Morgan: Council’s 2018 decision not to fund two Bus Rapid Transit routes avoided deeper financial shortfall

London's mayor says the 2018 decision not to fund bus rapid transit routes in north and west London has actually led to an unexpected benefit.

The mayor suggests a controversial decision by city council in 2018 not to fund construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes to north and west London might financially benefit the city in the long run.

On Thursday, the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee (SPPC) considered approving the Mobility Master Plan (MMP) and directing staff to file a Notice of Completion, which launches a 30-day public review period.

Community input provided during the review period will influence implementation of the 25-year transportation plan that includes billions of dollars of major road, cycling, sidewalk, and transit projects.

The MMP includes maps showing future BRT routes to north London (along Wharncliffe Road and Western Road) and to west London (along Oxford Street).

Mayor Josh Morgan told the committee his perspective about the decision in March 2018 to only fund construction of the Downtown, East, and South routes of BRT— and not the routes recommended at the time to north and west London.

Specifically, Morgan said upcoming funding opportunities with the senior levels of government will reflect the higher cost of road construction today compared to 2016 when the initial BRT budget was developed.

“I still fully support that decision because we are in a much better financial position today with those asks (of the provincial and federal governments) than we otherwise would have been,” Morgan said.

As a city councillor in 2018, he supported the three routes that received funding, but voted against the west route, and could not vote on the north route because he was employed by Western University at the time.

The current multi-year budget includes $178 million to offset cost overruns constructing the Downtown, East, and South routes.

Those overruns have been blamed on skyrocketing road construction and material costs experienced nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Morgan suggests cost-sharing the construction of north and west routes will reflect those new financial realities, “We can actually engage with federal and provincial partners at a time when they’re willing to fund these sorts of projects [and] we can actually pitch them at a truer cost, because the way things cost today is fundamentally different than the way they cost a decade ago.”

The committee recommended that the Mobility Master Plan be approved by council on July 22.