Dan Meinen·Ward 7·London, Ontario
03

Transit That Actually Works in the Northwest

A minimum service standard for every neighbourhood.

Transit is the most important piece of the "infrastructure first" argument, and it is where Ward 7 has been most clearly shortchanged. The 2025 service plan changed Route 10 to terminate at Masonville, removing the direct one-bus link between Westmount and Western. The Route 127 extension that was supposed to compensate runs at frequencies of 17 to 60 minutes. That is not a real alternative for a parent, a student, or a shift worker. Neither leg of Bus Rapid Transit serves us directly. LTC staff said 24,000 service hours of additions were the priority for 2026. Council funded 18,000. The 6,000-hour gap means routes that were already running at lower frequencies, including ours, stay at lower frequencies.

Figure 02 · Bus Rapid Transit Network
Both BRT corridors run elsewhere. Ward 7 pays for the system but cannot use it.
London Transit Commission Bus Rapid Transit corridor map showing the North/South Corridor 12.5 kilometres in blue and the East/West Corridor 14 kilometres in green, with proposed BRT stations and high potential development nodes including Masonville Mall, Western University, Fanshawe College, Oakridge Mall, Victoria Hospital, and White Oaks Mall
Illustration based on: London Transit Commission's Bus Rapid Transit network handout and Implementation Framework. The East London Link is targeted for an August 2027 opening; the Wellington Gateway for summer 2028. Routes shown are simplified for clarity; consult LTC for exact alignments. Neither corridor enters Ward 7, despite Ward 7 households contributing through their property taxes to the construction of both.
My commitments
  • A minimum service standard for every neighbourhood in Ward 7.
    No residential area should have transit frequencies worse than every 30 minutes weekday daytime, or every 60 minutes evenings and weekends.
  • Restore reliable direct service between the northwest and Western.
    Within six months of taking office, bring forward a motion directing LTC to report on options for the Route 10 and Route 127 problem, including evening and weekend frequencies that work for real schedules.
  • A long-term transit plan for the northwest growth area.
    If we are opening new land for development, an LTC service plan for those areas needs to exist before occupancy, not after.
  • Hold BRT to a hard timeline with public reporting.
    Quarterly public reports on every BRT milestone. Cost variance and schedule variance shown plainly. Ward 7 doesn't benefit directly from BRT, but our taxes are paying for it.
  • Press the province for a permanent transit operating subsidy.
    Mid-sized Ontario cities cannot keep funding transit growth out of property tax alone.
  • Push for a commuter park-and-ride network.
    London has no commuter intercept lots. A small lot at a Bus Rapid Transit terminus is among the lowest-cost transit interventions available, and the benefit accrues to the whole city: less congestion, fewer cars on arterial roads, and more transit ridership without further road widening. I will bring forward a motion directing staff to develop a phased plan, starting at the BRT termini as each corridor opens.
Cover page of the Park-and-Ride for London white paper
Council White Paper  ·  Companion to this commitment

Park-and-Ride for London

A council white paper proposing a phased commuter park-and-ride network anchored at the Bus Rapid Transit termini, written for senior staff and Council. Ten pages cover the case for action, international evidence from Calgary, Oxford, York, and Norwich, where London actually stands today, cost-effectiveness, four specific failure modes to design around, a phased implementation plan tied to BRT corridor opening dates, and a peer-city comparison table.

10 pages PDF 71 KB