26 October 2023 Testing Ottawa's Potential for Fixture Day Trips

  The Montreal Bicycle Club (MBC) runs "Fixture" rides around the city as well as a variety of other destinations.  The club is devoted to doing this in the most Eco-friendly way possible and often combines bicycle with train travel. Ottawa is a 2 hour train ride from Montreal and could be good day trip bicycle destination.  A.T. took a solo trip to Ottawa to test its potential for future MBC Fixtures.

He started by taking an early morning (6:20 am) train from Gare Centrale to the Ottawa train station. On Weekdays, there five trains in each direction between Montreal and Ottawa.  This early morning train arrives at 8:20 am.  The planned return leaves at 16:07 getting back to In order  Montreal just before supper.  The timing of the trains seem to work for MBC Fixtures.

Via rail removed all full size bicycle service within the corridor at the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Some of the MBC members have been sending letters to them asking when this would restart.  Their reply has been that once the 32 new Siemens trains, which will have in car bicycle racks are in service, all will be well.  Rumor had it that one of these new yellow trains is now in service on the Ottawa - Montreal - Quebec City line. A.T.  hoped that he might get to try out one that day.  Other lines in the corridor will be starting to use these new trains as well in the near future.

   However, this early morning train to Ottawa was not one of the new Siemens trains. Fortunately A.T. had taken his folding bike knowing it would be impossible to be possible to use a full size bike on this trip. He longed for the days (Oct 19-21 2017) when he could take a bike on a train to Ottawa then ride it back to Montreal.

  Similar to the new REM system in Montreal, Ottawa has a  O-train on the new Confederation (Line 1) in Ottawa.  A.T. looked forward to testing the Fixture potential this new line as well. Strictly speaking, the O train's Tremblay station, does not directly connect to the Via Rail Station, but rather a short outdoor walk away.

  The Tremblay station allowed A.T. to test if his Presto card (purchased last January in Toronto) would work as promised in Ottawa.  It instantly opened the gate, and the next day the associated phone App updated the ride information and made an funds withdrawal using the Auto Load feature.

  The Presto card system, based on a cash balance rather than tickets, is much better than the older Opus card used in Montreal which has no phone App, uses tickets rather than cash and requires multiple cards in order to get full service in every region around the city.  However, card system aside, Montreal's on island residents free public transit for seniors has no equivalent  in Ottawa or Toronto.

   After taking a short ride on the O-train, he got off at the Rideau Station and rode about downtown Ottawa searching for an appealing breakfast location.

 

    Once out of the station A.T. noticed immediately that most bike path users in Ottawa are riding e-scooters. It seems that Montreal and Ottawa have chosen different paths for micromobility. Montreal's BIXI system has about 10,000 bikes spread over 900 stations. Bicycles far outnumber e-scooters in Montreal and approximately half the bicylces seem on its paths are BIXIs. For a short period of time before the Pandemic Montreal also had a e-scooter rental system which was abandoned.  Ottawa once had a BIXI system but that has been abandoned.  The city now  operates an e-scooter only system.

Hunger satisfied, he rode across the Ottawa river into Gatineau  to check the bike paths there.

That path led to what he later found was the Canadian Museum of History.  The Capital region has a large number of potential museums as Fixture destinations..

Turning back Westwards due to construction he biked over to Gatineau Park.  A.T. believes has the best forest bike paths in the Capital region. The park deserves a fuller exploration of its potential for the MBC.

A.T. satisfied himself that Gatineau park is easily accessed by bicycle from the Ottawa train station and offers a wide selection of forested bike paths.

Returning to the Ottawa side of the river over a second way, the Chief William Commanda Bridge.  Which is close to the O-train lines 1 and 2 (Confederation and Trillium) junction at Bayview Station.

A.T. decided to check out a second Museum, the Museum of Nature, and actually go inside the building this time.

This museum has a many animal dioramas.  Very nice displays and deserving of further exploration.

Soon it was time to follow the bike path alongside O-train line back to the Ottawa train station.

O-train Tremblay station with Via Rail Ottawa station in background

Bike path that runs alongside Confederation O-train line near Tremblay Station

  This time A.T. was in luck, it was the new Siemens train for the ride back to Montreal.

A.T. had a discussion with the ticket person as to whether or not a folding bicycle was required to be put into a bag or not when surprisingly Alice Hawkins appeared just in time to rescue him.  The folding bike was stored on the train, sans sac, without any problem.

A.T. was anxious to see the full size bike storage long promised by Via.  The train consisted of 5 cars, two of which had combination bike / storage  racks that could hold two bikes.

  The total capacity of this new Ottawa - Montreal train will be four full size bikes.  Almost enough for a MBC outing if we reserve all the places far enough in advance before anyone else.  

  Although Ottawa offers great potential as a MBC Fixture destination, it seems it will be many more years before Via once again offers a viable method of full size bicycle transport on the corridor for any but a lucky few.

  Before the Pandemic Via offered only limited bicycle transport  within the corridor. Most trains did not have any baggage cars.  The only destination that offered a early morning Montreal departure on a baggage capable train followed by a late afternoon return of the same type of train was Quebec City.  Hopefully new train combinations for this city as well as Ottawa and Kingston will appear soon.

   Amtrak alternatives from Montreal are no better. Amtrak's Adirondack service Montreal to New York which restarted recently also does not permit full size bikes. The Amtrak Vermonter, which runs from St Albans Vt to Washington DC has a maximum of 4 bikes per train. (This train was used by the MBC on a trip in April 2018. They reserved months in advance for a non peak period in order to be sure to get 3 reserved storage racks)

  It is sad that bicycle tourism advocates have been unable to better service from Via Rail. Montreal likes to boast that it has the best bicycle network in North America and yet  EXO, Metro and REM commuter trains remain the only way of combining train / full size bike travel for cyclists based in that city.  In order to use the Via corridor or Amtrak trains the only viable option is to use a folding bike or to rent a bicycle at the destination.

   Ottawa, Quebec City, Kingston, Toronto and New York are the cities  that can be reached in a single day form Montreal.   There are no public rental bikes in Ottawa, Quebec City or Kingston. Local bike shops are the only possibility.  Toronto, which does have BIXI (Toronto Bike Share) system as well an extensive GO train network is too far for a day trip. It does however offer great potential as a center for multi day excursions.  Although a 12 hour train trip from Montreal, New York also offers great potential.

  Folding Brompton Bikes can be rented in Montreal from Dumoulin Bicyclettes  near the Jean Talon Metro Station and taken by Via to any of these cities.  Unfortunately the only viable non car/bus based options for members who would like to do a day trip to one of these cities and do not have a folding bike is to rent a one from Dumoulin or a rent a full size bike from a shop at the destination city.