City of Ottawa offsets lacklustre planning with a near perfect public transit system

Despite being the second biggest country in the world by geography, only 12 per cent of Canada’s land area is habitable. The other 88 per cent is useless for any purpose other than growing trees or mining the vast mineral resources, most of which are under snow and ice and barely touched. With this astounding fact alone, it is perhaps a no brainer why Canadian cities like Ottawa have no choice but to make the most of the limited land resource at their disposal, and in doing so, be cognisant of the global shifts that have elevated the role of cities as guardians of the global future.

With a population of roughly 994 000, Ottawa is relatively small by global standards. In the Canadian context, however, it is one of the biggest and most important – mainly as a result of its stature as the country’s capital. To put the city’s size into perspective, it is the fourth biggest after Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary. This is rather peculiar for a first world country, the majority of which are home to super-sized cities with populations exceeding 10 million, and in some cases 20 million – Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, and New York being a case in point in relation to the latter. Compared to these mega cities and many others, Ottawa represents nothing but a miniature version of a global city. Still, that does not diminish its importance.   

Comparatively, Ottawa’s population density is very low, with only 2000 people per square kilometre in its urban core. This is over twenty times less than Manila, the capital city of Philippines, and the world’s most densely populated city at 41 515 people/square km. One of the primary reasons behind the city’s below average density is its conservative approach to development, manifested in the city’s low rise, sprawling built form. There does seem to be a glimmer of hope however, that’s if the city’s latest project is anything to go by. In July 2018 the city approved a 65 storey building on Albert Street in the Bayview area, west of the central district. This despite the existence of an approved blueprint ‘secondary plan’ – developed by city staff, land owners and the community – which allows for a maximum height of 30 storeys. In the past, the city has been averse to high-density developments, inevitably resulting in unabated sprawl. The city’s old guard – government bureaucrats, civil society, and business – who see themselves as vanguards of the city, seem to have adopted a posture of disregarding the global realities that demand smarter, more inclusive and people-centric planning from cities. Instead, they prefer to turn a blind eye and pursue non-transformative policies that preserve the 19th-century city, oblivious to the fact that the more conservative old and new can, in fact, co-exist in harmony.

But then again, and thanks to the city’s crown jewel – its world class and affordable public transit system – many of its shortcomings mentioned herein have gone unnoticed, at least for now. The system, operated by buses, is the city’s centrepiece and the nerve centre of its mobility, moving people between districts and suburbs seamlessly for 22 hours a day. The only time it’s inactive is between 3 and 5 in the early hours of the morning. It services a very large catchment, which incorporates neighbouring towns and districts that were independent pre-amalgamation. Current low car ownership levels bear testament to the system’s efficiency, and this statistic alone is probably the most reliable indicator to corroborate the claim of Ottawa’s public transit system being second to none. Consequently, a private car is still viewed as a luxury since moving around is possible, and even more seamless, without one.

Reliability, particularly in getting large volumes of people to and from work on time, is what gives Ottawa’s public transit system the edge. This can be attributed to its route design, which in turn contributes significantly to the system’s overall efficiency. Three factors are key in this regard, namely (1) population densities, (2) directness of routes, and (3) travel pattern analysis, and they are all dissected in the next paragraph.

With regards to density, routes are designed to be conduits that connect densely populated areas, making them viable, but more importantly, profitable. Fortunately for the city, its neighbourhoods fall within the minimum population thresholds and range necessary to make the system feasible. Now onto the second factor: directness.  Having direct routes has many advantages, including reduced travel time, as the buses are channelled to major arterial routes and the Trans-Canada 417 highway through road. Last but not least: travel pattern analysis. By connecting frequently travelled locations, back and forth, the system’s catchment area (by population) is significantly increased, resulting in more city residents accessing the service within a walking distance. All of this is achieved despite the tight schedule and pressures the system is confronted with, especially during peak periods. What is apparent is that the city invested considerable resources in pre-implementation route design and departure and destination trends, without which the service would not have enjoyed the success seen today. With that, the city was able to overcome its sprawl dilemma, notwithstanding the many pitfalls that lie in wait if it does not deviate from its complacency path.   

Ottawa may be coping for now. After all, its population is yet to surpass the one million mark. But the city can ill-afford to be complacent. Owing to an unprecedented and sustained rise in global population, it is highly conceivable that the city’s population could grow faster than what is projected – usually predicated on historical data – and double within a short period of time. Considering that Canada is among the world’s most generous nations for immigrants with one of the highest per capita admission rates, it will come as no surprise if the city’s population grew beyond the predicted levels.

There are useful lessons to be drawn from other mega cities of the world, which, much like Ottawa, had a modest population at some point. Today they are struggling to cope with 20 million plus populations because they underestimated the impending population surge precipitated by migration, globalisation, reduced mortality rate, and better healthcare to mention but a few. The endemic challenges plaguing the same cities today – ageing infrastructure, lack of affordable housing, unemployment, pollution, sprawl – were not an event, but an accumulation of decades of conservative and pedestrian planning policies. Let that be a lesson Ottawa.