Rapid Transit

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by flar

Congestion, wow. I think the idea of congestion in Hamilton is having to stop at a traffic light, or having to slow down to 50km/h

Ironically, Hamilton actually doesn't have enough congestion to warrant the bus lane.

If you had been following the story of the bus lane, you would know that the argument used to get rid of it was that it was causing congestion. Anyone with any sense would realize that the same argument will be used to kill the BRT/LRT. The argument will be, if you think the congestion the bus lane caused was bad wait until you see what happens when they shut down King street and turn it into a streetcar right of way.

[drpgq]

I have to say I loathe the idea of the spur, although I could be confused on what it exactly it is.

If it is what I think they're suggesting, it seems ridiculous. Imagine taking the B-line today from somewhere East of the Gore and having it turn down at John to go to the new GO station and then come back up James and the continuing on to Mac. What a colossal waste of time. It might be faster to get off at Gore park, walk a block and pick it up again at James and King depending on the headway.

I'm can understand the province wanting to exploit the James North station, but this just doesn't make sense. Now a Barton Beeline bus route that I've argued for before that stops at the new GO station on its way to Gore park would make way more sense.

[flar]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

If you had been following the story of the bus lane, you would know that the argument used to get rid of it was that it was causing congestion. Anyone with any sense would realize that the same argument will be used to kill the BRT/LRT. The argument will be, if you think the congestion the bus lane caused was bad wait until you see what happens when they shut down King street and turn it into a streetcar right of way.

I understand this is how it will be used politically, and agree with you that is exactly how it will be played. It's just amazing to me how people are able to accept the congestion argument when it is so far removed from reality. It's like a repeat of the two-way conversion of James St.

[thistleclub]

The Public Record has the Transcript of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Press Conference Remarks on Hamilton’s “Rapid Transit”

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by drpgq

I have to say I loathe the idea of the spur, although I could be confused on what it exactly it is.

If it is what I think they're suggesting, it seems ridiculous. Imagine taking the B-line today from somewhere East of the Gore and having it turn down at John to go to the new GO station and then come back up James and the continuing on to Mac. What a colossal waste of time. It might be faster to get off at Gore park, walk a block and pick it up again at James and King depending on the headway.

I'm can understand the province wanting to exploit the James North station, but this just doesn't make sense. Now a Barton Beeline bus route that I've argued for before that stops at the new GO station on its way to Gore park would make way more sense.

I think a spur is another name for a branch. I would guess that it would not go up James to double back down James, but would be a very (very) short line connecting King and James to the James Street Go station.

It seems ridiculous to me, too, if this understanding is correct. That's about a kilometre. If it absolutely needs to connect to Go, route it down Barton or (better) down to Hunter for some distance to connect to the Hunter station.

[Jon Dalton]

I am guessing a spur to the GO station would be served by some trains but most would be straight through from Eastgate to Mac. This would allow LRT trains to synchronize with GO trains and allow riders from the east and west ends a trip with no transfers. If you end up on a train bound for the GO and you don't want to go there, get off at King and James and get on the next train. Better than a whole other train going up and down James all day .

It would have to be the James North station because that's where the electrification and all day service is eventually going. I hope they get shovels in the ground on this before the 4 years is up because the scope of this project is huge. Making LRT dependent on all day GO may be the Liberals' way of weaseling out of it. If they don't win another term and the whole thing gets axed, they are off the hook.

[thistleclub]

Premier Wynne, show us the LRT money
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrea Horwath, Feb 4 2015)

Kathleen Wynne is talking out of both sides of her mouth when it comes to Hamilton's long-overdue LRT. In a recent meeting with our mayor and city manager the premier promised full capital funding for this transit project, but when pressed by media she refused to make a firm dollar figure commitment. Hamilton deserves better. The premier must either put up full capital funding for our LRT, or tell us why her Liberal government doesn't think Hamilton's transportation needs are important.

In speeches the premier makes a point of publicly pledging "serious and aggressive investment in transit" in the GTHA (Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area). Based on the premier's back-peddling last week, Hamiltonians have good reason to wonder if that "H" is meant to be silent. Hamilton is part of Kathleen Wynne's transit funding plan when it's politically convenient and we're not when it isn't. The premier isn't just juggling letters, she's juggling promises and they're falling down at our feet.

Of course this isn't anything new. When it comes to our LRT the Liberals have a bad habit of writing cheques that Hamilton can't ever cash. During the 2007 election they made a similar funding commitment for Hamilton's LRT, but in 2010 then-minister of transportation Kathleen Wynne put the brakes on that promise. In the meantime her Liberal government reaffirmed its plan to pay 100 per cent of the cost of Toronto's LRT program. Where does that leave Hamilton? Waiting for a train that never shows up, apparently. Kathleen Wynne may be trying to confuse the issue but Hamiltonians have been crystal clear. We want the full capital funding she promised for our LRT, not more Liberal IOUs.

Read it in full here.

[thistleclub]

Local communities to help build Metrolinx projects
(Spacing, John Lorinc, Feb 2 2015)

Just two weeks after Metrolinx’s boring machines broke through the extraction shaft at Allen Road, the regional agency reached another major milestone Friday, with the submission of two formal bids for the estimated $4.5 billion Eglinton Crosstown deal, the largest infrastructure project in Toronto’s history.

So, let’s pause here to offer a big shout-out to former mayor David Miller, whose Transit City campaign circa 2006-2007 resurrected a long and shamefully delayed effort to bring rapid transit to Eglinton; a second shout-out to former TTC chair Karen Stintz, who defended the Crosstown against Rob Ford’s attacks; and a third one to the pre-gas plant McGuinty Liberals, who ponied up the dollars.

But this massive contract is good news for another reason: according to a community benefit agreement (CBA) appended to the Metrolinx RFP last spring, the successful bidder — as well as those ultimately chosen to build the Finch West and Sheppard East LRTs — will be expected to hire from a pool of workers who come from some of the city’s most marginalized communities and have received training through apprenticeship programs delivered by the building trades unions.

Within six months of winning the contract, according to the framework agreement, the winning consortia must submit a hiring and recruitment plan to Metrolinx that passes muster with the agency’s CBA goals.

“Metrolinx recognizes that major infrastructure projects like Crosstown should also include additional benefits for the communities in which we work; including employment, training, apprenticeship, local supplier and social procurement opportunities, where possible,” says spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins. “We believe these types of strategies support the delivery of large infrastructure projects and don’t interfere on-time or on-budget performance.”

It’s a big deal, because we will be able to see, on a large scale, the impact of institutionalizing a connection that should have been incredibly obvious to politicians and policy-makers of all ideological stripes – that governments can and should leverage the huge sums spent on infrastructure to help un- or under-employed people move into stable jobs.


Read it in full here.

[thistleclub]

McMeekin says city willing to ‘delay’ LRT
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Dreschel, Mar 23 2015)

Local Liberal cabinet minister Ted McMeekin's high dive into the city's transit debate is spreading questions and concerns in its wake.

McMeekin says he fully supports the $811-million LRT request to the province but the project "has to be done right."

He also supports council's new request for an additional $302-million for local transit improvements.

He doesn't believe the "supplemental" ask will jeopardize the funding request for LRT.

And he's asked Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca to consider both as an "integrated package."

However, the Hamilton MPP also believes council's decision to include the $302-million signals it's willing to delay LRT, the very thing Mayor Fred Eisenberger feared.

"My argument is it ought to be both," McMeekin said in an interview. "I said that to the minister and he understood it. He also understands that the council is essentially asking for a bit of delay in the LRT but keeping it within the decade window so it's not lost."

"There's a concession, perhaps, that we need to do one before the other. I think we need to find a way to see how we can proceed quicker with both."

Postponing LRT was the very thing Eisenberger worried might happen when earlier this month council voted 12-4 to append the $302-million 10-year transit strategy to its long-standing request for light rail funding.

Although there's nothing in the wording of the motion to suggest local transit should take precedence over LRT, Eisenberger cautioned that's how it will be interpreted. McMeekin's reading bears that out.

Says McMeekin, "My understanding of what council is saying is, 'We need the supplemental money; it's part of our holistic integrated transit plan; we understand that in so doing there may be a delay on the LRT portion.'"

Says Eisenberger, "My concerns right from the very beginning is this could change the order in which things happen and putting LRT on the back burner doesn't generate the kind of economic uplift and revenue that I think it was all based on in the first place."

"It's about city building; it's about economic investment."

Read it in full here.

[drpgq]

This part from the above Spec article scares me:

"McMeekin notes some people think the route should be from the waterfront to the airport instead of between McMaster University and Eastgate Square. He adds the mayor's upcoming citizen transit panel will be helpful sorting that out."

Is there anyone credible that thinks that except for Bob Bratina (and maybe some clueless Mandarins at Metrolinx)? Current public transit usage along the B line corridor is massive compared to however many transit users there are on the airport to waterfront corridor. The fact that McMeekin would even mention it is maddening.

[MalcolmTucker]

Well, with all day GO, an LRT line to the airport could revitalize it as a true low cost gateway.

Not that it would be worth it likely.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Well, with all day GO, an LRT line to the airport could revitalize it as a true low cost gateway.

Not that it would be worth it likely.

The above highlighted section pretty much says it all. It's a great idea in theory but to spend around $1b on an existing route that has relatively poor ridership that connects to an airport that is almost in mothball mode is, well, unwise.

The McMeekin comment is just part of the game. The M.O. right now is to keep this project in discussion mode ad infinitum.

[mishap]

Originally Posted by drpgq

Is there anyone credible that thinks that except for Bob Bratina (and maybe some clueless Mandarins at Metrolinx)? Current public transit usage along the B line corridor is massive compared to however many transit users there are on the airport to waterfront corridor. The fact that McMeekin would even mention it is maddening.

There is demand for a north-south line... just a short one. You could easily have a line to replace most (or all) of the 11 routes that run up the escarpment from downtown. But once you get the up the hill, ridership spreads out in multiple directions. Even if you were to feed the LRT line via the east-west routes, there might not be LRT numbers south of Mohawk Road any time soon. Certainly not south of the Linc.

I don't think the idea of a short shuttle-type line to climb the escarpment should be dismissed, but service to the airport is not realistic any time soon.

[interr0bangr]

oops

[thistleclub]

Hamilton’s $1 billion transit question
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Dreschel, Apr 20 2015)

Will the provincial budget be D-Day or Groundhog Day for Hamilton's LRT ask?

Thursday's budget is sure to reaffirm Premier Kathleen Wynne's $29-billion commitment to building infrastructure, including the $15 billion earmarked for public transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

But Mayor Fred Eisenberger has no idea if it will contain a detailed or general reference to Hamilton's request for the $811-million light rail system and $302-million in local transit improvements.

"I can only read the tea leaves in terms of hopeful signs from the province that we're in line for an announcement of some sort, that we're not going to be left out of the loop.

"But do I know what it is at this point? I do not.

"They've been holding their cards close to their vest; but my hope is they give us a clear, definitive indication of how and when they're going to fund what."

Eisenberger is well aware the city has been down this road before, hoping for a conclusive answer, but left grasping vague commitments. He's "cautiously optimistic" that good news is finally coming.

Based on his discussions in late January with Wynne and Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca, the mayor believes neither wants the city's long-standing LRT issue "dangling around for too much longer."

That's the same meeting at which Eisenberger and city manager Chris Murray say Wynne committed to 100 per cent capital funding for the 14-kilometre LRT line from Eastgate Square to McMaster University.

Eisenberger notes that both Wynne and Del Duca also indicated they were going to have a pretty clear idea of how the money was going to roll out "in and around budget time."

So, even if there's nothing specific about Hamilton's $1.3 billion request in Thursday's budget, Eisenberger believes the when-and-how answer is on the near horizon.

The question, of course, is not only whether Hamilton will get a piece of the $15 billion to be spent on GTHA transit projects over the next 10 years, but how big a slice.


Read it in full here.

[thistleclub]

Ontario willing to fund Mississauga-Brampton LRT without federal help
(The Globe and Mail, Oliver Moore, Apr 21 2015)

The province is willing to put up the full cost of building a light rail line in Mississauga and Brampton, The Globe and Mail has learned, a commitment that would appear to push far into the future any chance of a relief subway line in downtown Toronto.

‎The regional transit agency Metrolinx will announce on Tuesday it is moving ahead on the suburban LRT project, the cost of which has been pegged at $1.6-billion. The province is going ahead without a funding agreement with the federal government, though the pledge to build the LRT would allow it to apply for federal assistance that could reduce the price tag.

The LRT pledge comes only months after Mississauga ruffled feathers by saying it couldn’t contribute anything to the project.

The 23-kilometre proposed LRT would run from the Port Credit to Brampton GO stations, making a loop around the Mississauga City Centre area.

If Queen’s Park’s ends up covering the bulk of the cost, it will mean that most of the roughly $16-billion in new provincial transit spending promised over 10 years – the biggest expansion in decades – will be outside Toronto.

After a GO rail investment announced Friday and this LRT, there could be little left in the transit funding pot.

The provincial willingness to carry the full cost of this project is in line with light rail pledges made by Queen’s Park in years past. But it runs counter to the more recent practice of paying only a third of the capital cost, and expecting the federal and municipal governments to pick up the rest. This sort of cost-sharing is the funding model for the Scarborough subway extension and for Toronto Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack transit plan.‎ The announcement adds to the growing tab for transit that will primarily serve riders outside Toronto.

On Friday, the provincial government said that it would pour $13.5-billion into expanding service on the regional GO rail network. That investment would mean there would be only about $2.5-billion left from the total of about $16-billion earmarked for transit in the Toronto and Hamilton regions.

Asked at that announcement where that huge investment would leave the other projects in the so-called “next wave” of priorities identified by Metrolinx – a list that includes a downtown relief line for Toronto – Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca said the public would have to wait and see. More news is coming, he said.

If the Mississauga-Brampton LRT ends up being funded by the province, it could soak up most of the money left after Friday’s announcement, leaving little for everything else.


Read it in full here.

[thistleclub]

Hurontario LRT gets a boost from Queen's Park
(The Toronto Star, Tess Kalinowski, Apr 21 2015)

Ontario Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca will announce the province is moving ahead to build the Hurontario LRT running between Mississauga's Port Credit neighbourhood and Brampton.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey are expected to join Del Duca at the City Centre transit terminal near Square One in Mississauga to confirm Queen's Park's support for the $1.6 billion transit line.

In January, Crombie admitted that her city has no money to contribute to the approximately 23-km. LRT.

Brampton is still trying to determine its preferred routing for the LRT with some residents opposed to sending it up Main St. because they believe it will interfere with the charm of the city's heritage downtown. But Jeffrey told The Toronto Star earlier this year that downtown Brampton needs the foot traffic that the LRT can deliver.

The LRT is among a list of Metrolinx projects that the Ontario Liberal government said last week it would work with Toronto region cities to deliver. Also on the list were a series of bus rapid transit lines, the Toronto relief subway and the Yonge subway extension to Richmond Hill.

The transit infrastructure is part of the investment Premier Kathleen Wynne said will flow from the sale of part of Hydro One and other provincial assets.

Much of that investment will go toward the GO regional express rail (RER) plan that would see much of the system's tracks electrified to provide 15-minute frequencies on some key sections. On Friday, Wynne announced there will be 50 per cent more GO trains in five years.

But there were no details on expanded GO service on the Milton GO line or on the Richmond Hill line where Metrolinx doesn't own the tracks and in the latter case, needs major flooding remediation along the Don Valley.

In advance of Tuesday's Hurontario LRT announcement there was concern about how much provincial money would be left for non-GO projects given that RER is expected to eat up $13.5 billion of the $16 billion the province is making available for Toronto region transit in the next 10 years.

[thistleclub]

Ontario Moving Forward with Hurontario-Main Light Rail Transit Project
(Ontario Newsroom, Ministry of Transportation, April 21, 2015)

As part of the largest infrastructure investment in Ontario's history, Ontario is moving ahead with the Hurontario-Main Light Rail Transit (LRT) project.

This LRT is a new public transit project, led by Metrolinx, that will bring 23 kilometres of rapid transit to Mississauga and Brampton. The LRT line is proposed to have 26 stops, including three stops within downtown Mississauga and two stops in downtown Brampton. The service will move more people faster through these corridors than the existing bus service.

Through the Moving Ontario Forward plan the government is investing in priority rapid transit projects that will connect to the GO Transit network and other transit systems across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). These priority rapid transit projects will increase transit ridership, reduce travel times, manage congestion, connect people to jobs, and improve the economy.

On April 16, 2015, Ontario moved ahead with its plan to unlock the value of certain public assets. This will provide the province with approximately $4 billion to build new transit and other priority infrastructure projects through Moving Ontario Forward.

Investing more than $130 billion over 10 years in public infrastructure ­-- the largest infrastructure investment in the province's history -- is part of the government's plan for Ontario. The four-part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people's talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, innovative environment where business thrives, and building a secure retirement savings plan.


Read it in full here.

[HillStreetBlues]

CBC now has an editorial asking "Did Brampton just get Hamilton's LRT money?"

It was never our LRT money. If they did get it, it's because they made it clear to the provincial government that they wanted it.

[Jon Dalton]

No problem, just up the new beer tax another percent or two.