Raise the Hammer

I don't think it will take that drastic a move to make a difference. Look at Calgary's growing transit mode share. A sprawled out, car-filled, frigid oil city. Or Montreal: more dense, compact but still frigid.
Heck, Mississuaga and Brampton are making huge transit ridership gains.

Transit ridership correlates directly to the $ invested in the system. More buses, more priority lanes, more comfortable buses and trains, easy to figure out scheduling that is consistent 365 etc.....

Winnipeg serves roughly our same population with more than double the buses. And of course, it has more than double the ridership. I'm kind of heartened that Hamilton has added 25 new buses into the fleet by early 2015 compared with 2005. But for comparison, Winnipeg is planning to add 6-8 new buses per year starting in 2015. That will be 60-80 more in their fleet in a decade.

Hamilton should be buying 60-foot articulated buses almost exclusively for the next decade, other than when 40-footers need to be replaced. I'm pleased to see we are doing that in 2015. Our 5 new buses are artics. On paper that is equal to 7-8 40 foot buses, and in crush loads it is equal to almost 9-10, although comfort and convenience is a big factor in attracting new riders. Being squeezed together with 150 other people like a sardine can isn't very comfortable.

Another quick win would be a new express route running from a park and ride at Limeridge Mall to McMaster University with stops at:

-Limeridge

-Upp Wentworth/Mohawk

-Upp Wellington/Mohawk

-Upp James/Mohawk

-Upp James/Fennell

-Mohawk College

-James/Charlton

-James/Hunter

-King/McNab

-All B-Line stops to McMaster U

Ample road space exists for some transit lanes and queue jumping lights at Upper James/Fennell, Fennell Ave from Upper James to the college, James South in the southbound lane from King to Hunter, James at King.

The B Line corridor has the most pass-bys each year. Barton corridor is 2nd, then the Jolley Cut buses leading to/from Limeridge Mall and those headed to/from Mohawk College are next highest for passbys.

More express routes like this connecting employment/shopping/transit hubs through many neighbourhoods would be a huge hit.

Comment edited by jason on 2014-12-23 10:14:05