Shift: London's Rapid Transit Initiative

[GreatTallNorth2]

I remember how LRT was pushed in K/W, but from my memory it was the politicians who were doing the pushing. In fact, I was in Kitchener the day it was first brought forward and I remember that Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr was the major proponent behind LRT.

Contrast that to London, where it was the transit system who was completely writing off LRT and bringing forth different variations of BRT, and for the most part the politicians spoke little about it, at least not much until the last year or so.
Fast forward to January 2015 where Matt Brown mentioned for the first time "Rapid Transit" and not mentioning bus or light rail.

So in each city it has been a different story. I have to applaud K/W for pushing it through. It wasn't easy as they had the election where politicians were campaigning against it, but voters voted pro-LRT people in office.

The timeline of London's system will be interesting as we are so much farther behind Hamilton, Mississauga, K/W, Ottawa and Toronto. I don't see how we have shovels in the ground for several years. Wait until plans come forth and the city has to deal with NIMBYs from all angles - and to be fair they should be listened to in a major ordeal like building rapid transit.

If London ever had a chance for massive transit improvement, it is now and it is with the group of progressives we voted in.