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The National Capital Commission gave the green light for the city’s transit buses to use the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway during the light-rail construction, beginning in the fall of 2015 and extending to 2018.
In a unanimous vote, the NCC board of directors approved a plan that would see about 210 empty buses taken off Scott and Albert streets and re-routed onto the parkway between Tunney’s Pasture and Booth Street.
It’s a small victory for the local residents who have been protesting a plan that will see as many as 2,500 buses use the Scott-Albert street route as the alternate to the nearby transitway, which needs to be shut down as it’s electrified for the $2.1-billion light-rail project.
The NCC will also be asking for the city to cover the costs of any damage to the parkway from the heavier bus traffic, estimated at between $50,000 to $160,000.
While the NCC’s board appeared generally in favour of allowing the OC Transpo buses on the parkway, a number of directors took issue with what they perceived as the city’s lack of protocol in officially requesting the use of the parkway.
“The first I heard of this was in the Ottawa Citizen,” said new NCC director Bob Plamondon. While insisting he is in support of the plan, Plamondon said that news stories made it sound “like it was a done deal that the NCC had already agreed to this.”
In fact, the city made preliminary requests to use the parkway years ago, but then never followed up because officials decided to use Scott and Albert exclusively. After residents protested the plan starting a few months ago, the city re-engaged on the issue with the NCC last month. However, a formal request to use the parkway only landed at NCC desks last week.
NCC chief executive Mark Kristmanson acknowledged the board’s slight frustration and said that he’s establishing a more regular meeting of senior officials between the NCC and the city to improve communications between the two. The first of these meetings will be at the end of July.
“I think there are great relationships at the staff level” of the NCC and the city, said Kristmanson “but they need to be formalized.”
jchianello@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/jchianello
查看原文...
In a unanimous vote, the NCC board of directors approved a plan that would see about 210 empty buses taken off Scott and Albert streets and re-routed onto the parkway between Tunney’s Pasture and Booth Street.
It’s a small victory for the local residents who have been protesting a plan that will see as many as 2,500 buses use the Scott-Albert street route as the alternate to the nearby transitway, which needs to be shut down as it’s electrified for the $2.1-billion light-rail project.
The NCC will also be asking for the city to cover the costs of any damage to the parkway from the heavier bus traffic, estimated at between $50,000 to $160,000.
While the NCC’s board appeared generally in favour of allowing the OC Transpo buses on the parkway, a number of directors took issue with what they perceived as the city’s lack of protocol in officially requesting the use of the parkway.
“The first I heard of this was in the Ottawa Citizen,” said new NCC director Bob Plamondon. While insisting he is in support of the plan, Plamondon said that news stories made it sound “like it was a done deal that the NCC had already agreed to this.”
In fact, the city made preliminary requests to use the parkway years ago, but then never followed up because officials decided to use Scott and Albert exclusively. After residents protested the plan starting a few months ago, the city re-engaged on the issue with the NCC last month. However, a formal request to use the parkway only landed at NCC desks last week.
NCC chief executive Mark Kristmanson acknowledged the board’s slight frustration and said that he’s establishing a more regular meeting of senior officials between the NCC and the city to improve communications between the two. The first of these meetings will be at the end of July.
“I think there are great relationships at the staff level” of the NCC and the city, said Kristmanson “but they need to be formalized.”
jchianello@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/jchianello
查看原文...
