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The federal government announced Monday that it would be providing federal public servants with 385 work spaces across five sites in the National Capital Region, a move that Coun. Carol Anne Meehan says is a good start, but isn’t quite enough to entirely combat Ottawa’s growing issues with traffic congestion.

The pilot project, called GCcoworking, is being spearheaded by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and seeks to provide federal government employees with flexible workplaces separate from their regular offices or homes.

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Free to use, the stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. Employees can either reserve them ahead of time online or just drop in.

Photo by Charles Drouin / Public Services and Procurement Canada

“We have a vision where we would like any public servant to be able to work anywhere, any time,” says Sonia Powell, director general of Workplace Solutions at PSPC. “It’s a concept for what future work will look like in federal public service.”

Two of the five hub sites, L’Esplanade Laurier in Centretown and 335 River Rd. in the south end, officially opened their doors to employees on Monday. Other locations at Place d’Orléans, 555 Legget Dr. in Kanata and 480 boulevard de la Cité in Gatineau are to open in August.

“When we selected the sites, we chose one central location as a convenient meeting place (so) people from several departments (can) come together,” says Powell, who has been working with the GCcoworking concept for three years. “We also located them in the suburbs … so that people could have an option that’s closer to home.”

Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia

Meehan sees an added benefit from the hubs, saying they will “absolutely” ease traffic congestion in the region.

“One of my campaign promises was a solution to our congestion mess … We don’t have the money to put in roads and new rapid bus routes. The only thing we can do is make it easier for people to leave their cars at home,” Meehan says. “The majority of the traffic out here are people driving their cars to get into the federal, provincial and city government offices.”