City, McMaster Rapid Transit Survey

By RTH Staff
Published December 02, 2009

Transportation

The City of Hamilton's Rapid Transit Office has launched an online survey asking for feedback on how the proposed east-west B-Line rapid transit line will interact with McMaster University.

McMaster is cooperating with this initiative and has agreed to work with the city on locating a Light Rail station on campus.

Please take a couple of minutes to complete the survey.

McMaster University TV has also posted an interview with Public Works manager Jill Stephen, who explains more about the rapid transit initiative and the McMaster survey.

Read about our contributors.

7 Comments

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By hunter (anonymous)
Posted December 03, 2009 11:13:58

Rapid response to rapid transit:

thespec.com/News/Local/article/683673

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By Really? (registered)
Posted December 03, 2009 11:24:21

McMaster University = Progressive City of Hamilton = Status Quo

Hence, "...pissing away [stimulus money] on pot holes"

Everyone knows McMaster Students 'get it'! Keeping those who 'get it' in Hamilton so they can help the rest of the City get it is the Key!

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By Listerine (anonymous)
Posted December 03, 2009 16:32:57

@Really? Are you talking about the same 'progressive' Mac that kicked the B-line off campus? If it's up to them it'll end up on Main St.

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By Really? (registered)
Posted December 03, 2009 17:30:44

Listerine >> "Are you talking about the same 'progressive' Mac that kicked the B-line off campus? If it's up to them it'll end up on Main St"

They removed the buses from campus to make it a more ped-friendly design. It's a smart idea in theory; if only Mac had their own Campus Shuttle Bus to connect Sterling to Main St to GO Terminal and all Residence Quads. Then removing all buses would make a lot of sense.

The B-Line's main attraction is SPEED! So, if you want to get from Mac to Downtown very quickly, you're not going to take a bus that zips around corners, makes turns, and has several stops within a single campus... No. You're going to want the fastest, most direct link from Point A to Point B. Hence why removing the B-Line from campus does make sense.

Disclaimer: I hated the idea of removing buses at first, too... until I thought long & hard about it. Now it makes sense. No vehicle traffic = a calm, relaxing learning environment. Put a small shuttle bus within campus to connect it's Nodes, and voila. Logic.

So yes, I hope the B-Line stop DOES end up on Main Street, near University Avenue by the Hospital.

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By volterwd (anonymous)
Posted December 03, 2009 22:07:21

Firstly the B-Line either passes right by or goes into the hospital. It's a 1 minute walk for most people. This is done to speed up the B-line which makes complete sense. There are still the University, and 5C busses that go through the campus.

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By come on (anonymous)
Posted December 04, 2009 03:51:17

Since they moved the B line off campus, the service has greatly diminished. It is very inconvenient to get on at the Main St entrance since the bus stop oscillates between the hospital and the other side of the street. Plus the main street entrance is way more than a 1 minute walk for a large majority of people. Try 10 minutes at least.

The LRT would be more heavily used if it made several stops on campus near places where people want to go.

Ped friendly means making the campus more accessible and easy to get to for pedestrians, not more difficult. I ride the University and 1A buses to and from campus each day since they take me to where I want to go. I dread the day Mac removes all public transit off campus, as their beloved campus master plan intends to do by 2011.

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By Ryan (registered) - website
Posted December 04, 2009 08:11:00

Ped friendly means making the campus more accessible and easy to get to for pedestrians, not more difficult.

THIS. Transit routing and stop design is always a tricky balance between speed and convenience. In the case of Mac, I think the convenience of a stop within 400m of any destination on campus trumps the speed of a single pass-by at the hospital.

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"Common sense is that which tells us the world is flat."
--Stuart Chase
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