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It's time to hold politicians accountable for OC Transpo | Opinion

Mohammed Adam: Public transit should be the defining issue in this year's election. Not taxes, housing, or homelessness.

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All that can be said about OC Transpo’s long-running problems has been done, and yet, nothing ever changes. The problems persist.

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Riders have complained again and again about the service, and we’ve heard explanations and excuses from OC Transpo managers. Councillors have debated the issue many times, and still, every day brings a new horror story. Lately, it’s a rider getting frostbite from using public transit. But there is only so much to say and write about OC Transpo woes without sounding like a broken record. So, let’s recalibrate, and the October municipal election is the time to start.

By now, it is fair to assume that OC Transpo is broken, and Ottawa residents must take the matter into their own hands through the ballot box. On Oct. 26, we will elect a new city government, and public transit should be the defining issue in the campaign. Not taxes, housing, or homelessness — as important as they all are to our well-being. At this particular moment, the ballot box question, certainly in the mayoral race, should be a simple one: Which candidate can ensure — not with words, or hope and a prayer — but a concrete, practical and credible plan to fix OC Transpo, which essentially means getting people from one place to another in a fast and efficient manner, as public transit is meant to be.

It’s time to hold our politicians accountable for the transit mess, and the buck stops with the mayor. That’s why in this election, we should be holding the candidates’ feet to the fire. Our transit system has fallen into disrepute because of the actions or inaction of city politicians. Their decisions, or a lack thereof, have brought us here. Ask anyone running for mayor to spell out clearly, how they intend to make public transit work for everyday citizens at reasonable cost. If they have no satisfactory answer, don’t vote for them. Make a stand. Same with candidates running for council. Ask anyone who knocks on your door asking for your vote: what plan do they have to fix transit? No excuses, no explanations, no spin. Let your vote speak for you. If they don’t have a plan you find credible, count them out. It boggles the mind that municipal governments in cities as diverse as Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, can operate fairly decent transit for their residents but the City of Ottawa can’t.

Once, OC Transpo used to the envy of the world. Today, it doesn’t work.

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The problems that have plagued LRT from the beginning — the bungled LRT procurement, the broken-down trains and other factors that led to the Hourigan inquiry — are common knowledge. But thereafter, we had a change of government, hoping the worst was behind us, except it wasn’t. The new council doesn’t seem able to even run the buses. We are Ottawa, known for its freezing temperatures, and yet we cancel routes in the dead of winter, leaving riders to freeze because we don’t have enough buses, or enough mechanics to fix the aging ones that break down. No one thought to plan for such eventuality.

We change executives and nothing works. We introduce new measures like New Ways to Ride to improve service, only to make things worse. Our transit managers have become good at explaining problems, not solving them. The transit mess has become a tiresome embarrassment we should no longer stand for. So, let’s talk transit in this election, and use our vote to create the transit service we deserve.

Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at nylamiles48@gmail.com

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