The small things in Transportation

2024 12 07

I recently decided to finally develop some months old film that ive been too poor and unenthusiastic to bring to a lab. For some reason all the labs in Ottawa are on this one north/south mainstreet, of which i chose one in a mall about halfway down the street, since it was already near somewhere I was headed. I sat on the floor in the food court to unwind my film, since there were no open seats. Wikipedia claims this is a small niche mall, but it sure seemed busy to me. But my lack of a seat meant i ended up being right in front of something really interesting; a next departures board for buses, something you usually only see in transit stations. Huh. It was also one of the newer screens, which are much larger, much brighter, and have UNBELIEVABLY better viewing angles than the old screens.

now, I think this is really awesome. I really like having constant knowledge of my time management, and I don't love the feeling of pulling out my phone only to find out i need to sprint to a bus stop. i especially like that this shows all buses that stop at this specific mall, many of which go to the same destinations and have varying levels of busyness and speed, whereas the app on my phone only shows me one or two routes from a given stop. Even better still, the transit agency made a cool looking pedestrian bridge directly from the food court to the local platforms 3 and 4, which themselves are an elevator ride away from Transitway platforms 1 and 2. This is awesome, and is a level of user oriented design you very rarely see in anglosphere transportation design, espepcially for public transport.

This mall would have always had amazing service; it's on one of the main trunks of the bus rapid transit system, where western and southern and northern bus routes all converge, including some of the busiest routes like the 88 and the 6. That is why it has 4 grade separated platforms. In fact it is so busy, it even has its own shoulder station in Heron to reduce congestion. Heron station exists almost purely to redirect transfers between southern and western routes away from the mall, and it itself also has four grade separated platforms.

But the level of service isn't what is special here. You can get stuff like that all over the city on any random kerb with a bus lane. The thing that is impressive is how well integrated the station is with the accompanying mall, and how nice the experience is. The station and the mall have an indoor stepfree connection, and its so well designed, that for me, it's the primary entrance and exit of the mall. If you're coming home on the bus, you can pop in to the food court for a snack and then walk back out and grab the bus home, all heated. Maybe if you walk into some friends in the food court you can stay a lil longer and track when your bus is coming without having to leave the court.

That's what this blog post is about. The niceties of transportion in Ottawa and Gatineau. The little things that make a big difference. This isn't necessarily comprehensive, and I've left out a lot, and skimmed over details, so this is an overview.

public transport

something that was immediately obvious to me and other Autistic outsiders is all the small touches public transport gets in Ottawa and Gatineau. very few english speaking places do transit design well, and so its pretty apparent when you've never seen nice things before, cool traits.

Almost all buses in Ottawa and Gatineau have all door boarding, so you don't need to walk all the way to the front to get on. This massively speeds up bus routes, as you don't need to go single file through the front door, and then circulate to the back of the bus. in addition, it's also just way more convenient as a rider, and also allows people who can't afford to pay an opportunity to avoid the stern look the driver would give them, and the embarassment of getting called over. to be clear, ottawa driver's don't really care if you pay your fare, but it can still be really offputing and anxiety inducing,, especially if you don't know how lax they are.

Ottawa and Gatineau both have large bus rapid transit systems, both of which having large stations with indoor waiting areas that are heated. Some of these stations have customer service desks and small cafés, and some also have amenities like free wifi. They have nice and engaging architecture too, albeit it could be more varied. For regular kerbside stops, Ottawa specifically always has large and easily readable signposts which say route name and number. This may seem standard, but a lot of bus stops in the anglosphere have extremely small signage that is difficult to spot from a distance. At the majority of stops, Ottawa also has full shelters, timetables, and maps for both the individual routes, as well as for the whole system, so you can actually see how to get where you want. Again, these things feel like they should be obvious features of a transit system if you're used to having them, but they're incredibly uncommon in the anglosphere, especially the full sized system maps at random bus stops. It probably also goes without saying that many bus stops have live departure boards, although in this case, Gatineau does a much better job putting those boards at regular kerbside stops. They're practically universal in large stations in both cities. To be fair, Gatineau's boards are much harder to read, being seven segment, one line tall, and at a weird angle.

Perhaps the biggest thing that goes overlooked in transport if you haven't been exposed to a good version is wayfinding. You probably don't even know what that is! Wayfinding is the use of signs and other information to quickly communicate how to get somewhere. Wayfinding is pretty good on highways in NA, and you can often figure out how to get to your destination purely on signage without needing to use a map, but this is not the case for public transport, such as is the case in Toronto [youtube link].

Ottawa has extremely easy to read wayfinding. It is simple, comprehensive, easy to parse, and aesthetically pleasing. All O-Train stations in the city have large glowing roundels in front of them, with the roundel being the logo of the transit agency. Transitway stations are similarly easy to identify based on their architecture and logo. The agency has also set out standardised colouring and signage for different transit modes and lines, and it is all very organised and well rationalised, and information dense. For example, routes are always displayed primarily with their number, and the number is always displayed inside of a coloured shape. Round circle means rapid transit routes, and dark blue ones specifically indicate its a bus rapid transit route. Orange hexagon are still quite frequent, but don't run rapid transit for the majority of their route. Grey are local routes with generally lower frequencies and less direct alignments. Purple oval is express buses. The number itself indicates where the line operates. Single digits are trains lines and centre city bus routes. 10s are inner ring suburb routes. 20s are eastern routes, and 30s are far eastern routes. 50s are inner western routes and 60s are far western routes. 80s are southwestern and 90s are southeastern. Not all bus routes conform to this, especially the longer routes like the 88 and 99, as well as the busier corridors where a much of routes merge. but for the most part, you can figure out what routes belong to your neighbourhood based on its first digit. That's so beautiful.

It's also all communicated in such an efficent, consistent, and easy to read way. It's really impressive. It isn't overwhelming or confusing, and helps you navigate the system intuitively. You can basically always rely on a sign and your own intuition to get where you want, which i Can't say about a lot of other places I've been, even place i have researched before arriving. Stations also have 3D diagramns of themselves with legends if the signs aren't enough and you really need help figuring out where to go, in addition to the full system map all over Ottawa. Im also gonna be real, most of the population of Ottawa has pretty high public transit literacy, and so you can basically ask anyone else in the station for help if you need it, in addition to the transit agency's red vests (staff who help people navigate and shit) stationed at the stations and in the ticket machines' video call function. Also, Instead of ads on the metro, they put lil posters on the trains to teach people how to navigate the transit system. how to bring a bicycle, teaching about all door boarding on buses, how fare paid zones work, etc.. It's so elegant.

With regards to fare paid zones, and as an extension of the mall departures board, Ottawa does a really good job of integrating rapid transit with important destinations. Rideau station is a part of the Rideau Centre physically, one of the largest malls in Canada, and also has a direct connection to a outdoor pedestrian street in the Byward Market. Tremblay Station is literally next to the main intercity railway station, and they are the only two buildings on the lot. Fallowfield Transitway station is a park and ride (parc-o-bus!) that was built in conjunction with Fallowfield intercity railway station, at the same time, and so are also basically one and the same. Bayview station has a unused pedestrian bridge that is meant to physically connect to a new building in Ottawa that hasn't started construction yet. Riverside station is literally a part of Riverside Hospital's entrance ward.

Public transport stations having artwork is pretty normal nowadays, but i think its still really cool. Especially the transitway stations with art installations, which definitely came to be before it became normal. Billings Bridge station, which is the name of the mall with the fun food court, has really cool looking murals on the inside. Riverside station has its stairs and platforms dotted with cool surrealist art on the walls. Longfields station is much newer, after art became standard, and instead of paint, it has full statues of lamb and sheep dogs, meant to contrast with the Transitway station's impressive rounded glass architecture and the nearby mixed use community that you can see from the elevated platforms. Walkley station is, as far as I know, the only historic Transitway station to have anything more than just paint; it instead has embezzled murals and stone carvings meant to depict various historic milestones in the city. They're actually tucked away behind the platform and are kinda hard to spot, but they're there!

On the other hand, basically every single O-Train station has a custom art feature. Tunney's Pasture has stained glass ceiling over the concourse, in order to colour the interior using natural light. It has specially shaped light fixtures at night time as well. Bayview's fencing is meant to be reminicent of the Gatineau Hills, which can be seen from the elevated line 1 platforms. The ground level line 2 platforms have their own separate art installation that doubles as extra seating. Corso Italia has an animated light fixture with a a tangly shape. Carelton station has giant obleisks in the shape of the OC Transpo logo. Hurdman has a giant arcing feature that is simply awesome. Lees has a series of metal birds along the adjacent cycle path that appears to animate when moving past at high speed. I just think it's cool. Ottawa doesn't go full ham with public art like some other cities I've been in, like Montréal and Stockholm (seriously, check out some of their metro stations online, they're so cool. apparently those two cities were also the first to install public art outside of communist countries which is neat), but I still appreciate that it's there.

Perhaps one of my favourite things in the entire rapid transit system is just the environment around Hurdman station. Its a major interchange between the Transitway and the metro, and is one of the busiest stations in the whole network. But, its in the middle of protected forest and fields. The only thing nearby is a couple of high rise towers. There's a small kiss and ride loop but the station is clearly designed to be reached by either foot, cycling, or transit. It's only accessible road access for general traffic is via a small spur. The main access road is the Transitway, therefore it s bus only. It's a really calming place to spend your morning commute. I really love sometimes taking alternative routes and biking from Hurdman instead, or going for a little exploration around the station at the end of the day.

this is where i mention frequnecy but im not entirely sure how much of that is a quality of life feature or a basic public service. frequency in ottawa is pretty good to the point where you can be snobbish if its worse than every 10 minutes

i also kinda want to add the fact that the Société de transports l'outaoauis does a lot of really cool things but i kinda just am not a fan that they dont get the big things right. like its awesome that they have really nice finishings and design language and shit but so much of the base level user experience is worse just cus their core operations are bad. why does a bus pull into a station going 10-20kmh and get stuck at every red light at grade crossings. what. why is the controlled access bus rapid transit road have a lower speed limit than the adjacent stroad (50kmh versus 70kmh)

im gonna shove in the airport here while im at it cus im also autistic about it but dont have much to say about it.

the airport is currently accessed via the 97 bus, likely named after the 747 aircraft (have you ever noticed how all airport routes end in a seven?). It takes the Transitway all the way from Hurdman to the end at South keys station, then hops onto the Airport parkway through the woods. It's by far the nicest airport bus I have ever been on. Wish the airport had a next bus departures and i wish it was easier to find the ticket machine in the station. The main area of the airport says that there is a ticket machine somewhere but its like imnpossible to find and hidden in a corner by the exit to the bus stop. I generally enjoy how calm the airport itself is, and how it isn't that busy, as well as how easy it is to access. In the future (january 6) it will also get a O-Train station that is a part of the airport, and the new ticket machines are much easier to find.

if you exclude the flights to the united states, the only international carrier for Ottawa airport is Air France, which... Makes a lot of sense. But this is EXTREMELY funny when you consider that KLM/Air France ALSO operate a airport shuttle bus between Ottawa central railway station and Montréal international airport. this is like 200km apart and it's so funny that the only airline that actually serves Ottawa airport, also has its own bus to get you to Montréal airport if you wanna fly out there. The wayfinding in the railway station is so funny. You have like, the OC transpo roundel for tremblay station, next to like I think Orléans Express bus, next to a icon of a bus and a airplane with KLM and Air France's logo. It's so funny

Fun fact, i have NEVER seen this shuttle bus. I have taken buses and trains between Ottawa central and Montréal airport, but on like Orléans Express and Via Rail. the via rail station is like a couple kilometres from the montréal airport so it also has a airport shuttle and its like unbelievably fucking bad like holy fucking shit why wasn't the réseau express métropolitaine extended to dorval from the airport.

biking

biking in ottawa and gatineau is like pretty normal except for two things: the NCC initiatives and protected junctions.

NCC is a federal organisation that handles some things in both gatineau and ottawa. they focus especially on tourism and recreation things. Things constructed by the NCC are all very accesible and make a lot of the cities feel far more accessible than they otherwise would be. This does mean that the region relies a lot on recreational paths for cycling connections, but for the most part these are relatively direct. These paths are also super pleasant. One time I had to bike half an hour along one of these to catch a 4am train and it was honestly kinda terrifying biking through a forest with no lights but it was also awesome.

Ottawa specfically is also a leader in North America for bicycle intersections. These are junctions where bicycles are separated from motorists and pedestrians for safety and user experience reasons. Basically any new intersection or roundabout will have protected cycling facilities, and they're pretty nice. Some of them can get dangerously overcrowded, and it's obnoxious that they don't have variable signalling programming, since that's one of the main reasons you'd want to build them in general. but the designs themselves are pretty solid, especially since the city has been through a lot of design iterations to find what works and doesn't work. they've even published a guide for other cities based on their learnings. Gatineau also tries to be a baby Montréal with regards to trying new things with bike infrastrcuture but from my experience it's much less mature than even Ottawa, which itself is leagues behind montréal.

maybe it'd be different if capital bixi still existed. sigh.

north america's premier bike sharing service, bixi in montréal, used to have a Ottawa branch. ottawa also has had various other shared micromobility including other bike share but. capital bixi specifcally will be missed.

one of my favourite parts about biking in ottawa is how close things are together. it's reasonably possible to bike to nearby villages, since both the infrastructure exists, and the distances are feasible to bike. this is very, very rare in north america.

also while im here there is a multi use ped/bike path between smyth transitway station and riverside transitway station that has a ped/road crossing (transitway goes under the road), and it inexplicably has 100% priority to pedestrians and cyclists. Literally as soon as you press the crossiing button, the light turns red for motorists. This is an insane level of service and i love the absurditiy of it. It isn't even busy; I have never seen ANYONE else use that crossing other than me. Presumably its for emergencies between the high density smyth neighbourhood that need to get to the hospital, since the only other ways out of the neighbourhood is a single small bridge to riverside drive (in the opposite direction and is a hostile ped envrionemnt), and Smyth station (which requires paying a full transit fare despite only being on for a single station)

every rapid transit line in ottawa and gatineau has adjacent pathways for walking and biking and they're fun and really good for connectivety also cus it means they are inherently straight and direct and separated from street traffic. It's also just really cool getting to see the behind the scenes of how the services operate. I really like the tunnel under the Rapibus by the combined rail/bus bridge in gatineau

Ottawa also has okay biking maps. awesome. something i want to end on is that if youve never tried biking in ottawa for transportation, give it a go! it is way better than you might expect, even in the suburbs! biking in barrhaven is shockingly pleassant for example, espepcially when you combine it with the rapid transit.

roads

there is way less special with roads cus its just like. roads are much more heavily standardised than other pieces of transportation infrastrcuture. Ottawa does get some cute digital ontario government signs that i struggle reading. part of the 417 between ottawa and montréal is made out of concrete for some reason. the traffic management on the 417 is unbelievably poorly designed.

the urban section has a bunch of lanes but theyre mostly all useless because of how interchanges with city streets work. Bronson exit going eastbound anyone. awesome. The Nicholas street interchange is also kind of insane because it's a connector between the A5 in Gatineau and the 417 in Ottawa. gatineau's autoroutes go all the way to the border, but Ottawa's urban freeway is more of a inner suburban freeway, outside of the actual city centre, so cars trying to get to the A5 from the 417 get dropped on city streets in ottawa. The road engineering in this area is insane.

In general crossing between the two cities regardless of mode is a headache. All but one of the road bridges are in the city centre, meaning that you need to use that dangerous and congested connection via Nicholas street in downtown to get to Gatineau. There's a pedestrian and cycling bridge in Westboro and its really nice and convenient if youre in the area, especially since its immediately next to a line 1 and line 2 interhcange station,but I hate this bridge so fucking much cus it is a railway bridge that should have a fucking train on it. Line 2 used to be physically connected with tracks to gatineau, but in like 2019 or something they ripped the tracks out from the bridge, and also got rid of some of the tracks connecting the station to the bridge. the tracks still exist on the other side of the bridge though, and head all along Gatineau's Rapibus BRT (which currently needs to share bridge access with other motor vehicles).

I assume the reason why Ottawa got rid of the tracks is cus Gatineau was saying "hey can we build our own railway line to alymer that we can plug into your system at the bridge" and ottawa didnt like this for capacity reasons and just got annoyed about gatineau asking. which, is silly, cus transport between the two cities should be integrated into one system, and cus the current options to get across the river currently fucking SUCK. if they let trains over that bridge it would make everything so much less of a headache. please just reactivate the existing railway bridge and the existing walkley line and start doing regional rail but for real. there was an ottawa citizen article published about how maybe we'll get a new central station for the new high speed rail line, and maybe that would spur ottawa to expand its own long distance routes. there wouldnt be any capacity reasons anymore.

anyways. there's' also like a ferry east of orléans to buckingham. probably another ferry on the west as well. but like. not great options yeah.

fun fact the railway tracks in buckingham are the same railway tracks that go right up to border with ottawa at that former railway bridge near the line 2 and line 1 interhcnage. awesome. grrr [youtube link]

gatineau autoroute interchanges bawsically all have adaptive traffic signalling which is cool

ottawa car mentioned

one of the coolest things to me is how prompt the city is with regards to snow management in storms. basically everywhere you look has flashing blue lights to indicate snow removal. its awaeome.

but like. for actual nice small details? some parts of Ottawa make a distinction between road and street, such as half moon bay in Barrhaven. It's a small thing, but avoids the roads from becoming stroads.

sometimes you can see a flixbus in the ikea parking lot wait holy shit

so canada, for the most part, follows MUTDC based signage, modified to be less language dependant. This is in contrast to most non american-continent places, which use the Vienna convention, or take inspiration from it. This means a speed sign in canada will be rectangular white with a black border, and black text saying like, "50 maximum," instead of a red circle with a white or yellow background with the number inside it (basically meaning anything at or above that speed is prohibted). It's also why Canadian warning signs are yellow, rather than triangles with a red border on a white or yellow background (with exception to give way signs, which are identical to vienna convention in canada). Canada borders one country that uses miles per hour, so around that border, units are also shown on the sign. and some other places also do that. There's a hospital near chinatown that has a speed limit signed at 8kmh which is fucking awesome.

Now ottawa DOES use the vienna convention. but only in VERY limited circumstances. The Rideau Canal uses vienna convention for speed and warning signs, but that is a waterway. The IKEA PARKING LOT uses vienna convention signage for height limits and parking and well as something else that i forgot. the glebe also signs side streets with both vienna and mutdc speed limti signs. the canada style is used for the vertical sign, and then the vienna convention version is printed on the roadway. its probably just used cus its red and the hope is that its more visible lol