Orléans commuter has learned to accept lower standard 2-hour trip

A commuter making her way from Parliament station to Orléans says she's spending about twice as long getting to and from work.

On Tuesday, the LRT's ninth day of being shut down, CBC All In A Day's Halima Sogbesan joined Angela Counter for her trip home to get a first-hand view of the experience.

The total trip was nearly two hours door-to-door, including walks to and from the bus stop and one hour and 42 minutes spent on buses.

The most shocking thing about the trip — which included waiting 30 minutes at Blair for her bus — was that by Counter's standards, it wasn't all that bad.

"You sort of learn to accept a lower standard over time," Counter said. "So when there are pleasant surprises, it seems better than it is."

At times she's rented a downtown Airbnb when the LRT isn't working, she said. Counter is now looking into e-bikes and car-sharing because she has no trust in the transit system.

"I'm sure they're trying, but it's shocking that in four years it's still this bad," she said. "I've lost so much trust in the system, I think my perception of it has gotten a lot worse."

Timeline of a long commute

The commute started at the R1 bus stop near Parliament station, where 10 to 15 people were already waiting and Counter got on a non-articulated bus.

The wait wasn't too bad, Counter said, because she was able to get on the first bus that showed up — instead of waiting because there was no room.

The bus she had taken that morning from her home to Blair station was articulated but only had 14 riders, she said. The R1 she caught at Blair, however, was non-articulated and had about 60 people on it.

"Why are the articulated buses still on the small routes?" Counter asked.

Once on the bus, it took 15 minutes to get to the University of Ottawa, just two stops on the LRT.

The bus continued to St-Laurent station, where Counter wondered why access to some stations was so delayed. It took seven or eight minutes to get in and out of St-Laurent on this trip.

Counter said it's usually a 25- to 30-minute bus ride from Parliament to Blair, but she's never sure how long it will be.

"I think the word is unpredictable. Sometimes it takes a very long time on the R1 and other times it's OK. This was an OK ride," she told Sogbesan, adding the trip takes longer than it did on the express buses before the LRT opened.

At Blair, they wait 30 minutes for Counter's bus — a wait she could usually avoid with more predictable timing on the LRT.

When the pair part ways, it's been one hour and 42 minutes, not including walks to and from the bus stop at either end of her journey. Overall, the trip took nearly two hours to do what used to take half the time.

Less time with her kids

Counter said this latest LRT shutdown — and countless other service interruptions — has disrupted some of the most important parts of her life.

"If I'm on the bus, I am not with my kids," Counter said, adding she's changed her entire schedule to make up for the additional commute.

"I will be continuing to leave too early, like I did this morning, and I will probably be leaving work too early, like I did this afternoon."

And at the end of her commute, Counter said one of the hardest parts is knowing she'll be doing it again the next day.

"It's too much. It's too long," she said. "I'm tired and I'm ready to be home."