OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa’s transit agency will increase the number of buses replacing light rail service along the shuttered Confederation Line as of today (July 20), but it still has no estimate when rail service will resume.
OC Transpo General Manager Renée Amilcar said that operator Rideau Transit Group was “developing a plan” for resuming service in a memo to city officials on Wednesday, the Ottawa Citizen reports. That same memo said the bus fleet substituting for the Confederation Line would increase to 36 on Thursday. On Wednesday, service included 12 buses offering service at 15-minute intervals in off-peak periods and 28 buses offering 5-minute service during peak periods
As of Wednesday, nine of the city’s 45 light rail vehicles had been inspected for the bearing problem that led to the sudden shutdown on Monday. No further cases of the baring problem had been found. Twenty-six of those cars are in use at a given time. The additional cars are on hand for an expansion of the Confederation Line which is currently under construction.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who was in Ottawa for an event on Wednesday, called the Confederation Line situation “a real disaster,” blaming previous city officials, and noted the expansion project.
“Let’s just hope Phase Two gets built properly, right from the get-go,” Ford said, according to the Citizen, “because there is a lot of money invested and people want proper transit here in Ottawa.”
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