Councillor's Message

Last Week’s Ice Storm 

Certainly, the big news over the past two weeks has been the ice storm that hit Ottawa-Gatineau last Wednesday, and the way the city recovered from this event. Certainly, the city continues to experience a growing number of weather-related events, and we must take stock of this and be better prepared for it. But Ward 9 continues to experience a greater level of impact from these storms, and a troubling pattern is emerging where it’s taking longer to get Ward 9 communities restored from lengthy power outages. At one point on Saturday, when most of the city had long since recovered power, the remaining outages in Ward 7 (Bay Ward), Ward 8 (College Ward) and Ward 9 (Knoxdale-Merivale) easily accounted for far more than 33% of the remaining outages.  

There are several neighbourhoods in Ward 9 that have been among the last to have their power restored, with several Ward 9 neighbourhoods having gone 10+ days without power after the derecho. There are also several areas in Ward 9 that are on well and septic, which experience an extra layer of inconvenience when a power outage means they don’t have running water or can’t operate their pumps to prevent basement flooding. Finally, too many vulnerable residents in hi-rise apartment buildings are being left dangerously exposed in these power outages, especially when cold weather persists.     

As I’m a member of the Emergency Preparedness & Protective Services Committee, it’s my intention to conduct a postmortem with Hydro Ottawa to get a better sense of why outer urban wards have been most severely impacted by these events, and how can better systems of prioritization and response be put in place to deliver a more equitable system.  

However, there was still a lot of good news to acknowledge in how our city responded. Most residents had their power restored within 72 hours of the storm, which is what Hydro Ottawa promised. And Hydro Ottawa received a lot of support from public and private electrical companies from across the region. Ottawa Police and Ottawa Fire Services provided excellent support. Our city’s Public Works Department (and especially Forestry Services) were heavily involved in ensuring resident safety. And our city’s Emergency Operations Centre continues to improve its service delivery during crises.  

My executive assistant Tim Abray and I were then able to take a batch of those meals to an apartment building on Eleanor Drive that was without power, where we climbed 11 storeys (it was exhausting) to deliver meals and juice to all the building’s vulnerable, stranded residents. This group included Dr. Lynn Ashdown; the disability rights advocate who had been stranded in her apartment for 10 days during the derecho. Visiting Lynn and hearing how she was re-experiencing the strain of the derecho all over again reinforced my commitment to improving our city’s capacity to take care of vulnerable residents during a crisis.  

While I’m certainly proud of the work that my office and my team did during this event, I want to extend my congratulations and gratitude to Ward 8 Councillor Laine Johnson, who took on a strong leadership role during this crisis. Her constituents are very fortunate to have her compassion and leadership.  

On Saturday, Councillor Johnson was able to secure a very generous sponsorship from IKEA, who donated 400 hot meals (prepared by more than 20 IKEA employees who volunteered their time and effort on their day off). Several councillors, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and I then joined Councillor Johnson to pack our vehicles with the meals and deliver them to the relief centres the city had set up at Pinecrest Recreation Complex and Howard Darwin Arena. 

 

 

Latest posts

New Ways to Bus: Ward 9 Information Page

Thanks for visiting the Ward 9 information page on OC Transpo's New Ways to Bus (NWTB). This page is designed to provide you with some essential details on how the service changes may impact transit riders in Ward 9, including route adjustments, the rationale behind the changes, and how we have advocated for our residents.

We fully understand that many residents are legitimately frustrated with these changes. Many riders see these adjustments as another cost-cutting measure from OC Transpo, as they continue to face significant financial challenges. 

OC Transpo's New Ways to Bus revised route network will focus on frequency, local service in your neighbourhood, and connections to key destinations. Through these many adjustments, OC Transpo's aim is to increase the reliability of our bus route system. Riders will see a shift in the number of downtown-focused bus routes, to routes that improve connections to community hubs and key destinations. Some customers may have to go further to the bus stop, or require additional transfers to buses or trains, or will have longer overall travel times. In addition to fewer Connexion routes, some routes will be retired due to low ridership and to improve connections to new routes and the O-Train. Retired routes will be replaced with alternative service nearby.

For now, the position that Councillor Devine and his team are taking is that we are very sympathetic to those concerns, but that we need to help residents prepare, because these changes are coming soon. New Ways to Bus comes into effect April 27th. What our office is focused on is trying to ensure that our residents are prepared for the change, and monitoring how the new system performs in its initial weeks and months.

 

New Ways to Bus website

For the most comprehensive information available, OC Transpo has created a dedicated New Ways to Bus website, complete with many useful items, including: 

  • a New Ways to Bus network map
  • information on new signage
  • a detailed list of routes that will not change, and routes that will change

 

New Ways to Bus - Travel Planner

The OC Transpo Travel Planner has now been updated to include the New Ways to Bus routes that take effect April 27th. Try it out! Enter your trip information for a trip that you might take now and then enter the same trip information for a date after April 27th and see what kind of changes there will be. 

 

New Ways to Bus - Ward 9 Bus Routes 

You can find specific information on each route in the entire New Ways to Bus network on their new website. Our office has also compiled a series of PDF route maps for all of the Ward 9 bus routes

 

Public Information Sessions 

OC Transpo has organized a series of community events for residents to meet with OC Transpo staff to ask questions about changes in the New Ways to Bus system. The event that was held on April 4th at the Nepean Sportsplex was poorly attended because OC Transpo did no provide clear information about where the event was taking place. Residents are encouraged to attend other sessions.  

 

Councillor Devine's advocacy for Ward 9

Ever since the first draft of the New Ways to Bus network was rolled out well over a year ago, our office has been engaged with OC Transpo in trying to stop some of proposed changes. It wasn't altogether easy to get concessions, since Council has no authority over OC Transpo's operations. But we managed be successful in some of our attempts, though we were less successful in others. For the sake of transparency, we wanted to provide residents with a summary of our efforts over the last year. 

Routes 282/82 

  • What we won: It's shocking to believe, but in the original draft of the New Ways to Bus network, Route 82 would have seen its service frequency cut down to peak hours only. This would've been devasting to the western part of Ward 9, who are already seeing other decreases in service. After strong advocacy from our office, Route 82 will maintain full-day, seven-days-a-week service. During peak hours, it will connect to Tunney’s Pasture, offering a viable replacement for the discontinued 282 express route.
  • What we lost: Unfortunately, Route 282 was removed. While we fought to maintain express service, this decision reflects several lost express routes, due city-wide budget constraints. However, once the LRT Line 1 West extension is complete, riders will be able to take the 82 to Pinecrest Station, for a quicker ride downtown.   

Route 173 

  • What we lost: Route 173 will no longer service Manordale, becoming a local route serving Barrhaven instead. We continue to object to the questionable rational for this decision, as Barrhaven has more than enough routes serving it. We are committed to monitoring the impact of his lost service, in the hopes of restoring something.

Routes 111/112/189

  • What we won: When the first draft of the New Ways to Bus network was rolled out, we quickly noticed that the proposed changes to the 111/112 routes meant that there was no longer any bus service on Chesterton Drive, meaning that two schools, an apartment tower, and a large lower-income housing complex would see no service at all. Even worse, Chesterton Drive is on an incline! We pushed hard against this change, which resulted in Route 189 being re-directed to run along the entire length of Chesterton Drive. While this means riders will need to make an additional transfer, it would have been much worse if there was no route there at all.   

Routes 89/86

  • What we lost: Despite our advocacy, Routes 89 and 86 will see reductions and decreased frequency. We will continue to push for adjustments if transit reliability issues arise. 

There are several other changes to service routes in Ward 9, some of which will result in an increased level of service. We'll try to post more information on these changes shortly. 

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