UPDATE, 11:45 a.m.: The province has officially announced it's putting $170 million into London's bus rapid transit plan.

The provincial government is set to announce more than $150 million in funding for London’s bus rapid transit system, bringing the biggest plan in city history closer to reality, multiple sources tellThe Free Press.

The announcement could happen as soon as Monday, though the exact timing is unclear.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca is expected to deliver the funding news, a landmark cash injection for London’s $500-million bus rapid transit (BRT) system, dubbed “Shift.”

City hall’s contribution is capped at $130 million, largely coming from development charges, which means London still needs significant funding from the federal government.

But the provincial funding — roughly one-third of the total price tag — is the biggest development yet in the creation of the BRT plan that was approved by a city council majority last year, even as it led to pushback from downtown merchants and others.

The announcement’s timing is fortuitous for Mayor Matt Brown, who will give his annual State of the City address Tuesday morning and faces a municipal election campaign this fall in which rapid transit will likely be a central issue.

The mayor and city staff did not respond to several requests for comment Sunday.

Brown has championed the plan to bring BRT to London — the largest Canadian city without a rapid transit system — and made delivering it a central pledge of his 2014 election campaign.

London’s proposed BRT system is a 24-kilometre network of largely dedicated lanes running on L-and 7-shaped corridors that will extend to the north, east, south and west of the city, with downtown as the hub.

The system will travel to both Fanshawe College and Western University, and a park-and-ride lot is planned for the edge of the southern route, near Highway 401.

Construction is slated to start in 2019 and wouldn’t be complete until 2028.

Dedicated BRT lanes, either in the centre of the road or along the curb, will keep buses from being caught up in traffic snarls. That, along with their frequency, is what makes the system “rapid” — it has nothing to do with vehicle speed.

And rapid transit isn’t just about transportation. Waterloo Region, where a light rail rapid transit system is being built, has drawn more than $3 billion in private development — including commitments from London companies — along the rail lines, Waterloo Region Coun. Tom Galloway said.

“It’s really a planning tool that happens to be a transit system. That’s the primary purpose for our LRT system. I believe it’s similar for London,” he said.

“A lot of people are now getting it because they see the development. Every week there’s another announcement for another 20-, 30-, 40-storey building.”

That’s the kind of compact “upward and inward” development London city council endorsed in the London Plan, a blueprint for city growth for the next 25 years, curbing London’s history of more costly “urban sprawl” development.

Critics of the London project point out bus routes aren’t permanent like rail lines — making them less attractive to the developers needed to build along the routes.

The most contentious stretch of the BRT system, Richmond Street, has a rail crossing where trains will gum up the schedule. Politicians voted last May to drop a proposed 900-metre tunnel below Richmond Row amid fears construction costs could balloon past $300 million.

Despite a continued commitment from city council, the plan has its opponents, with two avowed mayoral candidates among them.

A band of Richmond Row business owners opposed under the banner “Down Shift.” The group largely has been quiet since council approved the BRT last summer.

Other Londoners worry about the impact of construction and road widening.

The city was slammed for a lack of communication and consultation early. It’s sought to counter that with more public meetings, including 22 hours of public meetings last month. Two more sessions are scheduled for Jan. 24.

mstacey@postmedia.com

Follow @MeganatLFPress

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COVERING THE BRT BILL

$500M

Estimated cost of the bus rapid transit system

$130M

London’s share, to come largely from development charges

$370M

What the city wants from Ontario and Ottawa

$150M

Funding the province will announce as early as Monday.