Do not even think about putting streetcars in the middle of the road to completely disrupt traffic flow!

Don't even think about allowing cars on the road to disrupt transit and bicycle flow.

Of course it will. This is where we have to make a choice, better public transit or continually increasing congestion. It's one or the other.
If we have fast public transit people will leave their cars at home or designated parking lots away from the city centre.
Otherwise we keep doing what they're already doing. Congestion continues to get worse, pollution gets worse and minor changes in the transit system will keep everyone frustrated.
People won't leave their cars unless there is a good alternative. We don't have that now and a bus terminal downtown and these other small changes won't make a lick of difference.

And that, folks, (in my opinion, of course), is as close as we're going to get to a precise statement of the most basic question that needs to be answered in this transportation planning process.

Jerb suggests that people won't leave their cars unless there is a good alternative. A variation on this is that people won't leave their cars until driving is no longer a reasonable alternative (i.e. fuel prices, massive congestion, punitive tolls, etc.).

London is a car city, let's just say it and admit it. It is a "big small town".

I am sorry but people won't give up their car unless they can't afford it. Regardless of the transit system.

Additions such as a downtown terminal are not a small things. Take a look at the topic to see the benefits (for everyone).

I can't stress this enough, We don't need (or have the money) to rebuild the entire transit infrastructure. Its not the REAL problem, the current problem is HOW the buses are being used, and how long (or complicated) it takes/is to get across the city.

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify, is the solution. We CAN work with what we have.

London needs a million, NOT a billion dollar solution.

A million dollar solution, are you kidding. This isn't 1950 anymore. We really need to stop thinking smalltime. This isn't the village of London.

The streetcar era has come and gone.

Light rail would probably be better suited for London. It's just finding a place to fit a LRT line or two that's a challenge.

If we have a proposed system, who knows, maybe we'll get some funding for it like K/W.

One thing that is interfering with possible plans for a LRT system is the fact that there are too many bottlenecks in London's major arteries.

A classic example of this is Wharncliffe Road, which goes from four lanes to one at the Horton Street intersection, goes back to four lanes north of Riverside and then bottlenecks again to one lane just north of Oxford. Then it expands to four lanes and then bottlenecks to one lane at the point where it becomes Western Road.

And the screaming hell of all this is that this is one of London's major arteries! No wonder why this road is super-congested during morning and afternoon rush hours! And if any construction happens along any part of this road, well, forget about getting into the downtown core in a reasonable length of time.

Wharncliffe/Western Road should be four lanes all the way through. Could you imagine what would happen with the traffic on Wonderland Road if there were similar bottlenecks.

For its part, the city seems unwilling to expropriate the land necessary to make the required adjustments, or to ask CN/CP Rail to replace and enlarge their decrepit rail crossings at Horton and the location just south of Saunby Street.

A major, and closely related issue is that most of London's roads lack the proper scale. That is, they're perfectly scaled for 1940s or even 1950s traffic volumes, but not what's being experienced in 2010.

I agree with everything you just said.

The problem is implementing it. The bottlenecks on Warncliffe are relatively easy to fix... just widen the rail overpasses! No significant reconstruction or the road or properties are needed.

But getting back on topic, streetcars are not the answer. If you're going to widen/reconstruct a road, leave some room in the right of way for a future LRT system.