Executive Summary Introduction The City of Ottawa’s population of about 800,000 people could grow to 1.2 million within two decades. This level of growth will bring significant change, and with it new opportunities and challenges. The Transportation Master Plan identifies the transportation facilities and services that the City will implement to serve a population of 1.2 million people. It sets direction for the City’s day-to-day transportation programs, and provides a basis for budget planning. It supports the Ottawa 20/20 growth management strategy and the City’s Official Plan, which guides the City’s physical development. This plan will come to life through mechanisms such as City budgets, program development, area and corridor transportation studies, design or practice guidelines, and Community Design Plans. Strategic Directions This Master Plan identifies a vision, with nine elements and 26 supporting principles, that expresses how Ottawa’s transportation system can contribute to overall community objectives, and how it should be managed to ensure accountability to residents and taxpayers. It also identifies four strategic directions that are essential to achieving this vision: focusing on transit, influencing travel demand, making efficient use of resources, and forging a community partnership. Current and Future Conditions Ottawa’s transportation system includes walking and cycling facilities, conventional and specialized bus services, Transitway and O-Train rapid transit lines, a road network and parking facilities. City-owned transportation facilities are complemented by freeways owned by the Province of Ontario, and by roads, interprovincial bridges and multi-use pathways owned by the federal government. There are also international and general aviation airports, intercity rail and bus stations, two ferries and a freight yard. During the afternoon peak hour in 2001, about 74% of Ottawa residents traveled by automobile compared to about 15% by transit, almost 10% by walking and almost 2% by cycling. Transit ridership has been growing at a significant rate since 1996, and Ottawa residents take transit, on average, more than those of any city of comparable size in North America. The city’s road system also serves a substantial trucking industry. Population and employment are both expected to grow by about 50% over the next two decades, with urban communities outside the Greenbelt projected to accommodate 73% of new residents and 54% of new jobs. As a result, the overall demand for afternoon peak hour person-trips on Ottawa's transportation system will grow by 58%. In support of the community’s growth management goals, this Master Plan strives to minimize the future need for new and widened roads while avoiding levels of congestion that would have unacceptable implications for Ottawa’s quality of life in terms of delay to persons and goods, air pollution and road safety. It sets an ambitious transit modal split objective for 2021 of carrying 30% of motorized person-trips in the afternoon peak hour, a rate nearly double current levels. Transit will carry 50% of motorized person-trips to and from Ottawa’s Inner Urban Area (up from 29% in 2002), 34% of trips across the Greenbelt (up from 17%), and 36% of trips to and from Gatineau (up from 16%) during the afternoon peak hour, in the peak direction. The Master Plan also sets ambitious objectives for walking and cycling. Respectively, these modes will carry 10% and 3% of peak hour person-trips in 2021, up from 9.6% and 1.7% in 2001 (note these figures are averages for the fall season, and would be higher in summer and lower in winter). This represents a 67% increase in the number of walking trips, and a 167% increase in the number of cycling trips. Despite these substantial increases in the role of transit, walking and cycling, there will be significantly higher traffic volumes in every major travel corridor during the peak hour. Managing Transportation: The Keys to Success The City has four major areas of response to its major transportation challenges, both in terms of encouraging desirable shifts in how people travel, and in serving the resulting increases in transit and traffic volumes:
Walking and Cycling The City’s land use and transportation demand management practices will be essential to the creation of physical, social and cultural environments where walking and cycling are attractive travel alternatives. It will develop a Pedestrian Plan to comprehensively address pedestrians’ needs and recommend solutions, as well as a Cycling Plan to do the same for cyclists. The Transportation Master Plan calls for a system of well-connected, accessible and safe sidewalks and pedestrian crossings as a fundamental way to encourage walking. It also defines an Urban Cycling Transportation Network (Map 3) of primarily on-road cycling facilities to be implemented over time. The City, in conjunction with the National Capital Commission, will also continue to develop a network of multi-use pathways (Maps 1 and 2) to enable the use of walking and cycling for utilitarian trips, as well as recreational ones. Public Transit The Master Plan aims to increase the proportion of motorized person-trips carried by transit to 30% in the afternoon peak hour — almost twice that of today, and similar to many European cities. This ambitious objective requires a comprehensive package of supporting measures to make transit more competitive relative to automobile use, and to help make it the first choice for many people. These measures are essential to prevent lower-than-desired transit ridership, with its consequent increases in road requirements, congestion and air pollution. They include actions to: improve the form of development; reduce the supply of abundant free parking at key destinations; improve public awareness and support; level the financial playing-field between transit and driving; better integrate transit with other modes; and set priorities for new infrastructure that improve transit’s service advantage wherever possible. The City will adapt its transit service strategy as new rapid transit lines are opened, allowing the replacement of long, line-haul bus routes with locally-oriented feeder services in many areas. It will manage its service standards to make best use of fleet and staff resources, and to run services where they can carry the most riders. It will strive to keep transit fares constant in real terms, while exploring financial incentives that can shape demand in supportive ways. The City will continue to improve the accessibility of its conventional services to better serve people with disabilities, and reduce the demand on less cost-effective specialized transit services. All vehicles in the transit fleet are scheduled to be low-floor models by 2015. Transit service between Ottawa's urban area and surrounding communities will continue to be important. Interprovincial service to and from Gatineau will be strengthened and refined. Service will continue to be provided to Ottawa's rural residents where warranted through direct public transit services and Park & Ride lots. A number of private transit services will continue to operate in Ottawa's rural area, and to link Ottawa to its neighbouring Ontario municipalities. Given that a majority of transit services will continue to operate on area roads, and in view of the expected growth in road congestion, measures to provide transit vehicles with priority in mixed traffic will become a vital tool to maintain a competitive transit service. Measures to be applied along corridors within a designated transit priority network (Map 4) will include dedicated bus lanes, special traffic signal treatments and bus queue jumps. Transit priority measures are also a good way to enhance transit service in travel corridors prior to the introduction of rapid transit facilities. A substantial expansion of Ottawa’s rapid transit system (Map 5) is the most fundamental shift in the City’s future transit strategy. Based on the recent Rapid Transit Expansion Study, this plan calls for the construction of 100 kilometres of double tracks for electrified rail service, 42 kilometres of Transitway extensions, and 58 new rapid transit stations. The ultimate rapid transit network to be implemented over the life of this plan will be about four times the combined size of Ottawa’s current Transitway and O-Train. Stations within the rapid transit system will be focal points for compact, mixed-use development, and will offer a high level of convenience for transferring passengers. A growing number of Park & Ride lots will also be located at rapid transit stations. To provide such a substantial increase in transit service, the City’s transit fleet needs to grow from just over 900 vehicles today to about 1,850 vehicles in 2021, including almost 1,750 low-floor buses and 105 high-capacity light rail cars. A number of new storage and maintenance facilities will also be needed to house the large fleet. |
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