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I'm such a freaking know-it-all and logistics queen that I've decided that aside from telling you all how they should be handling the crowds downtown, I will also be sending them a letter.
Basically, as a summary, due to the overwhelming mob scene, I was pushed to the ground on several occasions while people flooded towards buses to board them. Sometimes these people didn't even wait for the buses to stop, they swarmed the bus, made it stop and then boarded in areas that they were not supposed to be boarding from. Mackenzie-King bus stop was more or less closed off, which meant that people either boarded in the downtown core and were spirited away to Hurdman before resuming course (smart move), or they boarded at Laurier. I was at Laurier, since it was the only logical place to go from the Market. Close to 10,000 people agreed with me. So basically picture a ton of people spilled onto the road the entire strip between Laurier and the Mackenzie-King Bridge. There was pushing, shoving, screaming, assaults on police and OC Transpo workers, and general mayhem. In my opinion there are two major things that organizers should have done, and should do in the future.
1) The NCC should not just do the fireworks and finish the evening there since this encourages everyone to leave at the exact same time. Okay, so some people are able to walk to their homes, and others opt to go straight to the bars, but most families, teenagers, shiftworkers, and people who have had quite enough to drink that day will form a part of the exodus of the approximately 300,000 people that the NCC estimates attending. Back home in Pickering, the city sees maybe 75,000 people come out to the Canada Day events, and they do something I consider brilliant! They have a band come on after the fireworks. You may ask, "What does this have to do with the price of beans?", but it's logical if you think about it. Some people will have a desire to get the hell out of dodge right after it's done, that's fine, but a roughly proportionate amount of people will have a desire to stay and listen to the band for a bit. People will start to trickle out. It's one of the main motivating factors behind the push to extend public house hours in Britain (http://www.debatabase.org/details.asp?topicID=35). People have noticed that problems start when you toss a whole bunch of people onto the street at the same time, especially when they are drunk or excitable.
Recap: Provide free entertainment for one hour after the fireworks so that there will be a trend towards trickling out, rather than mobbing the streets.
2) Holy jeebus OCTranspo, it is not the first year you have run the bus service on Canada Day and I cannot imagine the mobscene last night was unique. Have you ever heard of BARRICADES? They are this wonderful invention you can set up to block traffic and people, in this instance, I would have to say that it would be counterproductive to put them up next to the sidewalk, but rather at the edge of the first lane of traffic (out of two in that direction). This means that people would be unable to swarm the bus, police would have to monitor a section of barricade and not have to keep forcing people off of the road, it also means that buses would move faster without having people in front of it, and entry would be slightly more controlled since a person would only be able to board from the end of the barricade. People also behave a little better when they think they are in line.
I believe that had at least #2 had been followed, I would not have been trampled.
Comments and further ideas are definitely welcome, because while I had an enjoyable day, getting home was stupid on a cosmic scale.
Basically, as a summary, due to the overwhelming mob scene, I was pushed to the ground on several occasions while people flooded towards buses to board them. Sometimes these people didn't even wait for the buses to stop, they swarmed the bus, made it stop and then boarded in areas that they were not supposed to be boarding from. Mackenzie-King bus stop was more or less closed off, which meant that people either boarded in the downtown core and were spirited away to Hurdman before resuming course (smart move), or they boarded at Laurier. I was at Laurier, since it was the only logical place to go from the Market. Close to 10,000 people agreed with me. So basically picture a ton of people spilled onto the road the entire strip between Laurier and the Mackenzie-King Bridge. There was pushing, shoving, screaming, assaults on police and OC Transpo workers, and general mayhem. In my opinion there are two major things that organizers should have done, and should do in the future.
1) The NCC should not just do the fireworks and finish the evening there since this encourages everyone to leave at the exact same time. Okay, so some people are able to walk to their homes, and others opt to go straight to the bars, but most families, teenagers, shiftworkers, and people who have had quite enough to drink that day will form a part of the exodus of the approximately 300,000 people that the NCC estimates attending. Back home in Pickering, the city sees maybe 75,000 people come out to the Canada Day events, and they do something I consider brilliant! They have a band come on after the fireworks. You may ask, "What does this have to do with the price of beans?", but it's logical if you think about it. Some people will have a desire to get the hell out of dodge right after it's done, that's fine, but a roughly proportionate amount of people will have a desire to stay and listen to the band for a bit. People will start to trickle out. It's one of the main motivating factors behind the push to extend public house hours in Britain (http://www.debatabase.org/details.asp?topicID=35). People have noticed that problems start when you toss a whole bunch of people onto the street at the same time, especially when they are drunk or excitable.
Recap: Provide free entertainment for one hour after the fireworks so that there will be a trend towards trickling out, rather than mobbing the streets.
2) Holy jeebus OCTranspo, it is not the first year you have run the bus service on Canada Day and I cannot imagine the mobscene last night was unique. Have you ever heard of BARRICADES? They are this wonderful invention you can set up to block traffic and people, in this instance, I would have to say that it would be counterproductive to put them up next to the sidewalk, but rather at the edge of the first lane of traffic (out of two in that direction). This means that people would be unable to swarm the bus, police would have to monitor a section of barricade and not have to keep forcing people off of the road, it also means that buses would move faster without having people in front of it, and entry would be slightly more controlled since a person would only be able to board from the end of the barricade. People also behave a little better when they think they are in line.
I believe that had at least #2 had been followed, I would not have been trampled.
Comments and further ideas are definitely welcome, because while I had an enjoyable day, getting home was stupid on a cosmic scale.
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The Rideau centre in the afternoon was hideous for trying to get through.
I wish people understood the art of self-organized traffic flow
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What brings that rant on: Two years ago, I was working on Canada Day near South Keys. After my shift ended at 11, I was attempting to take a 97 downtown so I could go to my then-boyfriend's place. I was waiting at the South Keys bus stop for almost an hour to get a 97 downtown. So were a bunch of other people. The kicker? There were lots of buses coming from downtown and the Canada Day festivities, jammed with people. They'd drop everybody off there, go around the Hunt Club loop, and head back downtown - EMPTY - leaving all of us who needed to go that way behind. All it would've taken is one of those approximately 20 buses that drove by at that point to stop, pick us all up, and then deliver us to places on the way downtown, taking no more than two extra minutes. But no.
What finally ended up happening so we would get some service, we flagged down a driver whose route was ending at Greenboro (so an 84, 1, 147 or something like that), and he reported the situation. Only then did we finally get a bus.
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I have no idea what their schedule was, I saw several 8s go by (I still want to kill the vast number of people who were using it to get to Billings Bridge, when there are people that needed to ride it to get home), tons of 95s, and a few 97s.
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-mellian
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I intentionally skipped the downtown festivities cause I've had enough years of fighting the insane crowds. Honestly I've seen fireworks before. aint worth it anymore. But I still got stuck trying to get a bus out to the meeting I was going to instead.
The day before, I'd seen signs posted on Elgin street that the Elgin stops would not be served and the #14 route would be re-routed. So I waited at Albert & Metcalf where every other Rideau bus was going by and it never came. Almost an hour and a half later I Finally took the 85 to a spot on Carling and by 9 oclock I was on a 14. That's where I learned that despite their advance notices, the DAY OF they'd made a last minute change and ran the bus on its regular route.
I'm still pissed about that. Like you said, July 1st is a pretty regular event in Ottawa, we've been doing it long enough you'd think they'd be able to give better details on which buses will be re-routed and where people have to go to catch up with them... And you'd think they could have those details cemented out a little earlier in advance.
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"Even if you choose to sue us and recieve a decent settlement in the matter (keep in mind that most lawsuits do NOT give you the big fat awards you see in the states) it would still cost us less that to lay on the extra police and workers needed to implement your plan - not to mention that if we do not have neough barricades to do it they will cost $$ too..."
It always boils down to cash, which stinks.
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I think I should probably go see a doctor actually to document the injuries and "mantal anguish". Yes, I am actually extremely distraught over the situation, Josh is kind of freaked out, he kept asking me if I would be alright if he went home. I'm not unstable, but I've spent a disproportionate amount of my day crying.
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