All aboard
I have to admit to getting a little excited and feeling a small flush of pride whenever I hear our region mentioned by someone outside our region. Such was the case last week when the federal and provincial governments announced a combined six billion dollars in infrastructure funding — and singled out Waterloo Region and our rapid transit initiative — as one of the priorities for that funding. What rapid transit system, you ask? You’re not the only one with the question.
It was a little more than four years ago, and with much pomp and circumstance, that the project was first revealed to the public during a news conference at the Grand River Transit terminal on Charles Street in Kitchener. The first phase, we were told, would involve an environmental assessment. Four years hence, we still await the completion of that assessment. But that hasn’t stopped politicians from posturing and using this project as a means of suggesting they’re doing something for the environment and that the future of this region is very green indeed. My question is, how distant a future are we talking about?
If in four years all we can muster is an environmental assessment, how long will it take us to actually build a functional system? At this point, we are still trying to decide between rapid trains and buses as our future transit options. But it is no secret that trains are the preferred choice for many. Which is all well and good, but what about the tracks? If the first stage of this transit system will connect north Waterloo to south Cambridge, how long does it take to get the infrastructure for a rail system like that ready for use?
Regional chair Ken Seiling says if everything checks out with the environmental assessment, we could see construction ready to begin by 2012. That’s another four years from now and eight years after the project was first announced. It’s also assuming Chair Seiling’s projections are accurate, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. And for eight years’ work we will have a study, a decision on trains or buses and, presumably, a route. If that’s what we have to show for eight years, is it fair to extrapolate another eight at least to get the first phase of construction finished? If you find that unfair, consider Highway 7 from Kitchener to Guelph. We’ve been promised a new road connecting these cities for almost 15 years and after assessments and route plans, we’re told the new link is at least eight more years away. Using the same math, we’re looking at 2025 at the earliest before the first stage of Waterloo Region’s rapid transit is ready for its first passenger.
I guess what I’m saying is that I hope my kids enjoy Waterloo Region’s new rapid transit system because if it’s one thing that seems evident so far, it’s that there’s not very much rapid about it at all.