Staff Report #4
June 18, 2018
To All Members of the Accessible Public Transit Service Advisory Committee
Re: 2018 Road Construction Update
Recommendation
The report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
The City of London has begun a large number of road, water, and wastewater infrastructure projects for the 2018 construction season. As set out in the table below, the city has prioritized the top 10 major construction projects for this year and eight of them will have significant impacts on transit service. The majority of the projects were scheduled to commence in early to mid-April and are projected to continue until late October/early November.
Transit Impacts of Summer Construction Projects
| Location | Duration | Routes to be Detoured |
| Western/Wharncliffe between Oxford and Platts Lane | Early April to November | 2, 102 |
| Dundas between Ridout and Wellington | Early April to November | All 11 routes currently using Dundas will be permanently re-routed to utilize King and Queens.
There will be impact to north/south routes when the intersection at Richmond is closed for up to six weeks |
| Main St. between Campbell & Dingman | Late April to September | 28 |
| York St between Thames River & Talbot | April – November | 5, 11, 23 |
| Wonderland/Wharncliffe to Bostwick | May – August | 12, 28 |
| Egerton between Dundas and CN Rail Tracks | Early April to November | 7
Also in and out of garage routings for most routes out of the Highbury facility |
| Wonderland/Hwy 402 | May – August | No service impacts |
| Colonel Talbot PS and Foremain Projects | May – end of July | 24, 28 |
| Hamilton/Sackville between Chelsea and Egerton | Early May to November | 3 |
| Talbot between Fullarton & Kent | TBD | No service impacts |
While most of the resulting detours impact a limited number of conventional service routes, the overall impacts of the construction are anticipated to cause schedule adherence issues for surrounding routes, most notably when work crosses major intersections, i.e. Wharncliffe at Oxford and Richmond at Dundas.
Construction along the aforementioned corridors will also impact the specialized service. Schedule adherence (pick-ups over 30 minutes and rides over 60 minutes) will be impacted both along the corridors listed above, as well as system wide, noting that major construction can result in congestion in other locations as traffic attempts to find alternate routing around construction. In addition, the accessibility of destinations along the corridors under construction may be impacted. In most cases, booking agents are aware of locations that are inaccessible and will advise the customer of same at the time of booking. Every effort is made to get customers as close to their final destination as possible while ensuring the safety of all involved.
Detours
LTC administration has been working closely with Civic administration as well as the specific contractors on each project to ensure regular communication regarding the status of the projects in an effort to mitigate the impact of construction on service and ridership by allowing buses to operate in work zones where it is deemed safe to do so, as well as to ensure that pathways to bus stops remain accessible. LTC administration attends weekly meetings with Civic administration, specifically to discuss the impacts of ongoing and upcoming downtown construction projects.
LTC administration has developed and implemented a communications strategy with respect to service interruptions in an effort to ensure passengers and Operators are aware of the detours with as much advance notice as possible, including stop level notifications of upcoming closures, website and InfoWeb alerts, Twitter and internal Marlin postings.
Buses off Dundas
As of April 29, 2018, all conventional bus service has been permanently removed from Dundas between Ridout and Wellington. In order to assist passengers and Operators with the transition, Operations and Planning staff were in the downtown core during the week of April 29 to answer questions and help direct passengers to the correct locations to catch their bus, as well as to speak with Operators about how the new routes, transfers and connections were working. Information sheets including a map showing all of the new bus stop locations and the routes serving them were also distributed during this week; the map can also be found on LTC’s website.
Overall the communication strategy with respect to the buses off Dundas, which included on-board posters, transit talks, website information and reminders via the corporate Twitter account was effective, noting very few customer complaints have been received to-date regarding the routing and schedule modifications in the core.
During the period of construction, all specialized service has also been removed from Dundas between Ridout and Wellington. To date, access to destinations in the core have remained open and accessible to specialized vehicles to the extent possible. There have not been any concerns with respect to specialized service in the core relating to the ongoing construction projects.
Wharncliffe and Western Construction
London Transit administration is in ongoing discussions with Civic administration with respect to how best mitigate the impacts of the Western/Wharncliffe Road construction, especially in the fall with the return of students. Administration is currently working to identify the best manner in which to provide service to customers along this corridor while construction is ongoing. As soon as routing and stop locations have been identified, the information will be communicated to all stakeholders.
Recommended by:
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
Christopher Murphy, Supervisor, LCTB
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager