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City shouldn't get in the way of private transit here in Ottawa | Opinion

Randall Denley: Improving rural service is never going to rise to the top of OC Transpo’s to do list. Why not look elsewhere for help?

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The public transit clique on Ottawa city council showed their true colours when presented with a proposal to improve transit in rural areas. A sensible plan to enhance rural service was defeated on a tie vote because some councillors would rather have no service at all than see public transit contaminated by the evils of the private sector.

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Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown and his rural colleagues wanted other councillors to do two rational things, but that proved to be one too many.

Rural residents closest to the suburbs pay for a limited level of transit service. Their councillors asked for an evaluation, by ward, of whether people were getting their money’s worth, pointing out that some areas get service and others don’t.

Councillors approved that study, but they balked at the next logical step, improving rural service in areas where it is weak. What’s the point in identifying a problem if you’re not interested in fixing it?

The second part of the transit proposal contained a word that caused some councillors to break out in a cold sweat. The rural councillors want the city to “evaluate the feasibility of working with private mass transportation providers to supplement rural transit service for commuters and to enhance connectivity between villages and major mobility hubs.”

What madness! The private sector providing transit here in Ottawa, where OC Transpo is a textbook example of the effectiveness of government services?

In the curious ideology of public transit enthusiasts, transit must be provided by government, must be heavily subsidized, must have a low ticket price, and have a key goal of providing jobs to unionized workers. If the system actually gets you from A to B, that’s a bonus.

OC Transpo lacks the equipment, staff or money to provide the kinds of rural interconnections some councillors and riders want, even though they make perfect sense. As one example, councillors pointed out that Cumberland Village is poorly served by transit to the new Trim Road station, leaving people to drive by the expensive LRT on their way downtown.

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With its legendary struggles to serve the urban population of the city, improving rural service is never going to rise to the top of OC Transpo’s list.

Nevertheless, Capital Ward Coun. Shawn Menard offered the idea that the cost of such a service would be too much for its potential customers.

Shouldn’t that be for them to decide? People who drive now because transit is not available can surely calculate the cost of parking and car ownership. If that amount is greater than the cost of the private transit, a new private service might have appeal.

Brown made it abundantly clear that his motion would not take away jobs from OC Transpo. Rather, it would look at ways to spend rural transit tax dollars most effectively. The motion was the mildest possible, a request for a feasibility examination, not a plan to take action.

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If the plan has a flaw, it’s asking OC Transpo staff to assess feasibility of a private service. Let’s be realistic. OC Transpo staff are exceedingly unlikely to see merit in private sector transit, which would limit their prized monopoly.

The better approach would be to open the rural areas to private-sector service and see what opportunities that creates. A business delivering a service to the public for a price the public is willing to pay is exactly how things normally work in the non-governmental world. Why should the city get in the way?

But all is not lost on transit service rationality. As part of the city’s next transportation master plan, staff will look at a potential role for private-sector transit.

Given that, one could argue that the rural councillors’ motion was redundant, but they are smart to keep a focus on fixing rural transit as we go into this fall’s municipal election. Clearly, some of their colleagues require additional persuasion.

Randall Denley is an Ottawa journalist and author. Contact him at randalldenley1@gmail.com

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