Oshawa, Whitby share concerns over Highway 2 BRT project
Metrolinx is preparing a 36-km bus rapid transit project, similar to the one pictured here in York Region, which would include stretches in downtown Oshawa.
By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express
Council has unanimously voted to stand with concerns from the Town of Whitby regarding a large project currently proposed by Metrolinx.
Metrolinx’s Durham-Scarborough BRT project is envisioned to stretch 36 km from the Scarborough Town Centre, across Durham Regional Road 2, which becomes Dundas Street in Whitby, and King Street in Oshawa.
Earlier this month, Metrolinx officials appeared before the development services committee to outline three options for the project on King and Bond streets in Oshawa.
As King and Bond streets both have one-way traffic, Metrolinx says there are three potential options.
The first would see King and Bond both converted to two-way traffic. However, only buses would travel in the opposite direction of other vehicles.
The second option would see bus-only lanes installed individually on both King and Bond streets.
A third option is to have bus lanes in both directions only on King Street.
In Whitby, Metrolinx is calling for the widening of Dundas Street East to six lanes, a plan the town’s city council is formally against.
During the Feb. 18 meeting, council formally supported Whitby’s stance.
Commissioner of development services Warren Munro said city staff is looking forward to taking part in a meeting with Metrolinx, as requested by Whitby council, to discuss the impact of the project on local downtown areas.
Ward 5 city and regional councillor Brian Nicholson said he would prefer to see a BRT project on Simcoe Street to get people down to use GO Transit.
“Any of their options will be negative on our downtown, not a positive. The only other option Metrolinx is giving us is to remove sidewalks and widen the roads,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense. It flies in
the eyes of all logic.”
He said Metrolinx is competing with its own Lakeshore East line by creating the Highway 2 BRT.
“We don’t want buses competing with trains, we want buses augmenting trains,” he said.
Ward 2 city and regional councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri also believes a downtown bus rapid transit route isn’t the answer.
“Building a project for the sake of improving public transit that doesn’t really improve public transit is really taking away from [what] we should be building,” he said. “It’s been the wrong project for a long time. We’d love to see this type of activity running the other way, north or south.”
Marimpietri said an east-west BRT project may work better on an alternative route, such as Winchester Road or Taunton Road.
Ward 4 city councillor Derek Giberson said as someone who uses transit, the BRT is an important piece in Oshawa.
He noted he often sees PULSE buses in Durham are filled to capacity.
While Giberson agrees GO Transit is the best option in terms of moving “large groups of people,” he says most large urban municipalities have several transit networks within short distances of each other.
He used the Bloor-Yonge subway line in Toronto as an example, stating it is complemented by the College Street and Queen Street streetcars.
However, Giberson, along with all other 10 members of council, agreed to support the Town of Whitby’s resolution.
A third public information session on the BRT project is tentatively scheduled for spring 2020.
Council has requested to Metrolinx the results of that event be presented to the Downtown Oshawa Business Improvement Association, and the city’s transportation, accessibility advisory, and environmental advisory committees.