Transportation

Proposed Transit Service Improvements

By Ryan McGreal
Published November 23, 2007

As a counterpoint to its recommendation to increase transit fares, the Public Works Department is also presenting a Transit Service Enhancements Implementation Plan [PDF] featuring two new weekday peek periods bus routes:

Each proposed route will require two new conventional buses at $880,000 in capital costs and two operators at $300,000 in operating costs.

In addition, the report asks Council to consider a 2009 service improvement that would include new services on Rymal Rd. between Pritchard Rd. and Upper Centennial; a loop on Victoria Ave. and Wentworth St. through the Keith, Landsdale and Stinson neighbourhoods; plus miscellaneous other improvements.

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Ryan wrote a city affairs column in Hamilton Magazine, and several of his articles have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. His articles have also been published in The Walrus, HuffPost and Behind the Numbers. He maintains a personal website, has been known to share passing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and posts the occasional cat photo on Instagram.

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By jason (registered) | Posted November 23, 2007 at 11:13:42

If I'm reading this thing properly, it sounds like these 'new routes' will only run during rush hour. Great. That's really convenient.

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By Frank (registered) | Posted November 23, 2007 at 13:26:03

well it would work great...if there were dedicated bus lanes, but that creates a BRT system when what we really need is an LRT. Let's spend money on that and use the buses on the routes that are now serviced by LRT to make the new routes.

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By jason (registered) | Posted November 23, 2007 at 17:31:28

if I'm also reading the rest of this right, it sounds like they are proposing to spend $160 million for BRT?? The bulk of it on the Upper James corridor and Rymal Rd/Linc corridor?? If we're actually going to start spending real money like this on transit, please lets do it right and do LRT for the lower city east/west line and BRT for the upper james/rymal lines. we have one shot at this. let's do it right THE FIRST TIME (something Hamilton usually prefers to not do).

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By matt (anonymous) | Posted November 23, 2007 at 18:53:03

if i'm reading this right it seems like city staff and council are forgetting that they already raised fares once this year. at a cost, in ridership, estimated to be half a million rides a year. oh, and from my perspective, transit service has gotten worse since then.

there is no excuse for raising fares. operating and capital costs should be paid through taxes; same deal with improvements. transit is a vital public service. it is a requirement for saving money on road repairs, the inefficiencies of single-occupancy vehicles (including parking spaces) and allowing the necessary number of people to move around the city on a day to day basis. and this doesn't even take into consideration the environment.

we elected a mayor and a number of councillors on a platform that was at least partially green. how green is allowing half a million trips to move from the bus to some other means of transportation? this of course, assumes that people have a choice.

not everyone has a choice. i don't, neither do a lot of my friends and family. we live in a poor city, populated in large part by poor people. myself included. raising bus fares, while allowing parts of ancaster to pay nothing towards transit is an attack against the poor, the environment and anyone working to make Hamilton a liveable city.

anyone else want to move?

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By beancounter (registered) | Posted November 26, 2007 at 12:38:51

The Wentworth and Victoria route isn't exactly new.

I believe this route was available back in the eighties.

I also remember riding the bus north on Sherman Avenue on my way to work in the early eighties. This route made connections with Delaware, King, Barton and Bayfront routes.

These crosstown routes are helpful in eliminating the need to go downtown to connect with other major routes.

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By beancounter (registered) | Posted November 26, 2007 at 12:45:42

The Wentworth and Victoria route isn't exactly new.

I believe this route was available back in the eighties.

I also remember riding the bus north on Sherman Avenue on my way to work in the early eighties. This route made connections with Delaware, King, Barton and Bayfront routes.

These crosstown routes are helpful in eliminating the need to go downtown to connect with other major routes.

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By jason (registered) | Posted November 27, 2007 at 18:22:29

another annoying thing about this, is the fact that I'll continue to have full buses zip past me or get jammed on other ones, while new buses travel to the big boxes of Ancaster and Waterdown 2/3 empty.
This city is so screwed up....all we know is sprawl and outward growth. The transit system is overloaded all through the central city, yet I don't see a single new initiative (other than the long-overdue Keith line) to ease the crunch among existing riders...REMEMBER US HSR?? We're the ones paying the bills!! Now we'll have to pay 15cents more to be passed by over and over.

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