Committee greenlights motion for alternative bus rapid transit routes

It’s up to full council now whether city staff will be coming up with two different routes for bus rapid transit in the city.

It’s the next step after the civic works committee voted unanimously on Monday afternoon in favour of accepting the recommendation from the bus rapid transit implementation working group.

“This is the first time we’re going a project of this magnitude in the city, and we’re learning as we go unfortunately,” said Councillor Tanya Park, who said a presentation by engineers regarding how preferred routes were selected based on the number of people living on each corridor, environmental impacts, and historical contexts were helpful pieces of information.

READ MORE: London’s rapid transit implementation working group recommends additional public input meeting.

“I think these are good lessons that we’ll learn for the rest of the time the corporation of the City of London is in an entity of itself,” Park explained.

Both she and Councillor Phil Squire emphasized a need to take the time to do things properly, drawing on conversations with other levels of government.

“I’ve heard over and over again about ‘if we don’t do something right now, we’re going to lose funding somehow,'” explained Squire.

“I’m pretty confident after meeting with (London North Centre) MP Peter Fragiskatos and others that [losing funding] is not an imminent peril, and we have a couple of months to have a discussion – to have a public discussion — about what’s best for the city of London.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I'm pretty confident after meeting with (London North Centre) MP Peter Fragiskatos and others that [losing funding] is not an imminent peril, and we have a couple of months to have a discussion - to have a public discussion — about what's best for the city of London."

A motion by councillor Michael Van Holst to “go back the basics” and remove a constraint that the routes must be light-rail friendly for the future received no traction by committee members, but prompted a word of caution from Mayor Matt Brown who said going back to the drawing board would be “completely unacceptable”.

“This is a ton of work, it’s been approved by council, it would require a reconsideration vote by all of council to do something like that and it would not be in the best interest of our community for us to do that,” said Brown.

“This is, I think, a classic example of over-analysis that would lead to paralysis.”

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READ MORE: King Street business owners share BRT concerns with London city staff.

When asked about the earliest time staff could send a new report to any level of council, city engineer Kelly Scherr said it would be dependent on the alternatives routes parameters.

If returning to routes mapped out earlier in the planning process, Scherr said a report about an alternative north-south route that runs along Riverside Drive and Wharncliffe Road and an east-west couplet on Queens Avenue and King Street could be delivered as early as the start of the May.