Rapid Transit

[flar]

If you start with buses, ridership will never "warrant" light rail. Not in Hamilton at least. In Hamilton, buses are unreliable, trips take way longer than driving, and parking is plentiful and cheap. Not having a car is the only reason to take the bus, they are essentially the domain of the poor, disabled, elderly and students.

[mattgrande]

Has that ever been the plan? I thought the original plan was to have LRT in place before the Pan-Am Games. This is the first I'm hearing of "BRT first, then LRT later."

I was under the impression that the B-Line was already at capacity...

[ScreamingViking]

In Hamilton, where a future LRT could be nixed by Mr. Hudak’s plan, Mayor Bob Bratina said the current plan is to begin with buses and that it would be “likely many years” before ridership warranted light rail.

“The Ministry is well aware that our Rapid Ready transit plan begins with enhanced bus service to grow ridership to ultimately support LRT,” he said in an e-mail. “Our first concern therefore is a funding partnership with the province to set the plan in motion.”

What a fool. Another perfect opportunity to show leadership on a major city issue... wasted.

Then again, it was also an opportunity to throw out some pre-campaign re-election rhetoric.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

Has that ever been the plan? I thought the original plan was to have LRT in place before the Pan-Am Games. This is the first I'm hearing of "BRT first, then LRT later."

It's the first anyone is hearing of it.

[Jon Dalton]

"The plan" is to complete engineering / design on the B-Line LRT and request full funding from Metrolinx to build it. This plan is backed up by several council votes and references our own and Metrolinx' feasibility studies. The first study we did indicated that ridership on buses is already high enough.

[markbarbera]

There was an study of LRT in North America conducted for the city by McMaster University last year. It can be found here.

Here are the conclusions made by the study:

Conclusions
The concluding section of the report offers some interpretation of what the findings mean for Hamilton. Some of the main points are as follows:

Light rail transit has the potential to succeed in Hamilton under the right set of circumstances but it will be a long, challenging and expensive process.

There is evidence that light rail developments stand a better chance for success in Canadian cities than U.S. cities.

While traffic congestion helps to drive the case for LRT elsewhere, a comparative lack of congestion in Hamilton offers less support to the local case for LRT. One concern for B-Line LRT and the attraction of new riders is that movements along the corridor are fairly efficient for automobile commuters. Meanwhile, parking in the downtown core is cheap and abundant.

The system of one-way streets along the prospective corridor, while good for auto commuting, is not ideal for LRT or for encouraging TOD. In contrast, to support their LRT system, policies in Calgary have made it more challenging to commute downtown by car.

Success will require a long-term time horizon, strong leadership and strong public support. Even in favourable locations, ridership increases and new developments associated with light rail may proceed slower than anticipated. For example, it is only recently, after thirty years, that ridership on Edmonton's LRT has shown considerable gains.

Investments in light rail often take place in an auto-oriented environment where the path of least resistance is the status quo. As such, the need for a high degree of vision, conviction and strong support from the public is clear
as all parties contemplate a time when the automobile is less dominant than at present.

Many cities have experienced success with their LRT systems by exceeding ridership estimates and attracting new TOD. But other light rail projects have exceeded construction cost estimates, fallen short of ridership and land use expectations, and maintain a low overall share of regional trips. As such, planners and policymakers must exercise care and caution in preparing plans and setting expectations for a light rail project.

LRT itself should be understood as a tool to guide development more so than one that generates development in and of itself, and likewise TOD is not a product of transit alone, but the interaction between a complex set of local factors.

Apart from making travel by private automobile less attractive, a comprehensive array of planning incentives will likely be necessary to induce new investment along the route. To that end, the City of Hamilton is currently
engaged in land use planning in advance of rapid transit and appears to be adhering to sound principles for the most part. However, the ultimate driver of success for development and redevelopment projects lies in strong local economic and real estate market conditions.

[SteelTown]

Ontario to issue ‘green bonds’ to help fund public transit expansion

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/418220...s-to-help-fund-public-transit-expansion/

TORONTO Premier Kathleen Wynne says the Ontario government will issue so-called green bonds next year to help fund public transit expansion.

Wynne says the program will be unveiled in next week's fall economic update, and will allow people to invest in Ontario's future.

It's the first of the so-called revenue tools Wynne has promised to help raise the billions of dollars needed to expand public transit in the heavily congested Toronto-to-Hamilton corridor.

Wynne says green bonds are a great tool to raise capital for projects with specific environmental benefits.

She says the global market for green bonds doubled in the past year to US$346 billion.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa says the green bond program will help to fix Ontario with fixed returns.

[mattgrande]

Chad Collins posted this on Twitter last night:

How long will it be before someone who voted for the dedicated Bus Lanes decides to reconsider? #Hamont #trafficchaos

He's gotten a few responses, I'd say ten in favour of the lanes, three against.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^I'm a bit slow on the uptake...

If he's trying to stir up sh*t then it's a total 🞵🞵🞵🞵 move on his part, even for a politician. If he's just musing aloud then, well, it's still a 🞵🞵🞵🞵 move, actually.

Worst council ever.

[movingtohamilton]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

^I'm a bit slow on the uptake...

If he's trying to stir up sh*t then it's a total 🞵🞵🞵🞵 move on his part, even for a politician. If he's just musing aloud then, well, it's still a 🞵🞵🞵🞵 move, actually.

Worst council ever.

I assume he voted against it, and is hoping for a self-fulfilling prophesy. Chaos? Hyperbole of the worst kind.

[drpgq]

Typical of someone whose job before becoming a councilor was video store clerk. Well done Chad.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

That's one hell of a CV. And his current gig, well, I'm pretty sure mummy got him that one. Sure, he had to win an election but, really...

[ScreamingViking]

And this is the shite some on council will refer back to when the debate about whether to continue the lane experiment happens.

Hopefully within a couple of weeks the limited furor that exists will get muffled amid other issues and we can continue with a properly evaluated trial without the hyperbole.

[LikeHamilton]

Found this video on Youtube.

Hamilton Bus Lane Causes Congestion of Traffic- UN Agenda 21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pv2XwaOOv8

[movingtohamilton]

CHCH 6:00pm newscast today will be doing a hatchet-job on the bus lane. Word is HH BBQ owner will be featured, along with others.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

Found this video on Youtube.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pv2XwaOOv8

Ahhh, I get it now. It's all part of a global conspiracy to track us and control what we eat, say, and do! Clearly this transit lane is the culmination of decades of scheming. Sheer diabolical genius!

Who are these guys?

While the bald guy is talking, I love the way the traffic is moving when it has a green light. But those reds... so much congestion.

Kind of reminds me of this (tried to embed but it wasn't working)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMS6tGOACo

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Damn, I wish I hadn't watched that video. Angers the blood.

[flar]

The United Nations, just unbelievable.

[ScreamingViking]

The UN hasn't been the same since the extraterrestrial takeover.

[thistleclub]

Shop owners say transit-only lane hurting their downtown businesses
(Hamilton Spectator, Steve Arnold, Nov 3 2013)

Two weeks after the opening of a new bus-only lane through Hamilton's core, downtown merchants say their worst fears have been realized.

Business operators have expressed a fear throughout the transit experiment that making it tougher for cars to navigate the core will keep people out of their stores — and that's what they fear is starting to happen.

Barry Sobel, whose Rainbow Bridal has been a King Street fixture for 36 years, said he is already hearing from longtime customers that traffic congestion resulting from the bus lane is keeping them out of the core, especially on weekdays.

"Saturday isn't so bad, traffic is moving well, but at 11 a.m. on a weekday cars will be backed up all the way to Wellington," Sobel said in an interview Saturday. "During weekdays, traffic is backed up as far as I can see."

Late in October the city launched a one-year pilot project to test the effect on traffic congestion in the core from converting one lane of King to transit-only. The far right lane of King between Mary and Dundurn streets is now buses-only except for cars trying to turn right.

The experiment is being viewed as a test of the impact of a proposed light rapid transit rail line through the area. Provincial transit agency Metrolinx has put $300,000 into the project.

Backers of the plan say it has the potential to increase business for core-area merchants by slowing traffic, giving drivers a chance to look around and maybe discover a downtown shop they didn't know existed.

"It gives people a chance to see that dress in the window or that guitar in the pawnshop," said downtown Councillor Jason Farr. "This plan was well thought out but it's also a pilot project and we know that means it will have to be tweaked a little."