A tram component is necessary for transporting riders from Gatineau's western sector to the Gatineau and Ottawa downtowns.

In Gatineau's western portion, local bus routes would get riders from the outskirts to the tram stations. Those riders would then take the tram to downtown Ottawa. Sectors such as Gatineau and Hull need a significant number of buses to get riders to downtown Ottawa. That number will rise in the coming years. This also applies to riders in the western sector in the case of hybrid scenarios along the axis served by a bus rapid transit system.

Studies were done to determine the most efficient way of getting those riders to downtown Ottawa. Several options were looked at, including:

• taking everyone there by tram, or;
• transporting all the riders that are not close to the tram by bus to downtown Ottawa.

Taking everyone there by tram

If only trams crossed to downtown Ottawa, all riders from the Gatineau and Hull sectors would have to transfer to it in downtown Gatineau. In the case of hybrid scenarios, riders along the axis served by bus would also have to make an additional transfer.

In that case, one or more stations would be needed in downtown Gatineau for all the transfers. As well, several riders would then have to transfer again to the O-Train if their destination is beyond downtown Ottawa.

Finally, additional tram cars would have to be acquired to cover the short distance between the two downtowns, which would mean significant additional costs.

This option was discarded because it would overly penalize riders, not to mention present significant challenges in terms of layout and costs.

Transporting all the riders that are not close to the tram by bus to downtown Ottawa

On the other hand, if in addition to the trams, all buses continued on to Ottawa, the Portage Bridge and downtown Ottawa would soon once again be saturated by the tremendous number of buses on the road. Thus, this option was also discarded.

The best compromise in terms of ensuring quality service and efficient operations is one where only a certain number of buses would continue on to Ottawa.

Thus, the main bus routes, such as those running along the Rapibus or the principal axes to Hull, would continue on to Ottawa.

On the Portage Bridge, buses would use the tram lanes and then, once in downtown Ottawa, loop around three circuits.

Comfortable transfer stations would be set up for the routes stopping in downtown Gatineau to enable efficient transfers to Ottawa.

Various aspects are taken into account for the detailed analysis, including:

System Requirements

• Straightest possible route for a tram.
• Efficient connection with the O-Train stations.
• Attractive system for riders (reliable, stops close to places of interest).
• Double tracked. 

City of Ottawa's Plans for Downtown Streets

• Queen Street redesigned as a complete street to accommodate more pedestrians.
• Sparks Street revival plans.
• Albert and Slater repurposed to include active transportation.
• Cycling projects on: Bay (Wellington to Laurier West), and Wellington (Portage to Elgin) – a joint NCC-City of Ottawa project (in accordance with the City of Ottawa Cycling Plan).