Train shortage forces all-day bus service
OC Transpo found itself seriously short of LRT trains Thursday, with just seven running instead of the usual 13.
At a news conference, officials said nine trains were launched Thursday morning, but two experienced power issues at Rideau and Tremblay stations.
Those trains had been removed and all platforms reopened by about 8 a.m. That reduced service to every eight minutes, double the goal of every four minutes during peak periods.
Because of the shortage, OC Transpo will run S1 express buses from Tunney's Pasture, Hurdman and Blair stations all day instead of just during peak periods, along with its R1 buses that stop at all LRT stations.
Riders forced to walk
The shortage comes after a loose power component shut down the LRT's east-end service yesterday, along with problems on three separate trains.
Those issues were fixed as of 12:20 a.m.
OC Transpo's director of operations, Troy Charter, said passengers have had to exit disabled trains and walk to a nearby station twice over the last 24 hours. On another occasion, passengers were transferred directly to a working train.
The city actually purchased 34 Alstom Citadis Spirit train vehicles, enough for 17 coupled trains.
Rideau Transit Group (RTG) CEO Peter Lauch, whose consortium built and maintains the LRT, said the trains have been pulled out of service for a variety of reasons including "heavy maintenance." Three of the trains are getting covers over the power connections on their roofs, which have proved vulnerable to winter weather.
The Confederation Line was supposed to run with 15 trains plus two spares, but it's never had 15 working trains.
OC Transpo now says it needs 13 trains to keep on its peak period schedule.
"The customer doesn't want to hear the excuses, the rationale, the technical nuts and bolts. They want one thing: service," said OC Transpo general manager John Manconi.
"What the city is doing, will continue to do and is going to do more is to hold RTG accountable to the service that our customers deserve."
Manconi said he wanted British rail consulting firm JBA Corporation in "months ago" to check the system for areas of improvement, but it took him two months to convince RTG to do it.
Lauch declined to comment on the timeline.
