Mayor Joe Preston
https://www.stthomas.ca/city_hall/city_council/mayor_joe_preston
The mayor of St. Thomas is hoping to connect his city with London with a new transit link.
An hourly bus is planned to run from downtown St. Thomas to south London. The plan will run as a three-year pilot, costing around $1 million up-front. Mayor Joe Preston said provincial support will not be needed if the operational costs can be covered with fares.
“This would definitely work,” said carpooler Hoda Asghar. “Many of us live in St. Thomas and works in London. I have been carpooling between the two cities for years. There is definitely a demand.”
The new transit link is hoping to benefit citizens with more employment opportunities as south London is welcoming the opening of a new Amazon logistics centre and Maple Leaf Foods’ plant.
“Not everybody drives, so having public transit available to commuters that don’t have that ability would allow them to maybe work in London and live in St. Thomas,” said Dallas Posthumus, a realtor in St. Thomas. “It does open up the possibility for more employment either back towards St. Thomas or back into London depending which way you’re hopping on the bus.”
Posthumus also believe the potential transit link might affect the housing market in St. Thomas.
“There used to be a slang for St. Thomas, there’s 25% more life in St. Thomas compared to London and that was based off property taxes and housing prices at that time. Now, I think that’s changed a bit since then, but this could open that up,” he said.
Preston will be communicating his plan to Caroline Mulroney, the Minister of Transportation, this week at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA).
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