ION Stage I: what would you do differently?

[ac3r]

You're assuming they'd use diesel. We are transitioning to electric buses now, with all new bus purchases (including the articulated ones) electric. And I think you're way overestimating how often they'd need to relace concrete pads. It would not be very often. I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers from.

I no longer have the figures handy, but I do believe BRT was deemed to be cheaper, they just wanted to go with LRT.