[SteelTown]

Will it be bus or rail?
Public asked to examine merits of each system

April 16, 2008
Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator

You learned your ABCs in school. Now it's time to learn about BRT and LRT.

You'll need to know those acronyms to take part in a big decision Hamiltonians are being asked to make by June.

After years of struggling to balance fares and service on the Hamilton Street Railway, the city is suddenly being offered lots of provincial money to build rapid transit systems from Eastgate Mall to McMaster University and from the harbour to the airport.

The cash will come from the McGuinty government's $17.5-billion Move Ontario 2020 plan announced last June that included immediate funds for more articulated, hybrid-engine buses to beef up existing crosstown service and provide regular service from downtown to the airport.

Now the public is being asked to decide by June whether, going ahead, we want buses running in reserved lanes -- bus rapid transit (BRT) -- or streetcar-like vehicles on steel rails -- light rail transit (LRT).

To add to the alphabet soup, the north-south route is being called the A-Line and the crosstown route the B-Line, not to be confused with the HSR's present east-west Bee Line semi-express bus service. The Move Ontario plan does not include a cross-Mountain route that Hamilton's Transportation Master Plan says is also needed.

The public works department is holding a public information session on the A-Line May 6 at the Sackville Hill Seniors' Centre on Upper Wentworth Street, and another on the B-Line May 8 at the Education Centre on Main Street West. Meeting times have not been announced.

Jill Stephen, manager of strategic planning, says information on the choices is not yet available on the city website, but will be posted in advance.

Current discussions are aimed only at choosing the type or types of rapid transit. Once that is decided, there will have to be a class environmental assessment that will look at alternative routes and designs.

Present plans for the east-west B-Line call for maintaining the present one-way pattern of westbound service on King Street and eastbound service on Main Street through the downtown area.