KITCHENER -- While Kitchener-Waterloo’s rapid transit system came with delays and a hefty price tag, some business owners say that the cost and wait was worth it.

Store owners along the Light Rail Transit (LRT) route say it has helped create a business boom.

On Sunday, the LRT celebrated the one-year anniversary of its launch date.

“It’s a very exciting day,” says Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic.

The 18-kilometre track runs through Kitchener and Waterloo with several shops, stores and restaurants along the way.

Many say since the launch of the ION, business has picked up

“Public transit has actually made us pretty busy,” says Erin Cardillo, Beertown Public House.

“It has made uptown booming. All of the people walking everywhere, they are getting transit. So it’s been really good.”

Aleisha Knowles with Luxe Nail Salon says the LRT allows more customers to get around, making the salon more accessible

“Since the ION opened, we noticed a lot more student traffic,” she says.

Kitchener’s mayor says the increased access to public transit has been beneficial to those that work and play in KW.

“We’re seeing more people work along the LRT route, we’re seeing more people live along the LRT route and fundamentally that brings people into the businesses along the LRT route,” says Vrbanovic.

Regional councillor Tom Galloway adds that is helping to slow down urban sprawl.

“The number of construction cranes that are in the corridor, the number of residential units that are being built here rather than being built in green field and suburban areas, slowing down the sprawl,” he says.

“That’s certainly its greatest accomplishment.”

However, its growing success quickly came to a crashing halt when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and significantly decreased the number of riders.

“We were down to about a third of our former ridership and we are back now to about 50 to 60 per cent,” says Galloway.

Galloway decided to mark a year of LRT by taking a ride on the ion.

Stage two of the LRT is in the works, with plans to extend the ion another 18-kilometres into Cambridge.

The region says if everything goes to plan, stage two will be complete in seven to eight years