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Hefty transit report offers big picture on light rail

The report encompasses several volumes that provide details on population and employment growth, present and future travel patterns in the region, an evaluation of the selected alignment for the light-rail system between downtown Victoria and the West Shore, details on the LRT technology recommendation and the public consultation process involved

Just as the province's transportation officials are wading through technical data on the proposed $950-million light-rail rapid transit project, Capital Region residents can now do the same.

The Victoria Regional Rapid Transit report was recently published online, and is identical to information submitted to B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure in June, said Joanna Linsangan, B.C. Transit spokesperson.

"It's certainly a high-profile project that has garnered a lot of interest from a number of stakeholders, and also just members of the general public," she said. "This is a big project for the entire region."

The report encompasses several volumes that provide details on population and employment growth, present and future travel patterns in the region, an evaluation of the selected alignment for the light-rail system between downtown Victoria and the West Shore, details on the LRT technology recommendation and the public consultation process involved.

A frequently-asked-questions page has also been updated to include information on the E&N Rail line and the affordability of LRT.

The plan was to post the documents online at the same time they were submitted to  the province, but the task took longer than anticipated.

"Ideally, we would have wanted to post it up at the same time we had the business report prepared, which was back in June," Linsangan said. "But what we wanted to do was just compile it in a fashion that would be easy and as simple as possible for the general public to understand."

The report is available at www.bctransit.com/vrrt.