Councillors begin steering London transit through tumultuous times after dismissing previous commissioners

Council's temporary takeover of the London Transit Commission began Wednesday. CTV’'s Daryl Newcombe with more on the impact to bus service.

City Council’s temporary take-over of the London Transit Commission (LTC) began with a staff presentation about the challenges facing local bus service and was followed by the appointment of Coun. Skylar Franke as the new chair.

On April 1, City Council dissolved the previous commission in the wake of three high-profile resignations.

Six councillors and Mayor Josh Morgan were appointed as an interim LTC until an audit of operations and governance is completed.

Franke said an orientation session by General Manager Kelly Paleczny was an opportunity for the new commissioners to learn about LTC’s service plans and budget, “I think it’ll take us a little bit to get settled in, and then afterwards hoping to figure out what the plan is, given that at council, we discussed only having this as a temporary measure for six months.”

Prior to the resignations in March, the previous seven-member LTC consisted of four council-appointed members of the public, one council-appointed representative of the paratransit riding community, and two city councillors.

The interim LTC has no members of the public or previous LTC commissioners.

“That’s the reason why, as a councillor, I would have hoped to retain some of the previous commissioners that had experience both [as] somebody who rides a bus regularly, as well as somebody who is a paratransit user,” Franke acknowledged. “So I’m hopeful that in the next couple of months we can figure out how we can get those voices.”

LTC administration expects 3,000 fewer student bus passes will be sold as the number of international students decreases at Fanshawe College—reducing revenue by about $673,000.

It has yet to be determined if lower fuel prices will be able to completely offset the financial impact.

In addition, onboard smartcard readers will need to be replaced with a modernized system in the near future.

And a shortage of heavy diesel mechanics is making it difficult to keep buses on the road.

Franke expressed confidence in London Transit’s administrative team to maintain momentum on a number of critical projects while the new commissioners get up to speed.

“There’s a long list of items this year that are high priority, and I know that they’ll do their best to make sure that the service is still exceptional [while] trying to get everyone around the city and dealing with things like tariffs and shortages,” she explained.

In addition, Franke believes Mayor Josh Morgan’s 2026 property tax target (under 5 per cent) won’t require the same 1.5 per cent budget reduction being asked of other municipally funded boards and agencies.

“We’ve heard from him [that] it’s a suggested amount. So, I do not see that necessarily being a priority, making cuts or reductions, especially when we can see the demand is there,” Franke predicted.

The second meeting of the new London Transit Commission is scheduled for May 9.