Requests for school crossing guards at new locations in London have been stalled by the municipal program’s budget. On Tuesday, the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee (ICSC) pressed city staff about the need for more crossing guards and traffic calming around schools. “The public wants to see that we’re paying more attention to safety around schools,” said Coun. Sam Trosow. “We are doing that in some regards, however, we are falling short in other regards.” Responding to a council direction in 2025, city engineers have initiated a review of the School Crossing Guard Program including its criteria for determining which locations require a crossing guard. It’s the first update to the exposure index criteria since city hall assumed responsibility for the program 13 years ago. A staff report explained that city hall currently pays a private security firm $1.6 million each year for 106 crossing guards at 104 locations. During the past three years, the public has submitted requests for crossing guards at about 30 additional locations, but staff admit expanding the program hasn’t been possible. “We’ve essentially been communicating that the budget is maxed out. And so there’s no route because the program is fully subscribed,” explained Director of Transportation and Mobility Doug MacRae. “That’s really what has prompted this review. Coun. Corrine Rahman pressed staff, “Our response has been and there hasn’t been budget? But we’re not having the discussion about how to increase the budget to be able to meet these needs? I want us to think back to how many new schools have been built in our community since that time.” The committee asked about potentially dipping into a reserve fund to expand the program, but staff advised it wouldn’t be a good financial practice. “Currently the property tax dollars pay for ongoing costs, so it’s not something that staff would recommend using one-time dollars to fund,” explained Anna Lisa Barbon, deputy city manager of financial supports. Meanwhile, city hall has already initiated a program to install traffic calming in every school zone across the city, but full implementation will take time. “It’s just a matter of having the resources to get that done. We’re just a number of years, five, six, or seven years out to get in all of those done,” explained MacRae. But Rahman argued students shouldn’t be waiting so long for municipally funded improvements to their school routes, “These are genuine safety concerns. So why are we not footing the bill?” She warned, “We have dire traffic needs in these subdivisions where we’ve put new schools, and we do not have traffic calming mitigation, nor do we have the ability to fulfill requests for school crossing guards.” The staff report which included a literature review and examination of best practices from other cities suggests, “Research indicates that school crossing guards influence parental perceptions, increase the number of students walking, and influence their route choice. However, there is no demonstration that crossing guards contribute to a reduction in pedestrian–motor vehicle collisions.” The committee recommended accepting the report and directing staff to collect traffic data at existing crossing guard location to develop updated criteria for future locations. Recommendations will be contained in a second staff report scheduled for spring 2027. Based on those findings, the program could be considered for inclusion in the next multi-year budget.
