Londoners are getting their first uncensored look at the city's draft Rapid Transit Business Case.
Council voted in favour of releasing the document to the public Tuesday night. The move came after the London Free Press submitted a Freedom of Information Request to have the draft business case made public but it came back heavily censored.
In a written release, City Manager Art Zuidema says, "In the normal course of business, there are often many revisions generated between the first draft of a document and the final version. Drafts are subject to change as information gathering and analysis takes place. As such, working drafts are typically not public documents."
The draft was given to city staff from the project consultant in February and listed a hybrid light rail/bus model as the preferred option. By the time the final business case was released in May light rail had been dropped in favour of a full bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Council endorsed the BRT option a few days after a public participation meeting on the subject was held.
Zuidema has said the switch from the LRT/BRT hybrid to just BRT was made based on the business case analysis, including the financial analysis and ridership projections.
Other changes made to the business case between February and May include maps, charts and some text. New content was also added.
The city has already committed $129-million to the $500-million project. London politicians are working to get federal and provincial governments to cover the rest of the costs associated with implementing the system.
The full business case can be viewed by clicking here.
