Today's Letter: Canada Day Glitch at Ottawa LRT

Confederation Line did not work well

Re: July 4th, a "fun" Canada Day weekend in the city as police maintain a large presence in the center.

Citizens write: One of the great advantages of LeBreton Flats is that it is offered by the Confederation Line LRT, as well as the parliamentary precincts. "  — I think it's nonsense when it comes to the July 1st experience.

My wife and I jumped on the parliamentary LRT to Pimisi to take a quick look around the main venues for this year's celebration. The train wasn't crowded, but when I left Pimisi station, I couldn't turn left on Booth Street. Instead, you were instructed to turn right towards Albert Street, turn left at Albert, turn left again at Commissioner Street, and enter the Lebreton Flats site.

We were initially unaware of the length of the walk in front of us. It took me about 15 minutes to reach the fork in Commissioner Street, but it was too late to visit a site that was still far away because I was having lunch with a friend near ByWard Market. But instead of following the steps, I thought I could take Albert Street to Lyon Street Station (after all about 15 minutes), where I could return to the eastern train to meet us. friend.

On the return trip (Parliament-Pimisi, Lyon-Rideau), I spent about 30 minutes on foot and about 10 minutes by train. So is there "one big advantage of Lebreton Flats" that it is serviced by LRT? It's not where the station is. Getting on the train — short or long — it doesn't make sense to need a very long walk. This is suitable for both Ottawa's new library and the downtown arena of Ottawa Senators.

John J. Gahan, Ottawa

The closing of Pimisi on Canada Day was ridiculous

I am you The unfortunate behavior of OC Transpo in closing Pimisi Station on part of Canada Day was that Line 1 was expected to be too crowded.

For the past few weeks, this line has been very reliable and trains run every 5 minutes. I understand that trains are designed to run at intervals of up to 90 seconds. If OC Transpo had planned to run trains every two and a half minutes, this would have proved sufficient to double the capacity and handle the crowd. It would have been a great opportunity for OC Transpo to prove that it was a competent and robust system. Unfortunately, this is another example where planners have proven that the system does not meet expectations.

What happens to OC Transpo if the NHL Arena is built in Lebreton Flats?

Colin J. Churcher, Ottawa

The ArriveCAN app works fine

Re: A recent letter about the ArriveCAN app. I was 71 years old and had no problems downloading the app and adding my passport and Quebec QR vaccine code. I went to Ogdensburg and went through Prescott, and it was seamless. Security of personal information using ArriveCAN: When traveling with my wife, she said she needed to find a place to stop by to have a good cup of coffee. She opened the phone — and there was an ad for coffee.

John Simpson, Gatineau