Ride the train with me!

Hi Kitchissippi. Many of you live in close proximity to the construction of Stage 2 LRT. Over the past months, I’ve participated in open houses and fielded your questions about what impact LRT may have on you when it’s up and running.

It has struck me that many in our ward who many not be regular transit users want to know more about impacts like train and station noise and what the system will look like. I also know many of you will be curious about the passenger experience now that LRT will be close to you and reach destinations across the city. One good way to get a feel for the train’s look-and-feel is to ride it.

I’ve arranged with OC Transpo to tour the Stage 1 LRT line with me as your tour guide on April 15 from 2-4 pm. They’ll be providing me with a number of free passes, and I’ve chartered one of OC Transpo’s electric buses to bring us back to Westboro when we get to the current end of the line at Blair.

We’ll meet at Tunney’s Pasture, look at the infrastructure that makes up the tracks and station, address the unanticipated noise impacts that we experienced and how those were (and will be) mitigated. We’ll visit stations where the trains approach below and above ground to get an idea for the noise. We’ll visit big stations and small local stations to see how those differ. We’ll take some time to look at the infrastructure in some of the line’s problem areas so you can see for yourself what’s behind some of the headlines. The tour will be from my perspective, and I’ll share some of the challenges and high points that I’ve experienced as a councillor.

The whole trip including bus ride back will be accessible and I anticipate a couple of short walks out of some of the station areas onto smooth paths.

Please write to me at jeff.leiper@ottawa.ca if you’d like to join us. I have a limited number of passes and would like to make sure those who live closest to the new stations can join, but if demand is higher than anticipated I’ll make sure we can accommodate your participation. Many of those who might be interested live outside our new ward boundaries - don’t worry, I won’t be checking your address. See you on the 15th!

(Photo by Wikipedia user Youngjin used under CC licence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_Line?fbclid=IwAR3gZEEBnBgvvuqa1-4_af4BUDAplc0YlvoTp1y16h_JNj_KIv0kkN9iKiU#/media/File:OC_Transpo_O_Train_LRV_1107.jpg)