Donald Campbell's article Waiting for rapid transit (Free Press, April 7) raises some important questions surrounding the issue in Winnipeg. While it acknowledgs that we must start planning for the future now, the debate over the best form of rapid transit for the city continues. This debate is focused on the choice between busways and light rail transit (LRT) technologies.

Winnipeg has now reached the point in its development where the question of rapid transit must be addressed. High traffic levels and crowded streets on some corridors are a frustration for Winnipeg commuters. Our city is now the largest metropolitan centre in Canada without some form of rapid transit.

Ottawa, a city similar to Winnipeg, has wholeheartedly embraced the busway solution to its rapid transit problem. It built a series of busways on the premise that this choice was 50 per cent cheaper than LRT. Although the lower construction costs of busways are attractive in the short term, the long-term impact of operating them is greater with LRT. In Vancouver, the choice of rail transit technology over busways was based on this evaluation.

Edmonton, Calgary, Portland and other cities have all opted for the light rail transit choice. Experience in these centres has shown that LRT can be an efficient and attractive mover of commuters and a magnet for urban development.

In these cities, LRT has influenced urban development around its stations. In the article, Calgary professor Bob Wright is quoted as saying that "LRT is inflexible and locks a city into a specific pattern of development." It would appear that Mr. Wright sees these patterns as undesirable. On the contrary, by drawing a large volume of commuters to a fixed rail system and by interacting development with this system, a city with LRT can achieve very positive results in downtown and corridor urban development.

For example, Calgary's 7th Avenue rail and bus transit mall has proved to be an important factor in downtown development. Downtown revitalization in Winnipeg would benefit greatly from a similar facility.

Thus the questions remain. Would a "flexible" busway system attract the same developer confidence and interest as a fixed rail system would? Would Winnipeg commuters be more attracted to buses or to light rail trains? Finally, in hydro-rich Manitoba, would an investment in electrically-powered light rail transit make both economic and environmental good sense?