After eight years of votes, public meetings, funding announcements and even talk of a referendum, some residents are still not clear on what the region's rapid transit plan is all about.

In fact, Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran says she is still hearing from people who think light rail means a GO train going out to Highway 401.

But regardless of how well the plan has been explained, regional council will vote on the recommended plan on June 15, meaning taxpayers should be ready to shoulder the hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for it.

Tim Mollison of the Tri-Cities Transport Action Group has been pushing the region to get on board with light rail transit (LRT) for seven years.

"We have to find a better way to move people through a small space and that is LRT with over 300 people per vehicle."

He says Kitchener's overcrowded bus terminal is proof we need a better way, especially since another 250,000 people are expected to arrive in the region over the next 25 years.

And people don't want to drive, "We're seeing high demand for people to choose not to own a car, but in fact to use a transit system."

But Ruth Haworth of Taxpayers for Sensible Transit says congestion will only get worse if electric trains take up space on the roads.

"There's no way we're going to get all the riders they say we are and that means we're going to get a whole lot higher operating subsidy every year."

Waterloo Region says there will be up to 15 million riders by 2031.

Under the proposed plan, they would use light rail trains for the approximately 19 kilometres from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo to Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener, with stops along the way.

Then users would switch to adapted bus rapid transit (aBRT) for the remainder of the 36 kilometre distance, to continue to the Ainslie Street Terminal in Cambridge.

The plan, plus a 25 per cent increase in conventional transit across the region, comes at a cost of $818 million, plus a $9.1 million annual operating cost.

The province committed to covering part of that cost last June when Ontario Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne said "I'm pleased to announce that the province of Ontario is committing $300 million to support Waterloo's LRT plan."

In September 2010, the federal government chipped in its share.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the region he said "We will cover one third of eligible costs up to $265 million."

That leaves the region's taxpayers on the hook for the remaining $253 million.

According to Thomas Schmidt, Waterloo Region Transportation Commissioner, that means an additional $25 each year for property owners in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge.

But it's not just $25 per year, because "That is cumulative. So that at the end of that seven year period it would be $175."

And that annual cost of $175, would remain on tax bills indefinitely.

Coming up in part two: A look at the roadblocks that have slowed down a project that has been in the works since 2003.