Transit Venting
Apr. 9th, 2016 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewlineFiled an application for a different job before I left the day-job office today. Seemed like the thing to do when I came across that particular ad on the website this morning. Especially after having to turn down another offer from a place where I'd really like to be working even in the face of a slight pay cut because of transit logistics and sleep issue aggravation resulting therefrom.
"Transit logistics"...a polite way of saying that buses can't handle everywhere I'd like to go in the region, for reasons of physics, budgets and physical safety of staff and passengers alike. And our light rail component isn't yet as far-reaching as the most ambitious of us in such matters would like yet. Ottawa-Gatineau has one line right now, with a second under construction. That second needs two more years before they'll certify it as safe enough for passengers to use on a daily basis. Track is still in the process of being delivered and laid down. Since the winter hasn't completely freed us from its grip yet, there's a lot of preparations yet to be made to resume the process.
And that's just for the Ottawa side's "Phase One" projects. Never mind our "Phase Two" still on the drawing boards. Gatineau is still playing catch-up on the "bus-rapid-transit" front. Their STO service just opened up a dedicated "Rapibus" roadway a year or two ago, and while there's a way to connect the O-Train network to the Rapibus line, there's a lot of paperwork and haggling between city halls, and the feds and provinces, before it can be done.
We're making progress and people can see that progress as it happens. But it's still not as fast as a lot of people need it to become. Employment, commerce, governmental logistics, recreation, family connections, a lot of stuff could become easier...but we have to wait. And persist in pushing for things to move.
"Transit logistics"...a polite way of saying that buses can't handle everywhere I'd like to go in the region, for reasons of physics, budgets and physical safety of staff and passengers alike. And our light rail component isn't yet as far-reaching as the most ambitious of us in such matters would like yet. Ottawa-Gatineau has one line right now, with a second under construction. That second needs two more years before they'll certify it as safe enough for passengers to use on a daily basis. Track is still in the process of being delivered and laid down. Since the winter hasn't completely freed us from its grip yet, there's a lot of preparations yet to be made to resume the process.
And that's just for the Ottawa side's "Phase One" projects. Never mind our "Phase Two" still on the drawing boards. Gatineau is still playing catch-up on the "bus-rapid-transit" front. Their STO service just opened up a dedicated "Rapibus" roadway a year or two ago, and while there's a way to connect the O-Train network to the Rapibus line, there's a lot of paperwork and haggling between city halls, and the feds and provinces, before it can be done.
We're making progress and people can see that progress as it happens. But it's still not as fast as a lot of people need it to become. Employment, commerce, governmental logistics, recreation, family connections, a lot of stuff could become easier...but we have to wait. And persist in pushing for things to move.
