 13).

Preferential measures on the Ontario side:

o Implemented for the Alexandra Bridge – Murray exit;

o Reserved lane on King-Edward southbound.

STO requests:

o Reactivate the STO / City of Ottawa working committee;

o Make the lay-by area on Union permanent;

o Implement the preferential measures required to ensure that travel time to or from the Union exit is regular.

Background:

The STO makes 28,000 daily trips to or from downtown Ottawa to carry passengers to work, study, shop, etc. These public transit riders represent an important economic contribution for merchants along Rideau and in the By Ward Market. To serve this clientele, 74% of the STO's bus routes cross the border between the two provinces. Since the existence of these services, the buses required to ensure regular service have waited in the By Ward Market area on King Edward, George and York streets. STO representatives fully agree to reducing the number of buses that wait in Ottawa and even circulate in the area. However, we believe that the changes must be introduced gradually to reduce the impact on patrons and the population in general.

The roadwork that has been under way for more than a year along King Edward made it necessary to move the STO bus lay-by areas to the Union site, which was installed as part of the work and ensured that the waiting buses were much less visible to residents in the neighbourhood (see photos). This measure was introduced in January 2008, resulting in special schedule arrangements and requests to the City of Ottawa to implement measures to make it easier for buses to circulate.

Further to pressure by residents in the By Ward Market to abolish the lay-by areas on George and York, the STO introduced temporary measures in the fall of 2008. The high costs associated with these measures have made it necessary to introduce more permanent arrangements starting in January 2009.

In the fall of 2006, 572 bus trips were on lay-by every day of the week on King Edward, York or George. Restructuring the service made it possible to reduce this number to 34, while 439 buses now lay by at the Union Terminus. During the same period, the buses on lay-by in downtown Gatineau rose from 298 to 484. All buses on lay-by were moved to the Union Terminus on weekends.

Ottawa city council adopted a resolution that no STO buses could be on lay-by in its jurisdiction within a year from now. Such measures will have a major impact, not just on the STO's operating costs, but primarily on the quality of service offered and will cause a drop in clientele.

The space left vacant by the STO's buses will quickly be taken over by a growing number of vehicles, and the resulting additional traffic congestion will counter the objectives of providing a better quality of life for residents in the neighbourhood. At a time when various levels of government are making a concerted effort to promote sustainable transportation options and reduce greenhouse gases, these measures will work at cross purposes.

Effects of abolishing the lay-by areas in Ottawa

Abolishing the lay-by areas on York, George and Union means that all trips that left from these sites will have to be moved to other lay-by areas on the Quebec side, resulting in the following:

· The creation of bus loops to Ottawa. This is a step backwards, since this system had already been abolished several years ago to improve service quality. The creation of loops will result in either:

o A waiting period before crossing to Ottawa, causing a delay for all passengers on board, or;

o A high probability of being late, with a direct impact on the reliability of the subsequent trip leaving from Ottawa.

· The use of lay-by areas far from the terminus will inevitably lead to delays and will affect the system's reliability, despite the introduction of preferential measures. For example, buses leaving the garage need about 15 minutes to travel to the departure terminus on Rideau and King Edward. The probability of arriving at the departure terminus exactly at the scheduled time is low.

· The system's lack of reliability will create poor load distributions. Overloads will be generated on an irregular basis, making it very difficult to find options to alleviate them. The quality of service offered will be even further reduced.

· Time added to all unproductive trips to Ottawa that will have to be rerouted to lay-by areas close to downtown Gatineau to make up for the delays incurred. On a net basis, the STO can anticipate additional investments in the order of $1,000,000 per year without any improvement to the service being offered. Since additional budgets have not been anticipated, this risks translating into a reduction in the service offered.

Effects on the road system

· It is our sincere belief that implementing these measures will reduce the system's reliability because of the incurred delays. Since staying on schedule is one of the most important aspects of a quality service, these measures will no doubt result in a drop in clientele and thereby also an increase in the number of vehicles that will be driven to Ottawa. It is important to note that the STO carries more than 12,200 Quebec residents to Ottawa every day. Every 1% loss in this clientele could potentially result in an additional 122 vehicles entering downtown Ottawa every day and driving around looking for parking. Traffic will be slowed and the stopped buses and cars will generate an increase in GHG emissions.

· The STO's buses will have to continue to circulate in Ottawa and volumes will increase on new arteries such as Murray and Cumberland. To prevent the buses from being stopped in traffic, thereby increasing greenhouse gas emissions and causing an inconvenience for other residents, priority measures must be implemented.

· Some trips to Ottawa will also have to be rerouted to a lay-by area outside Ottawa until their next departure. These trips will therefore travel through the downtown area twice instead of just once.

Impacts on riders coming from Ottawa

· Each weekday, the STO carries about 1,800 passengers from Ottawa to their place of work (Place Vincent-Massey, Fontaine, Crémazie, Louis-St-Laurent, 975 St-Joseph, Place de la Cité, 22 Varennes buildings, etc.). Abolishing lay-by areas in Ottawa will also have a significant impact on the quality of service offered for these riders, resulting in:

o An increase in the walking distance and/or travel time since the buses will enter Ottawa via the (interprovincial) Alexandra Bridge and will go to King Edward before returning by Rideau and Wellington.

o Added waiting time in downtown Gatineau on some trips to ensure the return trip is on schedule.

Impacts on the OC Transpo system

With the closure of the lay-by area on Union, all trips leaving from this site must be moved to other lay-by areas on the Quebec side, which involves:

· Recovery of the lay-by areas presently used by OC Transpo on the Quebec side, which are 5 to 8 spaces on Maisonneuve, 2 on Laurier, 2 at Terrasses de la Chaudière and 1 on Sacré-Cœur. This represents a loss of 10 to 13 spaces for OC Transpo. Consequently, a shift in the problem should be anticipated since the OC Transpo buses will have to park in Ottawa.

Pre-requisites for implementing these solutions

To be able to offer efficient service and implement the solutions presented, the following preferential measures are required:

From the City of Ottawa

Introduce preferential measures for buses at the exit of the (interprovincial) Alexandra Bridge and on Murray.
Reserve a southbound lane for buses along King Edward from the exit of the MacDonald Cartier Bridge.
Set schedules for implementing all the preferential measures with the removal of lay-by areas in Ottawa.

Follow-up on the initial conditions

Since the beginning of the process, the STO has been awaiting a response from City of Ottawa representatives on the following issues that will make it possible to free up the bus lay-by areas on York, George and King Edward:

Making the lay-by area on Union permanent;
Installing washroom facilities for bus drivers at the Union Terminus;
Setting up a snow clearing agreement for the Union site;
Establishing a southbound reserved lane along King Edward to Rideau that is accessible at the exit from the Union lay-by area;
Making the reserved lane from Boteler to Sussex permanent;
Introducing priority measures to allow buses to turn right onto King Edward from Sussex;
Allowing access to the Union lay-by area from King Edward northbound.

Many concrete actions have been taken individually and jointly by the STO and the City of Ottawa in the past two years to resolve the operating problems and nuisance issues related to operation of the King Edward Terminus. Other actions will be taken between now and 2010 to provide this sector with adequate service. They will be followed by a restructuring of the services surrounding implementation of the Rapibus. The action plan requires a commitment from all the partners involved in this issue.

In the longer term, a joint study on service to the downtown area (Interprovincial Core Area Transit Integration) should identify solutions that can be introduced to encourage greater use of public transit and that reflect the objectives of the community.