The Ottawa Light Rail Project has been a lightning rod of civic controversy since its inception in 2010. And last week, lightning struck again.
The latest spat occurred when Elgin Street business owners raised a stink about the City of Ottawa’s decision to move the Rideau Station, which was set to have an entrance facing Elgin Street at the National Arts Centre.
Some have argued that they will lose business because potential customers will be diverted to the new stop, which is now designed to connect to the Rideau Centre, closer to the Byward Market.
The owner of the Lord Elgin Hotel even offered to pony up $2 million over 10 years to keep the Elgin Street station right on his inn’s doorstep.
Too little, too late, said the city.
Business access and economic growth is a driving force to the light rail plan. According to the project’s website, “LRT stations linked to area businesses promote intensification and clusters of higher-density employments uses, encouraging new investment.”
In this sense, it would have made sense to connect the station to the Rideau Centre and closer to the Byward Market in the first place. The reason the city kept the original entrance closer to Confederation Park was to have a stop that would encompass some of the national capital’s gems like Parliament Hill and the National War Memorial.
It’s easy to understand where Elgin’s business owners are coming from. They were excited about getting a light-rail station right in their backyard, and then the rug was pulled out from under them.
But the change is nothing to get up in arms about.
The economic benefits of a light rail station filtering customers into the area are indisputable. The diversion of commuters towards the busy restaurants and bars on Elgin Street is a business owner’s dream.
What’s also undeniable is that Elgin Street is a business hotspot. But the area’s economic output can’t match the combined yield of the Byward Market and the Rideau Centre.
Furthermore, the walk from the nearest station at Queen and O’Connor streets to the site of the former Rideau Station is roughly five minutes, which arguably qualifies as a jaunt.
As it is, Elgin Street has done just fine with limited transit service, and will continue to thrive when the 12.5-kilometre transit system is finished.
For those who want to walk from the Rideau Station to Elgin or the NAC, they will be able to do a large part of the trip in the luxury of a heated Rideau Centre.
Once outside, who doesn’t enjoy a chance to walk through Confederation Park?
Mayor Jim Watson is considering other LRT options, including an underground walkway. Regardless, from a business standpoint, the station relocation makes sense.
The city said its decision to move the station east of Sussex Drive fit with its budgetary standards and the $900 million it has committed to the $2.1-billion project and its 13 stations.
According to council’s reviews, the Rideau Station’s new location will be cheaper to build, since the old station was set to run beneath the Rideau Canal.
The city has also said that the move was a better transit solution because of balanced ridership and the opportunity to provide entrances closer to transit riders’ origins and destinations.
Frankly, the Rideau Centre is as much of a commuter hub as there is in the city.
The city can’t please everyone by erecting stations at every intersection.
The city is going to be forking over nearly a billion dollars to get the project off the ground and it needs the investment to pay all the economic dividends it can.
Elgin Street’s business owners are going to have to live with the city’s decision to move Rideau station, one that makes logical business sense.
The project won’t be up and running until 2018.
Even though opponents may be fired up about the decision, they have six years to cool off.