Ottawa hosting public meeting on proposed Baseline BRT plan

City of Ottawa staff will be hosting a webinar about the proposed Baseline Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Thursday night.

Residents will have an opportunity to learn about the public transit project and its development.

Nearly 500 people registered to attend the virtual-online meeting as of Thursday morning, “It demonstrates the appetite for an update on this project,” College Ward Coun. Laine Johnson tells CTV News Ottawa.

In 2017, the city’s transportation committee approved a new rapid transit project that will put bus lanes in the middle of Baseline Road. The stretch from Heron Station at Billings Bridge to Baseline Station will be built first.

“A way to move people faster,” says Johnson. “If you drive Baseline, as many residents in College Ward do now, you can feel how inefficient the road is right now.”

According to Johnson, construction is set to begin later this year with changes to the intersection of Baseline and Greenbank roads.

The idea of a Baseline BRT is more than a decade old, dating back to 2013. Johnson says there’s still a need for it today.

“As far as I know, the (route) 88 is the third healthiest rebound since Covid.”

Johnson says the cost is around $500 million dollars.

“It is a lot of money, but this is a citywide transformative project.” She said it would require provincial and federal investment, “most certainly.”

In 2017, Former Transportation Services general manager John Manconi called the BRT project a “golden opportunity.”

According to city estimates, separate bus lanes would shave 11 minutes off for riders.

Many transit riders that CTV News Ottawa spoke with on Thursday along Baseline Road weren’t aware of the project, but expressed more concern with overcrowding and reliability over speed.

Amritha Baburha relies on the Route 88 bus for work, and said she frequently experiences delays and that her employer has deducted her pay in the past for being late.

According to a 2023 City of Ottawa presentation, there will be 25 new stations and buses will be separated from vehicle traffic. The city expects ridership to be 10,000 per day by 2031

A statement on College ward Coun. Laine Johnson’s website says the proposed Baseline BRT will “provide a quality transit service alternative for cross-town trips without the need to travel via downtown while connecting major transitway stations which includes Bayshore, Baseline, Trillium Line and Billings Bridge.”

Thursday’s meeting will be held virtually via TEAMS from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. You are asked to RSVP here.