By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, January 23, 2020
With all the sound and fury about OC Transpo and LRT this week, a profoundly important issue has escaped attention, one critical to transit’s longterm future: rider abandonment.
Thousands of commuters, doubtless, must be wondering about an alternative to a bus-rail system that is so unpredictable, often slower than the bus-only version we replaced, and showing no signs of settling into a reliable pattern.
Like Jamie and Melanie Chapman. Both federal public servants, they live near Holland Avenue and Wellington Street in a building that provides underground parking for their vehicle.
What happened last October should keep OC up at night. They looked at the $240 they were spending monthly on Presto passes, compared the sum to the $195 parking spot that became available in Jamie’s office building, considered the now-longer, more stressful commute to work, and did the easy thing —they ditched OC.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/egan-start-the-car-when-lrt-pushes-us-back-behind-the-wheel