Bus rapid transit debate resurfaces at London City Hall

Conceptual drawing of the bus rapid transit route to west London. (Source: City of London)

Councillors briefly reopened debate about their decision to only submit three of five bus rapid transit (BRT) routes for senior government funding.

Coun. Anna Hopkins made an unexpected pitch to green-light the west route during a meeting of the Strategic Priorities & Policy Committee, saying “The west leg is needed. It’s not should we or shouldn’t we do the west leg — it’s a need in the west end.”

The committee was discussing a looming deadline for city hall to select a project to submit for $119.3 million of senior government funding originally intended to construct the west route and north route of the BRT system.

Civic administration recommends fast tracking replacement of London Transit headquarters on Highbury Avenue including a new bus facility able to maintain a larger fleet and evolve to support electric buses.

London is suddenly facing a time crunch after the federal government moved up the deadline to choose a transit or active transportation project by a year.

Coun. Jesse Helmer also urged council to reconsider its decision not to support the west route — suggesting the funding could be divided between both projects.

However, no councillors who opposed the west route in March 2019 were willing to reconsider now.

Deputy Mayor Josh Morgan says transit improvements determined through the city’s upcoming Master Mobility Plan might be funded through a new federal fund starting in 2026.

“There will be a permanent new source of public transit funding that ideally we can access [for] a number of the projects coming out of the Mobility Master Plan when that funding source comes online,” explains Morgan.