Waterloo Region residents can have their say on what the stops and stations in the light rail transit network will look like. A series of open houses are being held this week in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge to present current ideas for the stops and solicit further brainstorms from the public. “The objective is to find out from the public what is important to them, and then see how much of that we can incorporate into our designs,” says rapid transit director Darshpreet Bhatti. As seen in the above photo, the stops will be in the centre of the road and include some form of protection from the weather. Beyond that, though, lots of items are still under consideration – tourist information kiosks, ticket vending machines and even food services are possible features. “Bike racks and benches are pretty standard, we would provide them, but we are looking at ‘Are there any special needs like heated shelters?’” says Bhatti. The 16 light rail transit stops between Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener and Conestoga Mall in Waterloo fall under the umbrella of this project, as do the seven bus rapid transit stops between Fairview Park and the Ainslie Street terminal in Cambridge. The stops are expected to cost between $200,000 and $300,000 each, which will come out of the LRT’s total $818-million budget. The open houses take place Wednesday at Region of Waterloo headquarters on Frederick Street, Thursday at the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce on Hespeler Road and Friday at Knox Presbyterian Church on Erb Street West. All three run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
