London Transit cleared the road yesterday for a dramatic expansion by breaking ground on a satellite bus facility on Wonderland Rd. S. The $19-million garage and maintenance building will be able to handle 100 buses, half as many as the current fleet. LTC general manager Larry Ducharme said the building would help expand the volume and efficiency of service, combined with the introduction of new technology.
"We are at capacity and with the rate of growth we see for ourselves we need this new facility," said Ducharme. The building is being paid for by a $10.4-million provincial grant and an $8.6-million federal grant. Both contributions came from increased gasoline taxes dedicated to improving transit services.
The LTC now has 192 buses, seven more than the official capacity of the existing storage and maintenance facilities. The LTC plans to add 100 buses by 2024 when it has set a goal of increasing annual ridership 30% to 28 million. The building will be located in the opposite corner of the city from LTC headquarters at Highbury Ave. and Brydges St. Ducharme said the new satellite location on Wonderland Rd. near Wharncliffe Rd. is in a fast-growing area.
"As the city grows west and this area requires more service, this makes a more strategic starting point for the buses," he said. Ducharme said the LTC will soon launch a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service he described as "light rail without the rail". He said the BRT buses will be larger and travel express routes between major destinations in the city. He said the BRT service would eventually travel on designated lanes. Now that it can track buses with GPS, Ducharme said, London Transit is introducing more new technology to improve service.
Automatic voice response will allow riders to call the LTC and find out when the next bus will arrive at a specific stop in real time. The same service is becoming available on the LTC website and through mobile applications. Buses en route will be able to send a signal to delay or extend signal traffic lights to speed up service.
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