The future of Hamilton's public transit

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by hamiltonguy

And the problems with a TH&B terminal are as follows:

1)Big Detour for East-West Rapid Transit which would either result in a drastic increase in crosstown transit times or a disconnected transit system

Sorry I completely disagree. Hamilton GO Centre is not too far from the proposed east-west transitway.

2)The main employment areas in Downtown are further North than Hunter Street

by what, say 100 metres? Not significant enough to impact on commute.

3)Hunter Street has limited capacity and could not by itself even hold all the buses terminating downtown meaning MacNab has to be used for some (I believe this is what the city report says)

The GO Centre can easily be retrofitted to increase capacity. The property surrounding it is severely underutilized. All it needs is the political will to do so.

4)Stopping at Hunter as a terminal then continuing on for 2 blocks will just increase travel times for the majority of commuters.

If there is travel time added, it would be insignificant. Hunter Street GO just is not that far from downtown to negatively impact on commute times.

5) If the East End Go Extension by the CN line is implemented, then East-West bus users won't be heading to the TH&B station anyways.

GO will not be abandoning the Hunter Street GO Terminal. The proposed James North GO Station is in addition to, not in place of, Hamilton GO Centre. The Hunter Street GO Centre is GO Transit's hub for Hamilton-Halton-Niagara, and they own it outright. In fact, they are currently renovating the ticket centre at Hamilton GO Centre to upgrade its facilities.

Furthermore, all current east-west HSR routes can travel directly to (or within close walking distance) of the Hunter Street terminal. If they were to head to James North station instead, a bus transfer would be added to the mix, which would have a significantly negative impact on commute times.

6) A Terminal at MacNab has potential for TOD on top of it.

...as does the current Hamilton GO Centre

8) The City has already decided on MacNab and energies are better spent advocating LRT over BRT than fighting over the location of a terminal

The city has not made a final decision on the McNab Street terminal.

I have made several posts here emphasizing the importance of integrating transit systems. A McNab Street terminal isolates the HSR system from GO and all other inter-city transit lines serving Hamilton. Hamilton GO integrates them. This in itself makes Hunter GO a far more superior location for a downtown HSR terminal.