London rapid transit plan: a new business case for buses

A business case to move away from a hybrid model for rapid transit was pitched today by London city staff.

The proposed Shift Rapid Transit would have seen a mix of light rail and rapid buses come to the forest city at a cost of nearly a billion dollars.

But on Friday, in a release, city staff recommend bus rapid transit only.  

"The updated business case, part of the overall broad based Environmental Assessment (EA) for rapid transit, found that full BRT has the best cost/benefit ratio and highest return on investment compared to the three other transit alternatives of base BRT, BRT/LRT hybrid or full LRT," said the release.

City manager Art Zuidema says projections about ridership and London's growth played a role. He also says funding from the provincial and federal government was another factor in putting forward the new plan.

"We appreciate that we're partnering with the upper levels of government and we need to make reasonable, rational choices," he said.

The matter goes before city council on May 6.