Ottawa – March 08, 2010 – Councillor Steve Desroches and Pierre Poilievre, MP Nepean Carleton are pleased to announce that the ECOPASS is now being made available to RCMP employees across the national capital region. Since their move to the South Merivale Business Park, City staff and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials have been working closely to provide RCMP employees with the popular OC Transpo ECOPASS.
The pass will be made available to RCMP employees in stages due to administrative requirements. Registration is now open to the first wave of eligible employees and is being encouraged through internal newsletters and sign-up sessions.
OC Transpo’s ECOPASS will provide RCMP staff with the ease of a payroll-deducted, annual transit pass that will make using OC Transpo simple and convenient.
"With the surge of new staff arriving at the RCMP Headquarters, it was extremely important to make public transit as accessible as possible for the relocated staff," said Councillor Desroches. "I have been working closely with the RCMP and OC Transpo to find suitable ways of improving the transit services offered to the employees at this facility and to the surrounding community. I am encouraged with the progress made so far."
The ECOPASS program is very successful because of its simplicity. Since its conception, dozens of local employers and thousands of employees have joined the ECOPASS program. The ECOPASS offers up to a 15% savings compared to a monthly pass and eliminate the need to purchase monthly pass vouchers.
"The extension of the ECOPASS to RCMP personnel is a great development. It will save money for RCMP workers, take traffic off the street and help the environment," said Pierre Poilievre, MP. "Congratulations to Councillor Desroches for initiating this improvement."
The ECOPASS will compliment the new transit routes created last fall to help bring the RCMP employees to their new location. The new routes included a route from Place d'Orleans Station; a route from Gatineau; and additional service on Route 176, which connects the RCMP to the Fallowfield Station.
Other transit improvements in Barrhaven include:
- The future completion of the Southwest Transitway Extension through the Federal/Provincial Stimulus Fund;
- The Strandherd Armstrong Bridge through the Build Canada Fund;
- The Chapman Mills Park and Ride at Strandherd Drive and Woodroffe Avenue;
- The Longfields Drive extension to Bill Leathem Drive, which was opened to traffic in September 2009;
- The Longfields Drive extension to Jockvale Road, construction scheduled for summer 2010; and
- The Strandherd Drive extension and Prince of Wales improvements which will be the western link to the future Strandherd Armstrong Bridge corridor with Riverside South
The RCMP is in the process of relocating its Headquarters to 3000 Merivale Road, in the South Merivale Business Park. Their move began last fall and will continue through 2010. It is anticipated that by year-end, nearly 2000 employees will be working at the Barrhaven location.