Chapter 11 – Intercity Travel Ottawa is connected to its neighbours and the rest of the world through important transportation linkages that support the city’s economic well-being. This plan discusses the many direct connections that exist between the City of Ottawa’s transportation system and those of other municipalities, including interprovincial transit services (see Section 7.2.4) and the roads and bridges that lead to neighbouring municipalities (see Chapter 9). There are also two privately operated ferries to Gatineau in Ottawa’s west and east ends. This chapter discusses other important transportation linkages to outside destinations that are provided by Ottawa’s aviation, rail and intercity bus industries. 11.1 Intercity Passenger Terminals The air, rail and intercity bus industries are all served by major terminals in Ottawa. The City has a major interest in providing appropriate linkages between these terminals and the local transportation system, and can enhance service or reduce costs by grasping opportunities to introduce joint facilities or services with intercity carriers. This plan calls for enhancement of the existing high-quality bus rapid transit service to the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, through the extension of a rail rapid transit line to the airport. A new rapid transit line integrated with expanded or relocated airport terminal facilities would offer the highest possible level of service to travelers as well as the many employees in the airport area. The two VIA Rail stations in Ottawa, including the main station on Tremblay Road and the Fallowfield station on Woodroffe Avenue, are successfully integrated with rapid transit stations. Travelers arriving in Ottawa by intercity bus lines could benefit from better integration of the Catherine Street bus terminal with rapid transit services, and any future opportunity to relocate the existing bus terminal should strive to do so. It should be noted that some intercity bus routes are permitted to travel on the Transitway for part of their journey into or out of Ottawa, and passengers can transfer from one service to the other at Transitway stations. The City will:
11.2 General Aviation General aviation supports commerce, government and recreation in the City of Ottawa, and includes flight training operations, air taxi and charter operations, aircraft maintenance organizations and the supporting industry. In Ottawa, the three general aviation airports are Carp Airport, Rockcliffe Airport and the North Field of the Macdonald-Cartier Airport; the City of Gatineau Airport, across the Ottawa River in Quebec, plays a similar and complementary role. General aviation systems constitute 88% of all aviation in Canada and 70% of the aircraft movements in Ottawa. They move people in ways that airlines cannot, reflected by the fact that only 1,300 of the 28,000 aircraft in Canada are of the size used by the airlines. The vast majority of aircraft need small airports to provide services such as on-demand charter, business and personal travel, flight training, medical evacuation, just-in-time parts delivery, aerial police patrols, and supply lines to remote communities. As a result of policy changes in the 1990s, the federal government off-loaded many general aviation facilities to municipalities. Carp Airport was handed over to local government, and the City of Ottawa has committed to operate the Carp airport until 2007. The City will:
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