MOOSE CONSORTIUM’S TEN URGENT STEPS TO SOLVE THE
GREATER NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION’S TRANSIT PROBLEM

Immediate Steps to Assure Public Safety, and Public Recourse to Compensation

Dedicated public safety management, safety assurance compensation policy, and prompt retro-fits. 

A) A passenger hazard reporting system via phone app, and via kiosk at every station.

B) Public safety review by comprehensively certified safety professionals of stations, approaches, trains, tunnels, maintenance facilities, etc. with transparent reporting and response.

C) Urgent installations (non-slip surfaces, methods to avoid people falling on tracks or in front of buses, sheltering, water drainage, railway switch heaters, signalling, video monitoring), with an ‘Ombuds Office’ which would also facilitate passenger insurance when reasonable.

Prepare Three Options for Early Acquisition of Trains of Proven Reliability

Only equipment with a proven “track record” for the NCR climate will be considered.

A) Examine options for industry-proven trains (Diesel trains can run inside tunnels with an exhaust extraction system.)

B) Train supplier to provide turn-key operations and maintenance (as done in Montreal and Toronto).

C) Assemble an advisory panel of experienced operations personnel from rail transit operations in others municipalities with similar

Public Right to Know, Collaborative Situational Awareness, Standards of Ethics and Compliance

Default “open data” policy. Integration with MASAS

A) Formalize the public’s right to know as a key tenet of operations, as both a policy commitment and a genuine service.

B) Contribute pro-actively to the Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System (MASAS). 

C) Reporting in line with the “International Ethics Standard (IES)”, ISO 19600:2014 “Compliance Management System Standard” and ISO 9000 “Quality Management Standard”.

Strong Legal Action to Restore Federal Regulation and Enforcement

Revoke Transport Canada’s exemption for the Confederation Line, which enabled the City of Ottawa’s failed experiment in self-regulation.

A) Public process to convince the federal Minister of Transportation to rescind the “Transport Canada Delegation Agreement” (dated 1 October 2011) which has allowed the City of Ottawa to self-regulate the east-west LRT line, even though all other OC Transpo and STO operations are federally regulated. 

B) Pursue ‘Writ of Mandamus‘ actions as required to ensure that transportation regulatory authorities genuinely fulfill their public sector mandates where their failure to do so, or past violations of the law, are compromising GNCR passenger rail transportation development potential.

C) Proactive steps to keep the public informed of all such legal actions, to ensure public access to all documentation, and to respond to questions or concerns.

‘Rail-Powered Property – Property-Powered Rail’ (RPP-PPR) Open Market Development Model

No requirement for additional federal, provincial or city financing, debt or taxes. No requirement to raise passenger fares.

A) The “Rail-Powered Property – Property-Powered Rail” Open Market Development Model is a market-led approach in which property owners, investors and developers create a network of “Linked Localities” with high quality passenger rail connectivity. 

B) New technology and ‘smart contracting’ are used to link railway revenue to actual property value increments reasonably attributed to the provision of train service at a scale which can liberate rail finance from dependence upon government subsidies, public debt, taxes, and exclusivity.

C) In a positive feedback loop, the availability and quality of the rail service drives property value, and property value drives the return on investment.