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The city will put 40 buses back on the road and has freed up an additional $3.5 million as a “short-term fix” for its beleaguered O-Train after Mayor Jim Watson apologized to commuters Friday for the system’s poor performance.

“To say I am furious with the poor performance of our LRT system is an understatement,” Watson tweeted during Friday’s morning commute when delays again plagued commuters. “Both RTG and RTM will be held to account for the problems that have frustrated our very patient transit users.”

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Rideau Transit Group is the consortium that built the Confederation Line, while Rideau Transit Maintenance holds the 30-year contract to maintain the system.

Watson went on to “apologize for the awful experience so many residents have experienced over the last few weeks.”

The city is withholding $2.8 million from its October payment to RTG as a penalty for the poor performance.

“The first thing I heard when I woke up was that there were two problems with the LRT,” Watson said in an interview Friday afternoon. “Quite frankly, I was frustrated like I’ve never been before in this job. I wanted an action plan that was going to see some tangible results starting next week. I wanted to make sure that RTG and RTM got hit in the pocket book for their lack of performance. We’re not a satisfied customer.”