Ottawa's recent "Transportation Summit" called by the city's new mayor was the stuff of dreams, and only dreams, unfortunately.

First, there's the mayor's motive for pulling in mayors and officials from every town and village in West Quebec and eastern Ontario. Mayor O'Brien, having campaigned on the promise to run the city like a business is finding that a city is not a business at all. The crash-and-burn of Ottawa's new transportation plan, losing provincial funding and opening the city to a significant lawsuit from the rail supplier, needed repair, and the mayor's opting for a showy conference instead of a hard-nosed re-visit of Ottawa's transit system is disappointing -- and fruitless.

Second, the bubble of promise and enthusiasm created by all the talk of light rail connections, not only within Ottawa's new boundaries but networking the entire region, being absolutely unrealistic, will collapse in delusion and disappointment -- just what's needed in our depressed rural areas. Regional rail-line talk is totally unrealistic for one simple fact: there is not the ridership to support such a system.

It's wonderfull to dream of riding to work in Vancouver's sky train with its automated ticket sales and speedy travel, but "built it and they will come" is not a business plan. A skytrain, light rail, or a horse-drawn carriage system requires bodies in seats every day. There are not enough people to suppport conventional bus travel from Wakefield to Ottawa or Shawville to Hull, so where are the thousands, tens of thousands, who would be needed to support a rail system coming from? Not from Wakefield or Shawville.

Some participants at the Summit argued that building commuter trains will attract urbanites to the rural areas, thus providing support for the rail system -- twenty years after its built. That's not how government works. There is no budget line on any civic project for "Twenty years from now." Governments can't afford to invest today's few dollars in the hopes of reaping benefits way down the line. Today's dollars are needed yesterday, not tomorrow, and Mayor O'Brien's promise of no new taxes only nails this coffin tighter. The collapsing infrastructure across North America is proof that the "no tax is best" college yell is likely the stupidest political view going. So are the citizens of Ottawa, Gatineau, West Quebec and eastern Ontario willing to cough up a much larger tax payment than usual to pay for unused rail capacity?

And is rail really the best option? Rail is certainly the dreamboat of transportation experts and not-so-experts, but rails are expensive to lay or even shore-up, and, most importantly, rails are fixed. Great to build a line up to Wakefield or Shawville, but what if we find the population boom is on the Cantley side of the river? Or is in Thurso? Rails are not movable, as are bus lines like Gatineau's Rapidbus. Buses have their drawbacks, but rapid bus transit has proven itself adaptable, flexible, and cost-effective.

It's a good general policy to shoot for the best, to expect the most, and to be absolutely positive, although doing so is also a bit like pledging allegiance to motherhood and homemade pie. If asking for and expecting the platium-level pay-off leads to getting nothing at all, is that the wisest approach?

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Copyright © 2007 Fred Ryan/Log Cabin Chronicles/09.07