Ottawa Rapid Transit

In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the public transit service operated by OC Transpo has two rapid transit systems: the Transitway, a bus rapid transit (BRT) network, and the O-Train light rail transit (LRT) service operating on the Trillium Line with diesel-powered train sets.

Bus rapid transit: the Transitway

Major routes

The Transitway was one of the most extensive and successful implementations of bus rapid transit, having begun service in 1983; many of the Transitway roads are above or below the grade of normal streets in Ottawa, by the use of overpasses, bridges, and trench highways. Thus, they rarely intersect directly with the regular traffic, and make it possible for the buses (and emergency vehicles) to continue at full speed even during rush hour. Buses that travel on the Transitway can cross very long distances (especially outside the downtown area) without stopping for a single traffic light. Most sections of the Transitway have a speed limit of 70–90 km/h (43–56 mph) between stations, and 50 km/h (31 mph) in the station areas.

Rapid transit

Rapid transit, also known as metro, subway or underground is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. Unlike buses or trams, rapid transit systems are electric railways that operate on an exclusive right-of-way, which cannot be accessed by pedestrians or other vehicles of any sort, and which is often grade separated in tunnels or on elevated railways.

Modern services on rapid transit systems are provided on designated lines between stations typically using electric multiple units on rail tracks, although some systems use guided rubber tyres, magnetic levitation, or monorail. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains, requiring custom-made trains in order to avoid gaps. They are typically integrated with other public transport and often operated by the same public transport authorities. However, some rapid transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines. It is unchallenged in its ability to transport large numbers of people quickly over short distances with little use of land. Variations of rapid transit include people movers, small-scale light metro, and the commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn.

Rapid transit (disambiguation)

A rapid transit is a public transport system in an urban area with high capacity, high frequency not needing timetables, is fast and is segregated from other traffic.

Rapid transit may also refer to:

See also

Rapid Transit (play)

Rapid Transit was a play by Lajos Egri that premiered at the Provincetown Playhouse, New York, in April 1927 and closed before the end of the month after 20 performances. Horace Liveright had bought and produced this work. Egri's expressionist play was translated from his original Hungarian by Gustav Davidson and Francis Edwards Faragoh, and adapted by Charles Recht.

Casting about for some adequate means of conveying a sense of the hectic pace of this machine age, Egri pictured a world in which all of life is compressed into twenty-four hours. Children grow to maturity in a few minutes; meals are eaten in split seconds; tabloid newspapers are issued at intervals of a second or two, and the loss of half a minute is a serious matter.

Realizing that this notion alone was not quite sufficient to carry a play, Egri broadened his vision to afford a comprehensive view of the world's front page. Wars and justice, taxes and public opinion: all of these Egri incorporated in a manner that was a hallmark of expressionistic drama. Rapid Transit had a prologue and six scenes. There were almost seventy cast members. The sets conveyed an impression of cogwheels, greasy steel pistons, chains, derricks, clanking, rumbling, thumping. The tempo was blinding.

Ottawa

Ottawa (ⁱ/ˈɒtəwə/ or /ˈɒtəwɑː/; French pronunciation: ​[ɔtawa]) is the capital city of Canada. It stands on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec; the two form the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA) and the National Capital Region (NCR). The 2011 census reported a population of 883,391 within the city, making it the fourth-largest city in Canada, and 1,236,324 within the CMA, making it the fourth-largest CMA in Canada. The City of Ottawa has since estimated it had a population of 951,727 in 2014.

Founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as "Ottawa" in 1855, the city has evolved into a political and technological centre of Canada. Its original boundaries were expanded through numerous minor annexations and were ultimately replaced by a new city incorporation and major amalgamation in 2001 which significantly increased its land area. The city name "Ottawa" was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River nearby, which is a word derived from the Algonquin word Odawa, meaning "to trade".

Ottawa, Illinois

Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi River, and North America's 25,000 mile river system. The population estimate was 18,562 as of 2013. It is the county seat of LaSalle County and it is part of the Ottawa-Peru, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Ottawa was the site of the first of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. During the Ottawa debate Stephen A. Douglas, leader of the Democratic Party, openly accused Abraham Lincoln of forming a secret bipartisan group of Congressmen to bring about the abolition of slavery.

The John Hossack House was a "station" on the Underground Railroad, and Ottawa was a major stop because of its rail, road, and river transportation. Citizens in the city were active within the abolitionist movement. Ottawa was the site of a famous 1859 extrication of a runaway slave named Jim Gray from a courthouse by prominent civic leaders of the time. Three of the civic leaders, John Hossack, Dr. Joseph Stout and James Stout, later stood trial in Chicago for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

Ottawa Train Station

Ottawa Station (IATA: XDS) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 200 Tremblay Road, is served by Via Rail inter-city trains connecting it to Toronto and Montreal. OC Transpo’s Train rapid transit station (which, despite its name, is a bus stop) carries railway passengers into the city centre or into the eastern suburbs.

The station was designed by John B. Parkin & Associates and was built in 1966. It won a Massey Medal for architecture in 1967. In 2000, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada named the station as one of the top 500 buildings produced in Canada during the last millennium.

Ottawa’s trains once came into a large downtown Union Station a short distance from the Parliament buildings, but with the replacement of the railway tracks beside the Rideau Canal with the National Capital Commission’s Colonel By Drive scenic parkway, the former station has been converted into the Government Conference Centre.

Connections

KLM runs a connecting shuttle bus from this station to Montreal Airport, exclusive for the airline's customers only.