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The federal government didn’t give the city a heads up before sending thousands of public servants home from work early on Tuesday during the massive snowstorm that dumped more than 50 centimetres of snow and made the afternoon commute a nightmare, OC Transpo officials said Wednesday.
John Manconi, general manager of transit services, said the city’s emergency response department is normally tipped off in advance when the federal government is planning a major shutdown.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, transit officials heard the news via Twitter just after 1 p.m.
Pro: Get to leave work early because of the weather. Con: All of Tunney's Pasture is waiting for at least one @OC_Transpo to arrive
— Josh Gutoskie (@josh_gutoskie) February 16, 2016
Fonctionnaires féd réçu permission quitter plus tôt. Longs délais pour OC Transpo selon plusieurs. #iciottgat pic.twitter.com/U95cRaqsLZ
— Mathieu Gohier (@MathieuGohier) February 16, 2016
Hundreds of people soon converged at Transitway stations, some expecting express buses that wouldn’t go into service for another few hours.
“We were surprised by it. When we knew about it, we did what we could at that point,” Manconi said.
Had OC Transpo been given more warning, Manconi said the transit service would have advised public servants to stagger their departure times and put some rush-hour express buses into service sooner. OC Transpo could have also added extra buses in key spots to help disperse the crowds.
Tuesday’s snowstorm set a one-day record for snowfall in the nation’s capital, covering the city with 51.2 centimetres of snow. The snow fell for 16 hours before winding down at around 8 p.m.
“This was a monster storm,” said Keith Egli, chair of the city’s transportation committee, which oversees winter maintenance. “Not everything went right, but everything isn’t going to go right when you have that kind of snow coming down.”
Egli said crews worked through the night to clear the city’s arterial road network and met Wednesday morning to prioritize the clearing of sidewalks, snowbanks created by passing snowplows and bike lanes.
“We had almost 600 pieces of equipment out. They’re still out. We had all of our staff out and the expectation is we should have the residential streets cleared by around noon (Wednesday),” he said.
Clearing sidewalks will probably take a few more days because crews have to use blowers instead of plows when the snow is heavy. “Blowers get the job done but they’re much slower than a plow. Every blower we could get our hands on we’re utilizing,” he said.
“It was a huge storm … under the circumstances, both OC Transpo and our public works people did a very admirable job,” Egli said.
Manconi couldn’t say how many buses got stuck in the thigh-high blanket of snow, but he noted the service, despite some long delays, never quit and there were no major crashes or injuries.
“Unlike some jurisdictions, we don’t stop our service. There are some communities, under extreme snowstorms, they shut down their service routes, we continue to provide service,” he said.
As residents and businesses continue to dig themselves out, Egli reminded people that snow must be kept on their own property, not city sidewalks, roads or medians. After the storm that walloped the city in December, there were lots of reports of illegal snow dumping, particularly by private contractors. But Egli said he’s heard no complaints this time around.
“I’m hoping what that means is the message got through and the contractors understand that the city means business and we will enforce,” he said.
It’s too early to know how much this storm will cost to clean up or what impact it might have on the annual snow-clearing budget, Egli said.
“It’s way too early to determine whether we’re going to meet the budget or go over or under at this point,” he said, noting city coffers added several million dollars to the budget this year in response to past cost over-runs.
Egli, who encouraged residents to be patient as the city cleans up the latest wintry mess, said he’s been heartened to hear about and see so many situations where residents have helped each other out by pushing stuck cars, blowing out a neighbour’s driveway or checking up on someone who lives alone.
“That’s what community is about,” he said. “People in Ottawa are resilient and when we get a big storm like that, it’s great to see everybody pulling together.”
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
John Manconi, general manager of transit services, said the city’s emergency response department is normally tipped off in advance when the federal government is planning a major shutdown.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, transit officials heard the news via Twitter just after 1 p.m.
Pro: Get to leave work early because of the weather. Con: All of Tunney's Pasture is waiting for at least one @OC_Transpo to arrive
— Josh Gutoskie (@josh_gutoskie) February 16, 2016
Fonctionnaires féd réçu permission quitter plus tôt. Longs délais pour OC Transpo selon plusieurs. #iciottgat pic.twitter.com/U95cRaqsLZ
— Mathieu Gohier (@MathieuGohier) February 16, 2016
Hundreds of people soon converged at Transitway stations, some expecting express buses that wouldn’t go into service for another few hours.
“We were surprised by it. When we knew about it, we did what we could at that point,” Manconi said.
Had OC Transpo been given more warning, Manconi said the transit service would have advised public servants to stagger their departure times and put some rush-hour express buses into service sooner. OC Transpo could have also added extra buses in key spots to help disperse the crowds.
Tuesday’s snowstorm set a one-day record for snowfall in the nation’s capital, covering the city with 51.2 centimetres of snow. The snow fell for 16 hours before winding down at around 8 p.m.
“This was a monster storm,” said Keith Egli, chair of the city’s transportation committee, which oversees winter maintenance. “Not everything went right, but everything isn’t going to go right when you have that kind of snow coming down.”
Egli said crews worked through the night to clear the city’s arterial road network and met Wednesday morning to prioritize the clearing of sidewalks, snowbanks created by passing snowplows and bike lanes.
“We had almost 600 pieces of equipment out. They’re still out. We had all of our staff out and the expectation is we should have the residential streets cleared by around noon (Wednesday),” he said.
Clearing sidewalks will probably take a few more days because crews have to use blowers instead of plows when the snow is heavy. “Blowers get the job done but they’re much slower than a plow. Every blower we could get our hands on we’re utilizing,” he said.
“It was a huge storm … under the circumstances, both OC Transpo and our public works people did a very admirable job,” Egli said.
Manconi couldn’t say how many buses got stuck in the thigh-high blanket of snow, but he noted the service, despite some long delays, never quit and there were no major crashes or injuries.
“Unlike some jurisdictions, we don’t stop our service. There are some communities, under extreme snowstorms, they shut down their service routes, we continue to provide service,” he said.
As residents and businesses continue to dig themselves out, Egli reminded people that snow must be kept on their own property, not city sidewalks, roads or medians. After the storm that walloped the city in December, there were lots of reports of illegal snow dumping, particularly by private contractors. But Egli said he’s heard no complaints this time around.
“I’m hoping what that means is the message got through and the contractors understand that the city means business and we will enforce,” he said.
It’s too early to know how much this storm will cost to clean up or what impact it might have on the annual snow-clearing budget, Egli said.
“It’s way too early to determine whether we’re going to meet the budget or go over or under at this point,” he said, noting city coffers added several million dollars to the budget this year in response to past cost over-runs.
Egli, who encouraged residents to be patient as the city cleans up the latest wintry mess, said he’s been heartened to hear about and see so many situations where residents have helped each other out by pushing stuck cars, blowing out a neighbour’s driveway or checking up on someone who lives alone.
“That’s what community is about,” he said. “People in Ottawa are resilient and when we get a big storm like that, it’s great to see everybody pulling together.”
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
