Visiting Ottawa, the capital of Canada, can be a fun experience. If you stay mostly downtown in your visit, you might not miss the fact that the capital city doesn't have a significant transportation presence beyond buses.
Launched last week, the new Confederation Line brings a west-east light-rail transportation option to downtown Ottawa. The new line runs from Tunney's Pasture (west) to Blair (east) with a connection to the Trillium Line aka the O-Train at the Bayview station.
The Confederation Line travels 12.5 kilometres (7.8 miles). The train even goes underground for 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) under Queen Street downtown.
The north-south Trillium Line runs from Bayview (downtown) to Greensboro, but nowhere near the airport (south of the city). When I first visited Ottawa in 2009, I took the 97 bus to and from the airport. Given that I was in an extreme hurry, there was a frustration that the 97 bus was the only option to get from the airport to downtown.
I did ride the Trillium Line in 2014. The ride was pretty good but the train didn't go too far. I didn't use the airport in that 2014 trip, taking a bus to and from Toronto.
You can take the 97 bus from the airport to the Hurdman stop on the Confederation Line and then take the train into downtown. That is an improvement.
The Confederation Line doesn't go to Kanata (far west) where the NHL Ottawa Senators play. The train will lessen the impact of that trip by reducing the time spent on a bus in rush hour to get to a Sens game. The Senators really need a downtown arena but the Eugene Melnyk saga is its own column.
I rode the bus to and from TD Place to watch the CFL Ottawa RedBlacks in 2014. OC Transpo has a great deal where a game ticket gets you on the bus for free to and from the game.
The Confederation Line is better suited for people who live in Ottawa as opposed to tourists. The line will allow tourists to travel faster and easier to destinations outside downtown.
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Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver have extensive transportation systems. Vancouver benefited from the Olympic Line built for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Montréal is great if your stop is near the Metro. Bus service in Montréal doesn't run as often as it should. Toronto has a rather good system despite the TTC.
Calgary and Edmonton have great light rail. I rode those systems to football games there and were also good for the hockey arenas (old and new in Edmonton).
Winnipeg doesn't have a light-rail system. I walked a lot in downtown Winnipeg and took a long bus ride to see the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
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Ottawa and Winnipeg are the logical Canadian cities to get a light-rail system. When I was there in 2014, I talked to people who said I should explore more of Ottawa. Those tasks were difficult without a car. Both cities have a lot within their downtown corridors.
Climate change is crucial. The Canadian capital can set a good example to improve transportation and quality of life and reduce the number of cars on the road. Good transportation gets that closer to reality.
The city is talking about expanding the lines, maybe even to Kanata. This will take time. Getting to this point took a lot of money and effort. Ottawa is a capital city that deserves better transportation.
photo credit: OC Transpo
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