'It just doesn't make sense,' councillor says about west-leg BRT vote

It wasn't surprising that the northern leg of the bus rapid transit plan was voted down by councillors at a Monday committee meeting, but it was a close vote on the west leg that had some raising their eyebrows. 

In a 7-8 vote, the so-called 'west connection,' which would have cost $72 million, was defeated, cancelling plans for a rapid bus system to the busy and ever-growing Wonderland Road and Oxford Street West area. 

Here are the councillors who voted for the west connection, which runs through Ward 13, and is represented by Coun. Arielle Kayabaga: 

And here are the councillors who voted against the west connection:

Ward 9 Coun. Anna Hopkins, whose ward is the western-most in the city, said she was "very, very disappointed" and surprised that entire sections of the city would be left without a rapid transit system. The north leg, which would have gone from downtown to Masonville Mall, was also defeated. 

"How can we start picking and choosing and then completely ignore the west end. For me, it just doesn't make sense. How you can chop off two ends of the city and then continue with the other projects," Hopkins said. 

"The rapid transit plan wasn't perfect, but it's about vision. Do we want to move forward as a city, or do we want to stay the status quo?" 

The west leg would have run from downtown, over to Riverside Drive, north on Wharncliffe Road and west on Oxford Street West, terminating at Wonderland Road. 

At least two of the councillors who voted against the west leg said they did so for almost exactly the same reasons. 

"For me, the west leg was the one that I had serious concerns about. We were told that there needed to be dedicated lanes, and yet this is a route that was dedicated lanes, then mixed traffic, then dedicated lanes. When I was looking at the dollar value attached, it didn't make sense," said Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis. 

"I've been consistent with my criticism of the west leg. It went from mixed use (lanes) to dedicated lanes to mixed use. If we're going to do it, we should do it right, and I don't think this was the best use of the $72 million," said Ward 7 Coun. Josh Morgan.

Both told CBC News the city could go back to the province and federal government in the future to fund transit expansion in the west end. 

And while both Morgan and Lewis are seen as the most likely to have their vote on the west leg swayed ahead of a ratification vote on the projects Tuesday, neither appeared to be open to the idea.

"I'm comfortable with where my votes were, I'm certainly happy moving forward to have a conversation with councillors in the west end about what they feel they need for bus service, but for me, the route that was on the table last night is still a no-go," said Lewis. 

"I'm interested in listening to people but I can tell you I've been consistent on my criticism of this vote for the last year, and I've yet to see any new information that would cause me to change my mind on it," Morgan said. 

Leaving out 'chunks of the city'

Hopkins said there are a lot of transportation challenges in the west end, which will only get worse as the city grows. 

"We need better transit routes, in terms of how we connect with each other," she said. "I'm uncomfortable leaving out large chunks of the city from a transit plan."

"We already have so much congestion in the west end, and then throw in the community improvement plan in Lambeth, throw in Bostwick, all the high rise development, all the high-density, mixed-use development, and how do we move around those roads? How will we do that?"