There are a lot of complications with LeBreton that center in my view around the availability and reliability of public transportation
Let's just say for argument they start construction in the summer of 2025 and the rink is open September 2029. Right now, the reliability of the train is not good and the reputation of public transportation is bad. Very bad. Maybe Orleans gets the train in 2026. Western leg to Moodie in 2027. That might be hopeful.
Governments have said there's no more money for LRT until they get this entire $hit show sorted out. So when do they get started taking the train to Kanata? To Barrhaven? Throw in delays getting started and construction taking twice as long as planned (which is generous given the LRT history) and you're looking at maybe 2040. Two of the affluent suburbs containing over 200k can't take the train. There won't be parking for half the attendees. So it's bus. Then Train. If you want to go.
What about Gatineau. Where will they park? They won't. There's no parking. And it's a hike from the Portage bridge to where the arena is. It's great that you want to cater to the other side. It hasn't worked in 30 years. Why will it work now? They'll need park and ride shuttles. That sucks.
If I'm Andlauer, why am I looking at spending 500M and needing that much again from governments to build a rink that's dependent on public transportation when the public transportation system is the laughing stock or north American public transportation systems?
I'm not saying I have the answers, but spending that kind of money and being dependent on a public transportation system that's a joke is a pretty risky adventure.
I mean what's the alternate here? Rinsing and repeating the same kind of location we have now - a rink surrounded by a parking field surrounded by box stores?
For better or worse, the LRT is and will continue to be the backbone of transit in Ottawa (short of a mayor/city council that rips the tracks out). Locating the arena in close proximity to, or connected directly to an LRT station is going to happen, and that's the correct decision for a myriad of reasons.
Don't even get me started about complaining that people will have to take the bus and then the LRT. For real? That's kind of the point. Funneling bus routes into a higher capacity system where it makes sense. Using mixed transit is common in every major city I've traveled to.
Anyways, I get everyone is all burnt out about the LRT system issues, the cost of transit, the reliability problems, and service reductions. I truly do. But to place a rink anywhere that's not within spitting distance of a station is about the most short sighted thing I can think of Andlauer doing with this franchise.
There's a cold irony to be found in realizing that if people only voted in a mayor and council who ran on raising property taxes, Octranspo wouldn't be staring down the barrel of more service cuts. But alas, the suburbs voted in a mayor and councilors who ran on not raising their property taxes. These same people who have chosen a lifestyle where they have to drive everywhere and therefore don't use the transit system are, I expect, some of the same people who advocate prioritizing vehicle access to the rink. A stretch, I know.
Perhaps some exposure to an underfunded transit system would do them, and us all, some good. Make them think twice about those proposed tax increases to ensure we can all enjoy an effective transit system that gives us ready access to a rink where a sell out crowd can pile into a mass transit system to disperse through the system, or walk to a local bar and get absolutely shit faced after a game because the rink is located downtown and not in f***ing trainyards.
