Will Ottawa be on the hook for a $2.3-million LRT fix? OC Transpo doesn’t know

This winter was another low point for Ottawa's LRT. Months of single car service, as metal flaked off inside a key component, forcing most cars out of commission. OC Transpo had a plan. This April, they told councillors who would pay. The city's contractor, Rideau Transit Group. Who's paying for all of these additional measures? So RTG and Alstom are wholly responsible for the design and design manufacture of the vehicles in the system. So those are costs for them to bear. The plan relied on sensors known as smart bucks that can detect problems in near real time. But it turns out that Rideau Transit Group didn't bear the 2.3 million dollar cost. Taxpayers did. The head of OC Transpo says that he wanted to move fast. We saw there was a problem. We took the initiative. For me, didn't want to have discussions about who's responsible for what. For me, it was like, when I got here, we have to fix it. We'll have discussions about some of the costs later on. The smart bugs are now on 59 train cars. They helped OC Transpo get back to double car service this spring and opened the door for testing the East Extension to Orleans. For Leary, the money was worth it. And I just was very adamant, we're going to stop moving forward and doing it. It's getting to yes, as opposed to having discussions about who's going to pay for what. You know, this is an expensive program. You know, I thought it was the right thing to do. They've been working with us. They did the installation for us. We purchased it. And it's helped us get to where we are today. But councillors are still hoping Rideau Transit Group will pay taxpayers back. Its contract with the city makes it responsible for maintaining the system. It has to carry out those duties, including procuring equipment, at no cost to the city. They are responsible for the design, the build, and the maintenance. This is a maintenance issue. It's not a common issue that we've seen across transit systems. And we needed to have... You know, procure those smart mugs in order to make sure that we restored capacity and return service to customers as quickly as possible. I understand completely why the city paid that $2.3 million, but again, it's my expectation that we will recover that money. But Leary doesn't seem confident that RTG will cover the cost. I'm unsure, to be honest with you. My work with them is to have them maintain it. I buy it, you maintain it. This representative of a transit rider advocacy group found that statement surprising. Like Carr, she thinks the contract is clear. The only reason we have smart bugs at all is because the train was not working as intended. And you would think that to get the train working as intended or ensure that it is, that would be a cost that would go to the consortium, not to the city. We just didn't consider so many eventualities in the contract. And every single time the city is on the short end of that stick. Here's another thing. It still isn't clear how much OC Transpo paid RTG during single car service. Did it withhold monthly payments? If so, by how much and for how long? OC Transpo still won't say. As for the smart bugs and the possibility of reimbursement, OC Transpo says legal and commercial discussions are still ongoing and they can't comment further. Arthur White-Crummey, CBC News, Ottawa.