5 Reasons Why London (Ontario) Needs a Monorail

5) Biking is suicidal. There are very few dedicated bike paths on London’s streets. I don’t mean the curvy nature bike trails along the rivers and through parks. I mean major roads that serve to get traffic through the city, North/South and East/West. I have counted two, citywide, one of which happens to be on campus at UWO. There may be more, but they’re in the wrong places and do not serve the large student community (at least 20% of the city population).

4) It will stop the suburban sprawl. Let’s face it. There are currently over a dozen suburban wastelands being built at the far edges of London, with more planned. If a more efficient public transit system existed to serve the downtown and near downtown areas, then people would build UP not OUT. Stop destroying our beautiful forests and reduce the ecological footprint by living in sky-rise apartments. Besides, why does anyone want to live in a cookie-cutter-house in a neighborhood with un-navigable winding streets that are a 20 minute drive to get food, movies or a drink with friends? You could be living in an apartment with a cityscape view and only a few minutes away from all your needs.

3) City landmark. Although the John Labatt Centre and the University attract a lot of people to visit London, there is no landmark that is immediately identifiable with London. Having a monorail will make London a unique city, as opposed to being just like every other Southern Ontario city.

2) Reliability. The current bus system is unreliable. I’m not happy waiting 30 minutes for a bus to get me downtown on a Friday night. I want to party now, not in 30 minutes plus transit time. And why do busses stop running at midnight?!?! Maybe the cab companies have something to do with this conspiracy.

1) Traffic sucks. Just try driving across the “forest city” without screaming a few profanities. Traffic engineers have not yet managed to figure out how to time lights on major roads so there is no stopping. Making a few major streets one-way would definitely help. It worked for Hamilton. But I have a feeling the traffic engineers would just mess up this job too. So the only viable solution is a monorail. Get some engineering students to design it for school credit.