Abstract Manager

The City of Brampton has been investigating potential alternatives for a  3.3 km extension of the Hurontario LRT along Main Street – one of the most important cultural and transportation corridors in the City. The planned LRT extension is a major city-building and community-defining project that will connect people in the City of Brampton and beyond, accommodate long-term population and employment growth and transform Main Street into a complete street for all people.

The key decision for City leadership was whether the LRT should be at the surface or underground. The main challenge for the surface alignment was accommodating LRT within a constrained 20 m right-of-way while providing multi-modal access (walk, bike, drive), streetscaping, and utilities. The main challenge for the underground option was minimizing cost associated with tunneling and stations.

Understanding this is a 100-year investment decision for the City, the project team employed a business case approach to holistically evaluate options and accurately capture benefits and costs. The business case approach considered four ‘cases’ to frame the decision-making and was rooted in a key stakeholder and review agency’s (i.e., Metrolinx) own framework, including the:

• Strategic Case: which outlines why should the investment be pursued and based on which government goals, plans and policies
• Economic Case: which assesses how the investment can be monetized to capture its overall value to society
• Financial Case: which reviews the financial implications of delivering the investment
• Deliverability and Operations Case: which identifies the risks and requirements to consider for delivering and operating the investment

The project team developed key performance indicators (KPIs) or evaluation criteria under each ‘case’ to guide decision-making throughout the project. This approach was used to make macro decisions such as which option (surface or underground) to ultimately select, but it was also used at a micro scale to determine number/location of stations and even the optimal location for traction power substations. The project was then able to strike a balance between competing stakeholder priorities and have a traceable, well-documented history of decision-making. Ultimately, the ability to inform leadership and guide transformative change with robust technical backing proved itself invaluable.

Attendees will leave the session understanding how to develop and apply a business case framework for their projects, types of data used in the business case to make it meaningful, and lessons learned from our case study on the Brampton LRT Extension study to improve decision-making for multi-billion dollar transit projects of the future.