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London Rapid Transit (In-Design)

Looks like 3/5 components of the BRT system may actually be saved.

That's actually a pretty good outcome. The most important piece is the loop through downtown: if it get built then it's relatively easy for future expansion to add to the network in 10 to 15 years with the next round of federal funding.

I was afraid the downtown loop would be one of the pieces left out.
 
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The decision to scrap the north and west routes was finalized yesterday. London's BRT system will only go south, east, and loop around the downtown core.



Only reason the south and east legs got approved is because we needed some shovel-ready project to qualify for provincial and federal funding, and politicans liked them more because they provided better transit connections to the main industrial nodes of the city (which are in the east and south of the 401).
 
London is going to choke on traffic as it grows.

It’ll be an interesting experiment though. We’ll get to see if the BRT makes a difference in the south and east vs. the north and west.
 
Well at least London can now get down to some building an put the endless bickering behind it. The northern BRT to UWO & Masonville is needed but politics got in the way and Western basically refused it.
 
Well at least London can now get down to some building an put the endless bickering behind it. The northern BRT to UWO & Masonville is needed but politics got in the way and Western basically refused it.

Western was on board, so was student council. They were worried about LRT, but supportive of BRT. The local councillor for the ward, Phil Squire, was a staunch opponent. He needs to be voted out. There were some dirty politics happening behind the scenes regarding the northern leg that I can't elaborate on here.
 
Western didn't want LRT as they said the vibrations would effect science buildings although they are used all over the world thru schools and they don't traumatize over it. After the city decided on BRT, yes Western was officially supportive but not realistically because they stated they would not tolerate more than 8 buses going thru campus per hour. This would mean that the buses going thru in rush hour would be over capacity and much worse, as the system increased it's ridership the LTC would not be able to increase frequency to accomodate it. Basically Western stance meant that any further improvements to the system were a no-go.

Yes "technically" Western supported BRT but put up such ridiculous hurdles and limitations that the BRT couldn't work effectively and any potential upgrade to LRT in the future was a no-go.
 
BRT is just a waste of time for London. London is in the Snow Belt, and articulated buses can't operate in snow. They should have focused on LRT, and forget about Western. Take the buses out of there too if that's what they want. 8 buses per hour (4 buses per direction?). That's just funny.
 
Western didn't want LRT as they said the vibrations would effect science buildings although they are used all over the world thru schools and they don't traumatize over it. After the city decided on BRT, yes Western was officially supportive but not realistically because they stated they would not tolerate more than 8 buses going thru campus per hour. This would mean that the buses going thru in rush hour would be over capacity and much worse, as the system increased it's ridership the LTC would not be able to increase frequency to accomodate it. Basically Western stance meant that any further improvements to the system were a no-go.

Yes "technically" Western supported BRT but put up such ridiculous hurdles and limitations that the BRT couldn't work effectively and any potential upgrade to LRT in the future was a no-go.

Both MIT and Harvard have subway stations within their campus....
 
And of course York and UofT have subways too. If Western would rather have a campus full of cars, just give it to them. They will beg for LRT soon enough.
 
^^ What the city should do is reduce every single road going into Western to one lane and a bus-only lanes instead of the current 4 lanes.
 
And of course York and UofT have subways too. If Western would rather have a campus full of cars, just give it to them. They will beg for LRT soon enough.
^^ What the city should do is reduce every single road going into Western to one lane and a bus-only lanes instead of the current 4 lanes.

That is how they used to have single lanes with no bus lanes.
 

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