Tomorrow, the O-Train will mark its eighth anniversary of service and supporters say they are frustrated that such a “perfect” system hasn’t progressed one inch beyond its original configuration.
Yesterday morning, members of Friends of the O-Train took a celebratory ride on the train to mark the bittersweet occasion.
That the O-Train has become an integral piece of the transit network is reason to celebrate, said Friends of the O-Train founder David Gladstone. When it was launched, critics called it the “Train to Nowhere,” he said.
Today, it accounts for more than 10,000 trips per day. “It is a core transit service. There would be immense problems caused if you have no O-Train,” said Gladstone.
Since the day it first ran, the O-Train had stops being called out — all five of them — and a digital display announcing the next stop. It’s similar to the technology the city is considering spending $17 million to put on buses.
But Gladstone and others are frustrated that despite its success, the O-Train is still stuck in its infancy.
Members of the Friends of the O-Train insist service should be expanded over to Gatineau via the Prince of Wales Bridge and south to Leitrim Road.
A recent report said it would cost $40 million to get the Prince of Wales Bridge in a good enough condition to extend the O-Train, but Friends of the O-Train member David Jeanes said that report was a hypothesis, and the real amount would be far lower.
