London Downtown Business Association commits to surveying members on rapid transit

Downtown business owners are applauding the London Downtown Business Association for agreeing to consult and survey members on bus rapid transit (BRT).

Thursday’s board meeting included some tense moments, but ended with both sides acknowledging missteps during the SHIFT consultation process.

The request for a LDBA member survey was made by Down Shift London, a group of residents and merchants who are opposed to London’s rapid transit plan, as it submitted a petition against SHIFT that included over 130 signatures.

Members of the LDBA board committed Thursday to conducting the survey, but admitted it won’t be crafted until after a meeting of the civic works committee on March 27 and a meeting of council on April 4.

City politicians need to vote on a series of recommendations by the rapid transit implementation working group. It agreed to have staff develop two alternative bus rapid transit routes, discuss impact and mitigation strategies with businesses, and hold another public participation meeting.

Depending on how the committee and council vote on the recommendations, a decision to finalize the BRT routes may be delayed until June. Council was initially expected to finalize the route recommendations made by staff in late March, but the proposed routes have since become one of the most contentious aspects of the rapid transit plan.

READ MORE: Rapid transit plans draw the ire of downtown London businesses

“We need to be very careful,” said Downtown London general manager Janette MacDonald. “We want to make sure our information is relevant [and] timely, and so I think we’re going to have to work with a lot of our members to formulate the survey questions.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We need to be very careful," said Downtown London general manager Janette MacDonald. "We want to make sure our information is relevant [and] timely, and so I think we're going to have to work with a lot of our members to formulate the survey questions."

MacDonald expects the survey to be finished and distributed to members sometime this year, though the timeline will depend on the decisions made by council. In the meantime, the LDBA will consult with business owners on King Street and Richmond Row.

The LDBA’s commitment to conducting a survey was a relief to Steve Lehman, who is a member of Down Shift and owns Life Style, Jas Shoes and In Fashion on Richmond Row.

“The fact that they’re going to do a survey is fabulous news as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I believe it’s the only way they can truly know how their membership feels as opposed to how the leadership of the association feels. At the end of the day, they are our representatives.”

Lehman insisted that the LDBA include input from members on the questions to be included in the survey, arguing that some are wary that questions will be crafted in a way to elicit a certain response.

During one of most tense moments of the meeting, MacDonald asked Lehman if he thought the survey would put a stop to London’s rapid transit plans. Lehman said that was a decision to be made by council, and he wants the LDBA to be a voice for members.

“I want to make it very clear that the group Down Shift, we’re not against improving our transit — of course not,” he said. “We just want to make sure that what is left after big capital expenditures [and] huge disruptions to business, is what we as a city want.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I want to make it very clear that the group Down Shift, we're not against improving our transit — of course not," he said. "We just want to make sure that what is left after big capital expenditures [and] huge disruptions to business, is what we as a city want."

Lehman acknowledged that downtown business owners should have done more to let the LDBA and council know about their concerns earlier in the consultation process.

MacDonald agreed that everyone wants to see improvements to transit in London, and that the project needs to be done right.

“We all want the same thing — we just haven’t articulated it very well,” she said. “We’ve been in a reactionary mode because all of a sudden it’s news… but now that [our members] know what’s going on, hopefully they will attend meetings [and] will have their say. They will start to give us feedback, we’ll [also] be giving them feedback, and hopefully we can pull together and just make this fabulous.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We all want the same thing — we just haven't articulated it very well," she said. "We've been in a reactionary mode because all of a sudden it's news… but now that [our members] know what's going on, hopefully they will attend meetings [and] will have their say. They will start to give us feedback, we'll [also] be giving them feedback, and hopefully we can pull together and just make this fabulous."

Councillor Tanya Park, who is also a member of the LDBA board, felt the meeting ended on a positive note, with everyone on the same page.

“Where we left off… is that the merchants are going to listen more and talk more, and we’re also going to listen more as a board, which is good,” she said. “It seemed like today everybody took their own collective ownership on the situation… and were ready to move forward, which is awesome. I’m really confident about where we’re going to go with this and seeing that we’re all willing and able to work together on this.”