OC Transpo's Double Decker Problem

Daniel Proussalidis with Stephanie Kinsella
Tuesday, January 19, 2010

As OC Transpo nears the end of a test run of double decker buses, Ottawa City Hall Transit Committee Chair, and mayoral candidate, Alex Cullen says the new models will need new accomodations, separate from the $97 million facility under construction.

The garage was designed to serve and repair only articulated busses and while the double decker busses can enter and exit the garage, the new models would have to be housed elsewhere so as not to interfere with the maintenance of the regular busses.

OC Transpo General Manager Alain Mercier says the existing garages can't be used because "the older buildings were designed 35 years ago and were never designed to take into consideration double decker busses, and certainly they would not be an option."

"If there are benefits that justify the expenditure, then a think we can make a case," Cullen tells CFRA News.

But with the price of the new bus garage already twice as high as first estimated, Councillor Jan Harder says even one dollar more for a double decker garage is too much.

"Certainly we're not going to go out and build another garage for buses," says Harder

Three double decker busses are being used in the year-long pilot project which will conclude in March, with a report on the test run to follow.