What are people's thoughts on the proposed Gatineau trams to Ottawa. Personally I'd like to see Wellington turned into a pedestrian mall with trams running on it in a loup connecting the downtown museums on both sides of the river. I'm not a huge fan of the underground option under Sparks, I feel that it just duplicates the Confederation line, would be expensive, and for tourism above ground trams are the best. It would also be useful to commuters as it would be more efficient than buses so a better option all around. Those are my thoughts anyway.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for starting this discussion. How about an overhead cable tramway across the Ottawa River? New York City has such a technology. On the Ottawa side, a terminus just west of the Chateau Laurier Hotel with cable route above the Rideau Canal extending across to Laurier in Gatineau. Another possible route between Place du Portage office tower and Wellington.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island_Tramway#/media/File:Roosevelt_Island_Tramway_tower.jpg

 

 

 

I don't know if that would be as useful. Gatineau wants to build a tram system and run a bit of it through our downtown, to me that's way more efficient than a point to point cable car. Trams running from parts of Aylmer and Hull doing a loop through Ottawa across a couple of bridges seems way more efficient and practical. I just don't see people wanting to use a cable car that much plus those cables would likely ruin sightlines and stuff. Our population isn't all that dense, it's not like there are mobs of people trying to walk across one of the bridges or anything.

STO Gatineau LRT/Tram survey.

We are conducting an unofficial survey of the proposed Gatineau LRT/Tram as well as the Loop. You can participate by visiting the link :

https://surveys.railfans.ca/index.php/965422?lang=en

A few more public open houses coming up over the next few months.

L'effet d'un réseau structurant sur l'aménagement urbain
Mercredi 22 septembre 2021
18 h 30 à 20 h

L'impact du tramway sur les autres modes de transport
Mercredi 17 novembre 2021
18 h 30 à 20 h

http://sto.ca/index.php?id=776&L=fr

 

We have quite a few Gatineau Tram dedicated threads. I wonder if we should consider merging them all into one. 

The STO has posted its June 2 public consultation on the Aylmer Tramway. 

General Website: http://sto.ca/index.php?id=433&L=en
Video Presentation (French only, English subtitles upcoming): https://www.facebook.com/STO/videos/503603531059800/
PowerPoint Presentation (French only): http://sto.ca/fileadmin/user_upload/communications/PDF/Etude_de_l_Ouest/Serie_3_rencontres_publiques/Diapo_Rencontres_Publiques_Panélistes_2juin_WSP-STO_VF_20210601.pdf

I had the chance to watch the presentation, and I have a few concerns. 

Route Aylmer:

I believe Eardley would have been a better choice to reach the Aylmer terminus than Wilfrid-Lavigne/Allumettières. It would have bought the tramway closer to the heart of Aylmer, serving Place des Pionniers, the Centre Culturel and many bars, restaurants and retailers in the area. 

Furthermore, it would serve a medium density, low income apartment complex and more TOD opportunities up the aforementioned street. 

Eardley also removes one 90 degree turns, which slows down the trains and could cause maintenance issues in the long run.

Route Hull:

I wish that the Plateau Line would continue down Allumettières to serve some TOD opportunities between Lac des Fées and the RapiBus, along with the future Montcalm innovation hub and existing office buildings.

The two arguments against this route are 1. the chosen route better connects Le Plateau with UQO however, anyone going to the university could easily transfer to the RapiBus and/or new bus infrastructure could connect du Plateau and Alexandre Taché via St-Raymond. Argument 2. is avoiding environmental impacts on Gatineau Park. We've already built Allumettières and Highway 5 through the park. Would an electric tram have much of an impact, really? 

Fencing, or lack thereof:

They seem to favour a no fencing/no barrier option. Obviously, I wasn't expecting eight foot high chain-link fencing like we have in Ottawa, but some sort of 4 foot fencing/chains to delimitate the tram from the other modes to avoid peds/cyclists/cars to block the way would be beneficial, especially on Wellington surface to avoid tourists, locals, protests to spill over the tram tracks.  

Tunnel:

They seem pretty adamant that it would provide more capacity in the future, but that's not the case if it precludes a future tam loop. The loop doubles the capacity, pure and simple, which is essential not just for Aylmer, but the RapiBus conversion. With the tunnel, we're spending up to an extra billion for an option that greatly limits future considerations. 

Battery electric 2 kilometer limit:

Where does the battery electric start and end? They mentioned a 2 kilometer limit. With the current Ottawa Wellington route, if we start the foot of Portage on the Hull side to Elgin is 2 kilometers, so the train can't turn back without very rapid charging. What happens if we build the loop? 

Third session. French only. Version with English subtitles will be released in a few weeks.