There is another bump in the road for the city's proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) plan, as the results of a new survey suggest two-thirds of Londoners polled are firmly opposed.
The survey, commissioned by anti-BRT group Down Shift and conducted by Forum Research of Toronto, polled 712 London residents on May 2. It found 67% of those asked are against the controversial transit plan as it stands now.
For councillors who support the initiative, the ill effects of that support could be felt during next year's election. Of those polled, 69% stated they would be less likely to vote for a councillor who backs BRT.
The ten-question survey also asked whether the city had done a good job explaining the plan and if there had been adequate consultation with the community. To both questions, more than 70% answered in the negative.
"The city, and that includes the mayor and city manager, have repeatedly said 'boy, we've done a really bad job of communicating.' So they probably should have conducted their own survey but they haven't," said Dan McDonald of Down Shift. "As you can see in the poll, most people don't feel there has been a lot of knowledge imparted to them by the city during this entire process so we decided to step up."
McDonald explained the group, which is a coalition of residents and businesses, decided to commission the survey as a way of proving to council that the majority of Londoners are opposed to the largest proposed infrastructure project in the city's history.
"If council approves the plan, it will be doing so without a mandate from the public and against the wishes of most voters,” said McDonald.
But at least one city councillor is taking issue with the poll's questions.
Jesse Helmer points to the question in which respondents are asked, "London city council has approved a bus rapid transit system that is projected to cost more than $700-million. If implemented, it will create dedicated bus-only lanes with high frequency service, restrict cars to one lane each way along major streets, eliminate most street parking downtown, reduce regular bus service, and put a bus-only tunnel under Richmond St. Do you support or oppose this BRT project?"
In a series of tweets, Helmer says four of the six claims made in the preamble to the question are misleading.
3. Only 11-12.5% of on-street parking downtown will be reduced (depending on King only vs. King/Queens couplet + cycle track). Not most.
— Jesse Helmer (@jesse_helmer) May 9, 2017
4. Regular bus service will *increase*. Overall, transit service throughout the city-wide network will increase by 35%. #ldnont— Jesse Helmer (@jesse_helmer) May 9, 2017
The current $560-million BRT plan would see high-frequency buses run on L and 7-shaped corridors bisecting London, it would span 24 km in total with 34 stations.
Council is set to debate and finalize the routes next week. Among the options up for consideration include scrapping the 900 metre tunnel under Richmond St., moving the north corridor onto Wharncliffe Rd. and splitting the King St. line between both King St. and Queens Ave.
"The real basic concerns are the loss for businesses for people in the core area, bad public service through BRT that simply doesn't work with bad routes and horrendous cost potentials. They haven't shown how they are going to recover any of those," said McDonald. "So it's the routes, it's the type of infringement, the loss of parking. Ultimately, and we've seen this in other cities where they've had failed recent rapid transit initiatives, your taxes go up because somebody when there is a shortfall has to pay for this. The feds and the province aren't going to be here two or four or ten years from now paying the bills for something that doesn't work. We are."
When asked, "which of the following options most closely matches your opinion on the BRT project," 44% of survey respondents wanted it scrapped entirely, 41% felt more consultation was needed, and 9% wanted it to move forward as is.
The poll has a margin of error of 3.67%. 19 times out of 20.
The results of this public survey come nearly a week after a six-hour public meeting that saw 86 Londoners voice their thoughts on BRT. Only a handful at the meeting spoke in favour of the current plan. You can see the questions and the full survey results by clicking here.
