Councillors mull 'divorce' from LRT contractor after streak of bad service

Some Ottawa city councillors say it may be time to cut ties with Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM) after one of the worst performances of the Confederation Line since the LRT network launched five months ago.

Transit riders faced several delays in back-to-back commutes Wednesday and Thursday, with some passengers forced to disembark and walk along the rail bed.

Gloucester-South Nepean Coun. Carol Anne Meehan said the city's been let down by RTM, the maintenance arm of Rideau Transit Group, which built the $2.1-billion line.

"It's obvious that we've got ourselves a lemon — a cheap train that is not equipped for our weather," Meehan said.

"I'm not sure how much this is going to cost us, but I think the cost of continuing with this company is going to far outstrip what we're seeing right now."

Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said the escalating problems have him looking to put RTM on notice. He wants a timeline during which either RTM proves itself, or council decides whether to pull the plug.

"I'm not ready to rush into a courtroom today to say five months later, this is not working, we're going to get a divorce," he said.

Leiper said it appears structural engineering and computer system errors — from flattening wheels to falling electric wires — show that the current arrangement isn't working.

"I think we need to have a timeline where we say it's not working. The disruption that this is causing is massive."

Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney said they want to weigh options from an inquiry to city staff on what council can do about its 30-year contract with RTM.

"I would like to see us out of the contract, at the very least, with a different train," McKenney said. "They have been proven to be completely unreliable in winter conditions."

John Manconi, general manager of transit operations for the city, dismissed questions about reopening the RTM contract at Thursday's media availability about service issues.

"That's not what today's about. Today's about the single most important thing: customers and our staff that are at OC Transpo that are working 24/7 to get people to their destination," Manconi said.

A special meeting of Ottawa's powerful FEDCO committee March 9 will include a response to Coun. Shawn Menard's question about how much it would cost to get out of the Stage 1 contract.

'We need something better'

Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, however, also said she'd also like council to explore its legal options.

"Do you get a separation, an annulment or a divorce in terms of what's happening here? This isn't working and we need something better," Kavanagh said.

"It's pretty clear that this was not tested as thoroughly as it should've been."

Kavanagh said the city may need to ask federal and provincial partners to help pay for getting service up to a decent standard.

Meehan, however, believes the city needs to show it can handle big projects.

"I think it's going to be a very tough sell when we go to the feds and the province, cap in hand, asking for funding for Stage 3 LRT," Meehan said.

"They're watching us and what we do with this is going to be important, going forward."

LRT discussed at Queen's Park

Progressive Conservative MPP Goldie Ghamari, who represents the riding of Carleton, said government members are hearing about the frustration with Ottawa's LRT.

"They want us to do something. The problem is, aside from us giving funding, this was a totally municipally-led project," Ghamari said.

"The City of Ottawa bears full responsibility for what they did. I want to let people in Ottawa know we are here and we are listening and the ministry is monitoring Phase 1 and Phase 2."

The Ontario NDP raised the LRT's problems during Question Period Thursday, noting it's an example of the failure of the public-private partnership (P3) model.

"Transit users today are stuck on platforms waiting for trains wondering how transit in Ottawa is ill-equipped to handle snow," said Jessica Bell, the party's transit critic.

Bell asked the government to put a mortatorium on "costly and risky" public-private partnerships until there's a review of the model's effectiveness.

Infrastructure Minister Laurie Scott defended them, however, citing a 2018 report that said the majority of the P3s under the jurisdiction of Infrastructure Ontario were completed on budget and on time.

Learning from mistakes

The federal government has also provided funding for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 of Ottawa's LRT.

Orléans MP Marie-France Lalonde said she was delayed Thursday morning after getting caught behind a train that lost power at Tremblay station.

"Certainly the delay was certainly not pleasant. I don't think this was the intent of the LRT for the City of Ottawa," she said.

Lalonde said the city needs to learn from the mistakes plaguing the current system ahead of the extension that will run deep into her riding.

"We need to learn [what's causing] all these hiccups that we're seeing impacting our lives."

Ottawa West-Nepean MP Anita Vandenbeld said she also hopes mistakes won't be repeated when LRT is extended to Lincoln Fields and the Carling campus of the Department of National Defence in Stage 2.

"We do want LRT because it's going to take a lot of cars off the roads. It's going to reduce emissions. And for a lot of my constituents, it's going to really make their lives better — but it has to be reliable," she said.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he hasn't taken the LRT yet and — apart from acknowledging his department is in charge of safety regulations on the system — he declined to comment on the line's current issues.

At an exchange at the standing committee on transport, infrastructure and communities Thursday afternoon, NDP MP Taylor Bachrach asked Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna about the problems with the LRT.

"There are concerns with Ottawa's LRT," she said. "That is fair. And I think that as we reflect on how we move forward on infrastructure investments we need to be delivering for Canadians and all levels of government need to be working together to do that."