OC Transpo contingency plan worked well
Posted Feb 8, 2012 08:07:52 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OC Transpo has a contingency plan when it comes to breakdowns or blockages on the Transitway according to Ottawa Transit Commission member, Rainer Bloess. He tells 1310News, “there is in place a protocol….fire, police paramedics, everyone gets on scene to make sure any victims are properly taken care of”.
Both buses were fully loaded and Ottawa paramedics Superintendent Paul Morneau told 1310News they took nine women and three men to hospital and assessed many others on scene at around 4:30 p.m.
Riders were left stranded for up to three hours.Travis told 1310News the delays made his commute longer than usual.
“It […] put me back 20 minutes, to a half an hour,” he said.
While Amanda said, “I’m waiting for my sister, I was supposed to meet up with her,” adding she was annoyed with the major congestion at Tunney’s Pasture Station bewteen Bayview and Westboro stations. “What usually takes 10 minutes [took] about 35.”
The big problem was buses already on the Transitway who were trapped by the closure according to Bloess. “Once you’re in the funnel, as quickly as possible, we try to get them off the transitway because they’re not going to get past the accident”.
Bloess says “it shows you how important transit is, how many buses there are…how many people are being moved around”.
As one of the buses was being towed from the scene witnesses could see numerous scratches along the driver’s side.
The Transitway was closed for more than two hours during the police investigation. Police have yet to discover the cause of the crash.
