By Jason Brown
The region’s proposed light rail transit system has edged a little closer to reality in the past few weeks with the creation of a steering committee for the project.
The committee will be looking at what sort of process should be followed, such as how to keep costs as low as possible and to what degree private industry can get involved.
“It always takes a little while to get this type of thing off the ground,” says Pamela Sweet, director of policy and infrastructure planning for the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. “Everybody wants to get the process by which we’ll work right. That’s very important.”
Sweet also happens to be the chair of the steering committee. Two regional councillors, Linda Davis and Clive Doucet, and two residents, Barbara Ramsey and David Jeanes, are the other members.
Sweet says two of the most pressing problems facing the region are that it doesn’t have people on staff with light rail expertise, nor are there are many cities in North America to look to which have done something similar.
For these reasons, the region sent out requests last week to private consulting firms to bid on the drafting of a formal proposal.
Sweet says the region still needs to decide what sort of service they want the initial light rail lines to offer, such as how often the trains will run, and which of three existing rail lines the trains will run on.
Because of all of these remaining unknowns, Sweet says it’s still too early to put any sort of cost on the project. Earlier estimates ranged from $10-25 million.
She also says the committee will have to look at other design and service-related factors during this phase of planning. Sweet says she has already been approached by the Second Cup coffee chain for the rights to open franchises in the transit system’s stations, and she expects other companies to come forward in the future.
“All these things are something we need assistance with,” says Sweet. The KPMG consulting firm has already been drafted by the region to begin work on the project, but payment still needs to be approved by the region’s corporate services committee.
Shawn Doyle, a transportation engineer with Dillon Consulting Limited, says consulting firms throughout the region are hoping to get a piece of the light rail pie. Dillon Consulting was the firm the region hired to draft its Transportation Master Plan which recommended the use of commuter rail.
Doyle says the consulting contracts filtering out of the region at this point are sparse, but as the project moves forward, they could become quite lucrative.
While the project is slowly but steadily navigating its way through the bureaucratic process, David Jeanes, one of the steering committee members, says he is pleased with the groundwork that is being laid.
“We feel very positive with the momentum this project has taken on,” says Jeanes, adding the idea for a light rail transit system has been kicking around the region for over 25 years.
Jeanes was selected to sit on the committee because of his years of work on commuter rail with the Transport 2000 organization.
He is currently Transport 2000’s national treasurer.The other resident committee member, Barbara Ramsey, was involved in a previous rail study that was similar in nature.
Sweet says regional council has indicated it wants the request for proposals out by the end of summer, a decision on who will be given the contract by the end of the year, and something up and running by Dec. 1, 1999.