London’s long-awaited bus rapid transit (BRT) system has hit a major milestone. Installation of the first BRT shelter began earlier this week on Ontario Street at King Street and is set to wrap up Friday.
The main structure of the shelter took about a week to install, with the station’s wiring and amenities coming in the next weeks.
“When we say amenities, we’re talking about lights, we’re talking about variable message signs, CCTV cameras, provision for other aspects such as blue light, we have pedestrian scale lighting … that are integrated for the shelter,” says the city’s acting division manager for major projects, Ardian Spahiu.
Each shelter is around 40 metres long and features three bays for loading and unloading passengers, Spahiu says. The full platform will be well-lit, which the city hopes will deter any vandalism at the new shelters.
This first shelter will be used by the city to test out certain elements, such as the amenities featured. Once the testing period is over, the city plans to build more throughout the city. The shelters each cost around $250,000.
“Once we’re through the testing period with this one, and we confirm the details, we’ll be rolling out the next phases, which will be downtown, East London link up to here, and the Wellington gateway. That’s planned to start in late summer into the fall,” Spahiu says.
Jennie Dann, the director of construction and infrastructure services with the city, says this is a major milestone in the BRT project.
“We’re excited to see it come to life after years of planning and consultation and design work. They are a scale that we haven’t seen before in the city of London,” Dann said. “This is higher-order transit … and it’s great to see the first one coming in the Old East Village area.”
The BRT system is currently in its fourth year of construction, according to Dann. Nearly five kilometres of road infrastructure improvements, both above and below ground, have been made.
However, London is still looking at a few more years of work before BRT is ready to go citywide.
“The East London link project is going to wrap up construction in 2026, and we’ll expect to see the actual Rapid Transit operation starting mid-2027,” Dann said. “For the Wellington gateway, that project is also started, and it should be wrapping up in 2027, and we’ll see rapid transit operation start mid-2028.”
The BRT project has been in the works for more than 10 years, with the original BRT report presented to council in October 2013. Full approval of the project came in 2019.
More information about BRT and the new shelters can be found on the city’s website.
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