Plans for London’s Bus Rapid Transit are coming into focus

City councillors got a more in-depth look at plans for London’s Bus Rapid Transit system Thursday.

Officials presented an update to the Rapid Transit Implementation Working Group, revealing more about the blueprints for the routes and challenges they’re facing.

Among proposed changes to London infrastructure will be a restructuring of King Street.

“It’s a one-way street with two lanes for vehicular traffic plus on-street parking. We will turn it into a street that prioritizes rapid transit with dedicated lanes going eastbound and westbound, with one lane for vehicular traffic,” said Brian Hollingworth with design firm IBI.

The changes to King Street were chosen over using York Street for BRT, as it is the only significant eastbound and westbound corridor downtown.

“There’s a thinking that York Street’s good because it connects to the Via Station, but in reality today, there’s only five Via trains a day, so you’re sort of penalizing that worker, that office worker walking an extra few hundred metres down from York Street,” said Hollingworth.

There are also plans for a 900 metre long “Richmond Tunnel” that would run along Richmond Street, starting at St. James Street and ending at Central Avenue. However, councillor Paul Hubert has expressed concerns that the tunnel may be too far for some people to walk, but officials say public transit will still run above the tunnel.

Concerns have also been raised about the Wellington Street corridor, which officials say may need improved alignment and widening.Work on that area would prove to be difficult because the four lanes already there have busy traffic.

The project has a projected cost of about $560 million; $125 million of which the city would pay.

“The City of London’s contribution to this project is actually much greater than just the $125 million in capital costs,” said Kate Graham, Director of Community and Economic Innovation.

“We would be covering all of the ongoing operating, as well as all of the other infrastructure investments that the city continues to make in all of our other transportation systems in the city.”

Graham says funding from the province and Ottawa has not been secured at this time.

There will be a Public Information Centre set up at the Central Library on February 23rd from 5 to 8p.m. for Londoners to see detailed information about the BRT master plan.