A recent poll commissioned by a London mayoral candidate is painting a negative picture of how local residents view the city's bus rapid transit (BRT) plan.
In the survey conducted by Campaign Research, a total of 500 London residents were asked about their views on the city's $500 million BRT plan, and only 16 per cent said they were in favour of it moving forward. Another 40 per cent of respondents either didn't have enough information about BRT or don't have a strong opinion for or against it. The remaining 43 per cent said they do not support BRT in London.
Mayoral candidate Ed Holder commissioned the study and made it clear when he announced his campaign back in July that he does not support the current BRT plan. The former London West MP has said the project will only benefit a small percentage of daily commuters who use the bus, while those who drive cars to work will endure "years of traffic headaches".
Holder's campaign manager, Twee Brown, told BlackburnNews.com on Thursday that the survey supports Holder's view on the 24-km BRT network in London.
"We couldn't find any unbiased research so we wanted to do research to get a better understanding, to make sure that there wasn't anything significant that we might have missed," she said. "[The poll] validated what Ed had felt London wanted."
Non-supporters of BRT who participated in the survey outweighed supporters across most demographics including, region, gender, and age group, except adults ages 18 to 24 years.
While the survey's main focus appeared to be BRT, it also found a total of 73 per cent of participants indicated they supported synchronized traffic lights in London, and 55 per cent supported reducing cargo interruptions into the downtown area.
"What [Holder] is going to support is more reliable transit and what Londoners are wanting, which is to have transit that's going to [their] work, so they can get to and from work," said Brown. "This validation shows he was on the right track."
The City of London is currently slated to spend $130-million on the project, with the federal and provincial governments providing the remainder of the $500 million in funding.
-With files from Miranda Chant.