Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission Transitway (BRT)

From CPTDB Wiki

The Transitway is Ottawa's implementation of bus rapid transit with many of the Transitway roads above or below the grade of normal streets in Ottawa, by the use of overpasses, bridges, and trench highways. Buses rarely have to intersect directly with the regular traffic thus making it possible for the buses (and emergency vehicles) to continue at full speed even during rush hour. Buses that travel on the Transitway can cross very long distances (especially outside the downtown area) without stopping for a single traffic light. Most sections of the Transitway have a speed limit of 70-90 km/h (45-55 mph) between stations, and 50 km/h (30 mph) in the station areas. In essence, the Transitway is basically like a expressway, but for buses only.

History

The Transitway opened between Lees and Hurdman, and Lincoln Fields and Baseline in 1983, along with the Billings Bridge transit terminal, and downtown service was changed as the formerly bus-only "bus mall" on Rideau Street between Sussex and Waller was open to all traffic. Lebreton, Tunney's Pasture, and Westboro were inaugurated as stations in 1984 with the opening of the Transitway between Lebreton and the Ottawa River Parkway (present-day Dominion Station). 1987 brought the opening of the Transitway between Hurdman and St. Laurent Stations, including the tunnel below the St. Laurent Shopping Centre, and route 95's headway was increased to four minutes during peak hours and five minutes off-peak. The section between St. Laurent and Blair would be completed in 1989. The 31km Transitway approved in 1978 was finally completed in 1996 with the opening of the southeast Transitway between Hurdman and South Keys. A two-lane 1.8 km stretch from Bayshore Station to Pinecrest Station was opened on September 6, 2009. The section between Barrhaven Centre and Fallowfield opened April 22, 2011.

Dates of openings (list not complete):

Date	Section	Length of section	Stations opened	Details
???, 1983	Baseline - Ottawa River Parkway	??	Baseline, Iris, Queensway, Lincoln Fields	Originally this section was supposed to be the alignment of the "Western Parkway" which was going to form a ring road around Ottawa. This parkway would have been built by the National Capital Commission (NCC)
???, 1983	Lees - Hurdman	??	Hurdman, Lees	Originally the location of a major railway junction where multiple railways met to join up and head towards Downtown Ottawa. Hurdman was already a transit terminal prior to becoming a Transitway Station. A bridge was built along this section to cross the Rideau River
???, 1983	Albert & Empress - Booth	??	Lebreton	Very small section of Transitway
November 12?, 1984	Ottawa River Parkway - Booth	??	Westboro, Tunney's Pasture	Built along the former "CP Carleton Place Subdivision", which the last part of it was torn up in 1982
November 17, 1987	Hurdman - Michael Street	??	Train, St. Laurent	First section of Transitway to feature a tunnel
???, 1989	Michael Street - Blair	??	Cyrville, Blair	Nothing of very important significance to note along this section of Transitway
September 2, 1995	Billings Bridge - Hunt Club	??	Heron, Walkley, Greenboro	Even though the section through South Keys Station opened up, the station it's self didn't open up until later.
June 23, 1996	South Keys Station	N/A	South Keys	Now South Keys is open
November 2, 1996	Riverside Hospital - Billings Bridge	??	Pleasant Park, Billings Bridge	The CN Smith Falls Subdivision had to be realigned in order to build the Transitway, which was built where the former railway was located. At the same time, the CN Rail Bridge over Bank Street was quite old and required work, so CN took this as a chance to replace the bridge completely. Once again, the Transitway Bridge was located where the former CN Rail Bridge was over Bank Street. Interesting enough, this section remained in CN hands until 2010, despite CN not running a train over it for a while. The line is now owned by VIA Rail Canada. Billings Bridge was already a bus terminal prior to this section opening (lower level)
November 29, 1999	Dominion Station	N/A	Dominion	Opened where the Transitway meets the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway
October 29, 2000	Fallowfield Station	N/A	Fallowfield	Route 95 was extended to serve Fallowfield on December 30, 2000
December 14, 2000	Bayshore Station	N/A	Bayshore
October 15, 2001	Bayview Station	N/A	Bayview	Bayview Station is opened between Tunney's Pasture and Lebreton as part of the new O-Train line
February 22, 2005	Terry Fox Station	N/A	Terry Fox	Park & Ride opened September 5, 2004 with temporary stops set up inside the Park & Ride.
September 6, 2009	Pinecrest - Bayshore	1.8 km	Pinecrest	First true transitway section of the planned "Western Transitway"
April 22, 2011	Fallowfield - Barrhaven Centre	??	Longfields, Marketplace, Barrhaven Centre	With this extension to Barrhaven Centre, 24/7 route 95 service was extended to Barrhaven Centre

Map

Map below is clickable

Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission transitway map.png

Rapid Transit Network
(OC Transpo)

Routes

The following routes are high-frequency routes that travel along the Transitway:

93 - Lebreton to Eagleson (Lebreton to Lincoln Fields peak-periods only)
94 - Blair to Fallowfield, Nepean Woods
95 - Trim to Barrhaven Centre
96 - Blair to Queensway, Pinecrest to Bayshore, Eagleson, Terry Fox, Scotiabank Place (96A only), Stittsville
97 - South Keys to Lincoln Fields, as well as Bayshore
98 - South Keys to Tunney's Pasture
99 - Lebreton to Riverview (Lebreton to Greenboro peak-periods only)
101 - St. Laurent to Lees, as well as Queensway, Pinecrest to Bayshore.
102 - Place d'Orleans to Lees, and Tunney's Pasture.
106 - Hurdman to Smyth.

The following routes are other major crosstown routes that use significant stretches of the Transitway:

4 - Heron to Hurdman.
8 - Lebreton to Hurdman and Walkley to Billings Bridge.
85 - Bay to Hurdman (Mackenzie King to Hurdman weekdays only except evenings).
86 - Tunney's Pasture to Hurdman.
87 - Heron to Dominion and South Keys to Greenboro.
114 - Hurdman to St. Laurent and South Keys to Greenboro.
116 - Hurdman to South Keys (Greenboro to Hurdman peak-periods only).
118 - Terry Fox, Baseline, and Heron to Hurdman.

Most peak-only and express routes also use the Transitway, mostly from downtown out towards the suburbs. Routes 20-39 go towards Orleans, 40-49 go towards South Keys, 60-69 go towards Kanata, and 70-79 go towards Barrhaven. Some Greyhound intercity buses use the Transitway from St-Laurent to Laurier either to/from the city's main bus terminal.

Central Transitway traffic issue

The downtown section of the Transitway, the Central Transitway, consists of a couplet of single bus-only lanes on Albert and Slater Streets (one-way public streets in opposite east and west directions). Traffic congestion here, where the buses mingle with private vehicles, sometimes causes service delays and is seen by some as the main weakness in the Transitway system. The Transit Committee had planned to reduce the number of buses travelling on Albert and Slater streets by 30% if the extension of the light-rail was implemented. Other measures may be implemented to avoid traffic problems despite the cancellation of the O-Train extension downtown.

Facts

As of December 31, 2009.^[1]

Weekday passenger volume: 240,000
Peak hour one-way passenger volume: 10,500
Buses per peak hour, through central area: 180
Number of stations: 41
Bike & Ride locations: 32

Extension projects

The Transitway currently it only runs along the North edge of the city for most of the central area. Because of this the 94, 95, 96, 97 routes run with traffic later in the route.