Rapid Transit

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Mac report illuminates issue of LRT for city
(Hamilton Spectator, Meredith MacLeod, Oct 20, 2012)

Senior Hamilton bureaucrats are carefully studying a report produced by McMaster University researchers that suggests that light rail transit has the potential to succeed in Hamilton but will be a “long, challenging and costly process.”

The study looked at successful and failing LRT systems across North America in terms of their ability to attract riders and new development.

It will be a big part of a staff report coming to councillors that will definitively recommend whether the city should forge ahead with building an LRT line for Hamilton, said city manager Chris Murray.

“It will speak to all the things we need to do to take advantage of the growth opportunity Hamilton is enjoying.”

The university report, produced by the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics and commissioned by the city, is “good advice to staff and council on how to move ahead with LRT,” said Murray.

Though he stopped short of saying LRT is now a city target, he said Hamilton has “already invested heavily” in LRT.

“I don’t think the feeling is out there that LRT isn’t worth pursuing.”

But Mayor Bob Bratina has repeatedly shot arrows into the hearts of those pining for B-line LRT stretching 13 kilometres between McMaster and Eastgate. It’s projected to cost between $875 million and $1 billion to build.

He has stated there is no public “clamour” for LRT, no development interest and “no convincing argument” for dense economic development along the corridor. He said LRT would be a serious option for Hamilton if a million people moved to the city in the next five years.

As well, the city’s rapid transit office was disbanded and its director left the city.

All of that prompted a motion from council in October supporting the continuation of a full investigation into the feasibility of light rail transit for Hamilton.

Then Bratina said in December that he would not be a champion of LRT, yet Metrolinx officials have said cities need to advocate for their projects.

Co-authors Mark Ferguson, senior research consultant at the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics, and PhD student Christopher Higgins examined the success and failure of light rail transit projects in 30 North American cities.

They conclude: “light rail transit has the potential to work in Hamilton under the right set of circumstances but it will be a long, challenging and costly process.”