Raise the Hammer

hamiltonnews.com/news/wynne-promises-to-turn-hamilton-red-in-next-election

I was a bit shocked to hear that the LRT has been shelved in the Transportation Planning DEPT at the City of Hamilton because of broken communications for funding. Mayor Bratina needs to step out of the way and stop holding back the development of the New Hamilton.

This is an outrage! People need to write to council and tell them to bypass Bratina and send Kathleen Wynne a direct message on their support for LRT. Enough is enough.

I think the point that needs to get through to Hamiltonians is that if we don't fight to get our fair share of provincial transit funding, it will just get spent elsewhere in the GTA, primarily in the City of Toronto.

Personally since the population of Hamilton is about one fifth of that of the City of Toronto, I think we should be fighting to ensure Hamilton gets one fifth the funding of Toronto. I know to some that sounds crazy, but why not? There's no law of thermodynamics that says that residents of Toronto have to get higher per capita transit funding than Hamilton, London, Windsor or any other Ontario community.

It really should be based on where there's a need based on trip demand and infrastructure available. Transportation isn't a one-size-fits-all thing and funding should reflect actual needs, not arbitrary political boundaries.

By that logic, Toronto will always get more money than everywhere else. That's not fair to the rest of province if the province is contributing.

You need to look at the big picture, not just funding for new transit infrastructure.

The big picture where there's always a Toronto priority like the Scarborough subway and Hamilton never gets proper funding?

The only funding tool that will generate money outside of the GTHA will be the HST increase, and that money will remain in their local municipalities to invest in local transit and transportation projects. That's done to 1) reduce the complexity of introducing an HST to only one part of the province, and 2) ensure the GTHA remains competitive and retailers don't face unfair disadvantages. You should really read over the report before commenting.

In terms of assuming per capita funding, that's a mistake because travel goes over political borders. For instance, the majority of commuters using GO Transit/Union Station are from outside Toronto so "Toronto" would never agree to spending their share to improvements along the rail corridor or in Union Station that doesn't benefit them. Most of the transportation problems that we've had in the region stem from the "us" vs "them" mentality and people like you and many on RTH seem to advocate around. Projects need to move forward on how well they support travel with both a local and regional perspective. Much like a bike network, building in unconnected stages does nothing for commuters and instead we need to ensure that the trunk lines exist first and build from there.

Perhaps you need to become more familiar with Hamilton commuting patterns and the history of provincial funding of non-Hamilton versus Hamilton transit projects. What has the province already funded over the years for Hamilton since Metrolinx's inception and what are the actual concrete plans? If Hamiltonians don't fight for our share of funding from the province, whoever is in power at Queen's Park will be more than happy to dole it out to GTA projects.

Hamilton's main transit need is LRT that serves local commuters.

The funding Metrolinx has provided to Hamilton includes:

Fall 2009- $17 Million
- the purchase of new hybrid-electric buses for A & B Line corridors. I believe all this went to purchasing the articulated buses the HSR currently operates.

2012- $13 Million
- $4.3 million for the Mohawk College multi-modal terminal
- $4.5 million for the MTC Park-N-Ride
- $1.4 million for the upcoming A&B Line amenities
- $ 1.6 million for the Bike Share
- $565,000 for the passenger information screens at MacNab terminal
- $300,000 for the King Street bus lane

Other
- $3.0 million for the James Street North GO Station
+ the ongoing plans for Centennial GO Station and expansion of service into Niagara

Except for the last projects, that's $30 million of support for expansion of the BLine and the creation of the ALine. I'd call that support for local commuters.

While I do want to see LRT move forward, there are significant improvements that could be made to the existing system to make it better for commuters. While Rapid Ready is good, the improvements in the 2009/2010 operational review would make significant strides towards reducing complexity in the system, reallocating resources to where they have the largest ROI, and making the system operate better. Grand River Transit has been making significant progress on developing a transit culture, and has managed to double ridership since 2001. While 50% of that is due to student usage, the rationalization of routes, the relationship with uWaterloo's Civil Engineering and Urban Planning departments to support research about changes they're making and the introduction of limited-stop routes has managed to grow ridership across all areas of the population spectrum.

Another tool that will generate money outside of the GTHA is the 10 cent gasoline tax increase. This also leads to considerable savings in the health car system, as it discourages car drivers from launching their lethal cancer poison attacks upon our people.

The fuel tax, as presented in the Investment Strategy, would only be applied within the GTHA.

Is council going to take this lying down? Didn't they strip the mayor of his power to represent Hamilton at queens park? Why is this still going on?

Tell me, Capitalist, what's your solution to the question of moving people around our city now and into the future? How do you propose that we bring another 200,000 people into Hamilton and move them around effectively, as we are expected to do under the Places to grow Act? How do you propose that we reign in the costs of sprawl, and stem the tide of increasingly expensive outward expansion of our city? Are you willing to pay the taxes to continue to extend road, sewer, utility and civic services to the far-flung areas of our community that will continue to be the primary nodes of growth if automobile transportation remains the easiest way to get around? Because what I hear from people of your ilk is a lot about what you're NOT willing to spend money on, but nothing about what the solutions are. The status quo is costing us, as a region, BILLIONS a year. And last I checked, unless you want to start getting rid of pesky things like sidewalks and buildings downtown, you're not going to be building any more lane capacity anywhere. Stop stamping your foot and telling us what you're not willing to pay for and start proposing some FUCKING SOLUTIONS. Until then, STFU.

JustinJones

I won't STFU because I live in a free country and will say what I want. If you don't like what I have to say you can either ignore it, or provide a response but telling people to STFU only displays your lack of class.

Please learn some manners. I am ashamed for you.

Still no solutions offered. Thanks for coming out.

Yes we all know how free speech works. You have the right to say dumb stuff and others have the right to call B.S. (hope that doesn't offend you). Justin DID provide a response to what you wrote. A long detailed response that was better than you deserved. He didn't just tell you to STFU, he said he thinks you should STFU if you don't have anything better to offer than lazy name calling. You can be rude no problem but soon as someone gives it back you turn into a delicate snowflake who Wiltshire at an acronym. Boo hoo.

comment from banned user deleted

These are good points but what happens when you "feed the B line" -- it becomes even more crowded and the need for LRT more evident. Why would we choose to have a line of 10 - 15 buses driving between Mac and Eastgate in place of a clean, quiet train? It just makes no sense. The ridership to justify LRT is already there. I've ridden the B line to Mac and, believe me, it's no place for a relatively small, non-muscular person...LRT will get people out of their cars who would like to have a the transit option but don't want to put up with the bus ride experience.

DNFTEC

It's become automatic for me. I see 'lefty' in a comment, I think: Oops, a moron, move on.

I'm a tax payer of Hamilton. I want to foot the bill.

Apparently you ignored the articles about packed buses driving by people along the B-Line corridor.

comment from banned user deleted

LRT is a huge development magnet. You'll see many new condos/housing built along it's route, bringing more people into the urban core. I would prefer to see LRT on the B-Line, and BRT for the A-Line as well as a cross-Moutain BRT on Mohawk Rd.

Our BRT can be real BRT, like this:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5516/10106...

In the long term, LRT is cheaper than buses, and it's not just the cost of drivers. Again, over the long term, LRTs are cheaper to maintain than buses, their life span is much longer, so much so that they are cheaper, energy costs are cheaper. And then there are all non-cost advantages too. All you have to do is look at other cities across north America. Lucky for us, we have that advantage,

The main problem with HSR service is not more buses, but more drivers. It's relatively inexpensive to buy a bus as compared to paying the salary of a few drivers to keep it operating all day (and their pensions when they retire).

If we can carry more people on King with fewer drivers (i.e. LRT) then we can free up those drivers for other routes.

Oh my yes I'm just dying to experience even more bus tailpipes on King. That will really get me wanting to shop along there, perhaps even buy a condo, sit at Gore Park in the patio cafes that don't exist. The air is already literally (in the truest sense of the word) nauseating along King and Main. Let's listen to capitalist and add even more buses. Instead of working with the province to electrify it, creating an outbreak of development and densification, which then feeds back as new tax revenue. Having nice things and a clean healthy city really doesn't make sense to you, does it.

Comment edited by mikeonthemountain on 2014-02-08 10:19:50

outrageous!! premier doesn't know!! good thing rth ryan not going out for diplomatic core. his kids should edit his letters, which anyway contain important points.

This would be the same Kathleen Wynne who served as Minister of Transportation from Jan 18, 2010–Oct 20, 2011, yes?

thespec.com/news-story/2217536-mcguinty-promises-all-day-go/

The Feb 2013 report Rapid Ready: Expanding Mobility Choices in Hamilton prescribed a Transit Fleet Expansion of 100 buses. That's a significant bump from the current stable of 217 buses and would almost certainly go toward expanding service in un(der)served neughbourhoods. The cost for this initiative has been estimated at $50 million, with funding possible through Metrolinx as it’s a capital line item.

There obviously would be considerable operational costs associated with a 46% bump in service, but it would be partially offset by retiring redundant buses from service: The Rapid Ready default scenario assumes that 18 buses along the B-Line corridor would be thus removed (mainly 1 and 10, since the Delaware family – and the 55/55A service that merges with the 10 – will need to be operational in order to feed the trunk line and service the southern and western periphery).

Two LRT lines by 2025, and three more LRT lines sometime after 2035. That’s the concept.

hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/357D6984-3BEE-4424-B332-4EDBD344E241/0/BLAST_Map_02NOV2010_Large.jpg

Technically the BLAST plan only focused on corridors for rapid transit and doesn't specify a technology. It's most likely that in the medium term, most of those will see some form of aBRT similar to what the Region of Waterloo is developing from Fairview Mall to Ainsile Terminal.