A 10-minute delay to LRT trains on Tuesday morning left stations along the Confederation line so full that line ups extended from platforms and up the stairs.
Delays were so long, in fact, that some buses were ordered to continue driving downtown to alleviate the backlog within the stations, according to one city councillor.
In a letter sent out on Tuesday afternoon, OC Transpo boss John Manconi apologized for the delay and cited an issue with the doors on a train at uOttawa station as the reason behind the back up.
In his letter, Manconi explains that at 8:05 a.m., a westbound train on Line 1 had a fault with a door at uOttawa Station. In most cases when a door fault occurs, the Electric Rail Operator (ERO) can attend to the door and resolve the problem in a timely manner.
“In this case, however, when the ERO and a technician on board were unable to resolve the issue, the train was cleared of passengers and the train was placed out of service.”
This, in turn, caused the 15 to 20-minute delays experienced by commuters.
“I apologize for the inconvenience these delays caused for you this morning,” said Manconi.
This is the second weekday of operation after new route changes were put into effect on Sunday. With the new changes, riders must now disembark at Tunney’s Pasture Stations or Blair Stations and hop on the train.
According to the city, Monday’s commute ran well with no major interruptions with the full trains being chalked up to people learning the new system.
“Comments about ‘full’ trains relate to customers wanting to stay close to doors and not utilize some of the space available within the rail cars,” said OC Transpo boss John Manconi in a release. “Staff are reminding everyone to use all 14 doors, spread out throughout the train etc”
Manconi went on to say that Tuesday’s commute is also going to be monitored closely by the team, with Manconi himself onsite at Tunney’s Pasture to observe.
Crowds eventually began to reduce at around 9:30 a.m. once the service disruption was corrected.