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Great cities are defined by their transit systems.
From the golden yellow cabs of New York City, to the iconic red circle of London's tube system, the ability to move mass numbers of people from one part of the city to another in an efficient manner is a foundational element of any metropolitan area.
Then there Ottawa's OC Transpo: a foundational element of the city, to be sure, but an element long characterized by indolence, inefficiency, and unreliability.
We all have our stories. My favourite might be from earlier this month, when I witnessed an OC Transpo driver reaching out his window to bang on the roof of a car driven by an senior citizen who had accidentally pulled into the transit lane for a moment . . .
Or maybe my favourite is the OC Transpo driver with the newspaper spread out across the wheel in front of him as he drove . . .
Or, perhaps my favourite story is simply the existence of Ottawa's O-train, a light rail that has proven utterly useless for anyone other than students who want to get from Carleton University to South Keys to buy drugs.
Upon finishing high school, I moved from Ottawa to Toronto. Arriving in the big city, I was shocked to learn that Toronto's public transit actually runs on time. The 15-minute leeway that Ottawa bus riders have learned to leave on either side of a bus's schedule simply doesn't exist in Toronto. The buses actually arrive when they are scheduled to arrive: a truly shocking concept for someone raised on Ottawa's erratic (at best) bus arrivals.
In Toronto, a combination of buses, subways, and street cars ensures the city runs smoothly. Ottawa's OC Transpo, on the other hand, is best known for completely shutting the city down during a multi-week strike in the winter of 2009.
I am an ardent supporter of unions, but even I couldn't get behind the striking drivers who for so many years had treated their paying customers so poorly and provided such horrendous service to so many of Ottawa's residents.
I recently started a new job in downtown Ottawa. Parking at my building costs $13 a day, and fighting my way through Queenway traffic just isn't any fun. Taking the bus seemed like an obvious and helpful alternative, especially when I learned there is an express bus that goes directly from my house in the suburbs to my workplace in the heart of downtown Ottawa. No transfers, no waiting at crowded bus terminals surrounded by sketchy looking individuals -- just a straight ride from my house to my work (at $4 a pop). What could possibly go wrong?
But, of course, this is OC Transpo we are talking about, so perhaps the better question is: what are the chances of anything going right?
Not very good, I'm afraid.
On Monday, February 15, my bus arrived 15 minutes early. I was halfway between my house and the stop when it went flying by.
Two days later, the bus failed to arrive at all.
Upon calling OC Transpo, I was informed that the snowy weather had led to my bus getting in an accident -- a not-at-all out of the ordinary occurrence for Ottawa buses.
I have been working hard to prove to my new co-workers that I am a reliable and trustworthy individual, but now that hard work has been wasted, due to me arriving late two of three days in a row -- all thanks to OC Transpo.
I've heard the cries of the hippy environmentalists, I've crunched the numbers and recognized the (limited) financial benefits, but until OC Trans-poo can actually get me to work on time each and every day (not just most days), I'll stick to burning up the ozone while stuck in Queensway rush-hour traffic.
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