London's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project was originally budgeted at $281 million. Today, the costs are approaching HALF A BILLION DOLLARS, nearly double the original budget.
And here's the kicker: ABOUT HALF of the originally proposed project is actually being completed.
This raises serious questions about how our city manages public money.
Think about it like renovating your own home.
Sometimes construction costs more than expected. You open up a wall and discover a problem you hadn't anticipated. Suddenly, you're facing additional expenses.
What do you do?
You reassess your budget. You look at where you can save on the non essentials of the project. Maybe you choose more affordable finishes or scale back certain features so you can address the unexpected costs without blowing your budget.
Now apply that same thinking to the City of London.
Rather than finding opportunities to reduce costs on extravagances, the city has plowed forward with expensive elements of this project, leaving Londoners to cover the bill.
Note: Londoners have been dealt a 26.9% increase in property taxes over the past four years. (30 Sec Video about this)
So where could city councillors have looked for savings on this project?
How about the ENORMOUS three-bay bus shelters installed throughout the city, costing $250,000 EACH?
These shelters are HUGE, even by London, ENGLAND standards!
There ARE much more reasonable, cost-effective shelter designs that could still provide protection from the weather and serve transit riders without costing a quarter of a million dollars apiece.
And if you want another example of why the planning and execution of this project deserve closer scrutiny, just watch this video.
Two bus shelters have been permanently installed directly underneath another shelter.
Yes, you read that correctly.
As I point out in the video, I genuinely don't know which seems crazier:
That nobody put any thought into this before installing them...
Or that somebody ACTUALLY THOUGHT THROUGH THIS AND DECIDED TO MOVE FORWARD ANYWAY?
Either way, Londoners deserve answers about how decisions like these are being made and how their money is being spent.
Quick question for YOU, reading this:
Do you think that anyone, in any role, who had anything to do with having these these bus shelters installed, will publicly admit that putting bus shelters underneath another shelter was a bad decision?
I'm not sure that anyone will. I'd love to be proven wrong!
Look, we all make mistakes.
What's also important is being willing to acknowledge those mistakes, review how they happened, and learn from them so they don't happen again.
Because identifying a mistake is one thing. Making sure it doesn't happen again is another.
Something else to consider: Every dollar spent unnecessarily on one project is a dollar that can't be spent somewhere else.
