STO Bus Lay-bys

There is a long history of problems with the STO buses using King Edward Avenue as a lay-by. Many years ago, the STO had a bus station specifically for parking buses waiting for their routes to begin. That station was closed and sold. As a result, the STO began idling its buses all along King Edward Avenue. At times, there are as many as 20-40 buses lined up along the avenue. The residents along the street have had to deal with noise and diesel pouring in through their windows from these buses. There are only about 2-3 metres of space between the idling buses and the homes along the street. As a result of our hard work, meeting were held in June 2007 to deal with this problem. It included the STO, City of Ottawa, MP Mauril Belanger, Councillor Bedard, and representatives from the King Edward Avenue Task Force. Their goal was to completely remove buses from the avenue. This was a big step and another big victory for the task force. A lay-by was recently completed including a bathroom facility near the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge with funds from the current King Edward renewal project.