OC Transpo users now have new concerns about whether Ottawa’s light rail system has enough staff to keep trains running reliably. Service on Lines 1 and 4 was shut down for hours over the long weekend because of a staffing shortage of controllers, forcing riders onto replacement buses. Tanya Elgar had to cancel her plans. “We didn’t end up going (downtown) because we would have been there late.” The mother of three says it is frustrating and, “I think it should be more reliable and maybe have some extra backup.” University student Kayla Robins says the situation would have been a lot more inconvenient if it happened during the week when classes were in session. “I don’t have any late classes, but I can see why it could be concerning for others.” Natalie Sanchez says, “I feel like there should be some kind of backup plan in case people call in sick or something like that for the staffing problems. That definitely causes a lot of issues for people that have to get to work and stuff. There should be some kind of backup plan.” Saturday’s disruption meant riders had to take R1 buses. Nishant Solanki says the R1 takes a lot more time for transit users to get around and can cause delays, especially when little warning is given. “They are an option, but they are not a very good option, not convenient option. You have to wait around half an hour or something.” The union representing transit workers says Lines 1 and 4 are “consistently understaffed,” and warns the problem could only get worse if nothing is done. Noah Vineberg, who represents OC Transpo operators and mechanics as president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279, says, “The minute you start running people like it’s machines and thinking they won’t break and they do, you run into real problems.” Vineberg says, “Anytime you shut down the line, you have to activate R1 service, and because that wasn’t foreshadowed or planned, many operators were forced to extend work extra overtime and, in some cases, had to be called in in order to get more R1 service out to be able to accommodate the public.” According to the union, there were not enough trained rail operators and controllers available to respond quickly when issues hit. Vineberg says “It’s got public attention this time. I think the shutdown brought eyes to something that we’ve been trying to explain for a long time. If they’re short controllers, there’s ways to fix that by building the pools right at the operator level and building it up and not finding ways to prevent people from moving up and finding ways to attract people into that pool and make sure that they don’t leave those pools.” The latest shutdown adds to years of frustration for riders who’ve dealt with derailments, broken wires, maintenance problems, and repeated service interruptions since Line 1 opened in 2019. OC Transpo says it continues to hire and train employees, and maintains safety remains the top priority. But for many riders, another shutdown is reinforcing a familiar concern — whether the system is ready for expansion when reliability is still a problem today. Madison Seccul summed up what many riders are feeling, “There is always a problem with the LRT, it’s annoying.”
