Rapid Transit

[thistleclub]

Libs have lots of excuses to delay LRT
(The Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Dreschel, Apr 27 2015)

We don't know what Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca will have in his bag of tricks when he comes to town in the next couple of weeks for his post-budget confab.

But let's play the envoy game anyway.

Set aside all the anger, hopes, spin, zealotry and every emotion and argument wrapped up in Hamilton's LRT debate and ask a simple question.

What do you think Del Duca's mission will be?

Will he fork over $1 billion to build the 14-km line from Eastgate Square to McMaster University?

Or will he continue dangling the 100 per cent capital funding commitment but keep stalling on the timeline and delivery?

The latter seems the more likely choice.

Numbers vary on how much the Ontario government has left in its transit kitty after recent GTA commitments, but funding Hamilton's project would all but empty the vault.

Why should they do that when there are so many plausible excuses for dragging their heels? In no particular order, let's count the ways.


Read it in full here.

[drpgq]

I've said it before here, but I hate the idea of a spur for LRT especially to the James North GO. I wish someone would write in the Spec calling out Wynne for a stupid idea.

[thistleclub]

Ontario Moving Forward with Finch West Light Rail Transit Project
(Ontario Newsroom, Ministry of Transportation, Apr 27 2015)

As part of the largest infrastructure investment in Ontario's history, the province is moving ahead with the $1.2 billion Finch West Light Rail Transit (LRT) project -- a priority transit investment in the City of Toronto that will bring much-needed rapid transit to communities along Finch Avenue West.

The LRT will create 11 new kilometres of rapid transit along Finch West from the new Finch West subway station on the Toronto-York Spadina subway extension to Humber College.

The project will help transform Finch Avenue West into a vibrant community, accessible to motorists, transit riders, cyclists and pedestrians. The LRT service will also move more people, faster through the busy Finch West corridor 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.


Read it in full here.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by drpgq

I've said it before here, but I hate the idea of a spur for LRT especially to the James North GO. I wish someone would write in the Spec calling out Wynne for a stupid idea.

Instead of a spur, might we call it a phased in section of the A-Line? Maybe waterfront to St Joe's, servicing both GO stations?

[Dr Awesomesauce]

One of the problems with the LRT plan is that it doesn't include what one might call a mobility hub. Ideally, the line or lines would converge at one of the train stations/ bus stations but as it stands, the Hunter and James N stations are somewhat disembodied from the proposal. And then you've got the MacNab terminal which is, of course, separate from those two locations, though just a stone's throw from Hunter. The fact of the matter is, there's really no way to do it without disrupting one's commute, thus the lack of a hub.

In terms of the B-line, a spur could be added south on MacNab or James and then along Hunter to John, linking back up to the B-line at King. Not ideal.

The James North station, as already mentioned by CaptainKirk, could be linked to the B-line via a spur which would later become part of the A-line.

None of these solutions are ideal. Luckily, these hubs are not terribly distant from each other, so walking is an option.

[Beedok]

Maybe they could do a loop rather than a spur? That's what Mississuaga is planning (I think).

[markbarbera]

The criss-cross X pattern of the proposed A and B lines need to be reimagined. They should not be two intersecting straight lines. Instead they should be two inverted L-shaped lines that overlap.

One line could run from McMaster east along Main to Hughson, then south along to Hunter GO Centre, then continue east along Hunter, then south along the Clairmont Access, following the West 5th branch of the Clairmont to Mohawk terminal, loop there back the same path. There would be the possibility of future extension south to the airport as well.

The other line could run from Eastgate along Queenston and Main to Bay, run north on Bay to connect to James North GO, continue north to Burlington, west on Burlington, then back south on James to Main where it would return east to Eastgate.

This could easily be phased construction based on demand, with Mac to Downtown happening first, with the Eastgate line following, then the Mac line can be extended to Mohawk, and ultimately the airport. Once completed, each terminus could have service to any of the other three points, with all routes feeding downtown. Imagine Hughson Street pedestrianized between Main and Hunter, acting as a central hub for all LRT lines as well as local and regional transit systems operating from Hamilton GO Centre.

[thistleclub]

The value of any spur or hub is in the passenger volume experienced at those connections. If a “transit hub” is stuck in a feedback loop of meager service and little traffic, connecting to that hub requires compromising the efficiency of the rest of the system. With Hamilton looking at 10 trains per day split between two stations in the morning and evening rush, the main driver of intercity/regional passenger volume would seem to be the GO bus routes that are already overlaid with the proposed B-Line route (and if the city/province can resolve McMaster’s concerns about LRT’s impact on its electron microscope, it might be relatively simple to loop in the McMaster GO Bus Terminal).

The 2010 HSR Operational Review recorded just 12 stops with 1,000+ weekday boardings. Nine of those are either directly on the proposed B-Line route or within a block of it. If there isn't an identifiable location with a comparable level of passenger demand (or latent demand), any detour from the trunk becomes just that.

Now consider Mississauga’s numbers: The one detour that the proposed Hurontario LRT route makes is to circle Square One (the fourth largest mall in the country, pulling in around 65,000 visitors per day), with stops by Mississauga City Hall/Living Arts Centre/Sheridan College Campus, the City Centre Transit Terminal (with BRT connection) and Kariya Gate (the front doorstep of a neighbourhood with probably twice the population density as Durand). Any or all of those seem to be high-demand stops.

Ridership numbers on MiWay and Brampton Transit have been on a steady upward trend for the last decade, so enhanced service connecting to hub locations seems like a natural.

Hamilton's numbers have essentially plateaued in that time and are expected to fall in response to pending fare hikes — needed because council refuses to invest in the systemic upgrades they identified as necessary to supporting higher-order transit. (The city's transit director, for his part, unwittingly enabled council's intransigence when he suggested that the HSR currently lacks the passenger volume to even merit a transit-only lane, before going on to recommend the need for more such lanes.)

[drpgq]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

The value of any spur or hub is in the passenger volume experienced at those connections. If a “transit hub” is stuck in a feedback loop of meager service and little traffic, connecting to that hub requires compromising the efficiency of the rest of the system. With Hamilton looking at 10 trains per day split between two stations in the morning and evening rush, the main driver of intercity/regional passenger volume would seem to be the GO bus routes that are already overlaid with the proposed B-Line route (and if the city/province can resolve McMaster’s concerns about LRT’s impact on its electron microscope, it might be relatively simple to loop in the McMaster GO Bus Terminal).

The 2010 HSR Operational Review recorded just 12 stops with 1,000+ weekday boardings. Nine of those are either directly on the proposed B-Line route or within a block of it. If there isn't an identifiable location with a comparable level of passenger demand (or latent demand), any detour from the trunk becomes just that.

Now consider Mississauga’s numbers: The one detour that the proposed Hurontario LRT route makes is to circle Square One (the fourth largest mall in the country, pulling in around 65,000 visitors per day), with stops by Mississauga City Hall/Living Arts Centre/Sheridan College Campus, the City Centre Transit Terminal (with BRT connection) and Kariya Gate (the front doorstep of a neighbourhood with probably twice the population density as Durand). Any or all of those seem to be high-demand stops.

Ridership numbers on MiWay and Brampton Transit have been on a steady upward trend for the last decade, so enhanced service connecting to hub locations seems like a natural.

Hamilton's numbers have essentially plateaued in that time and are expected to fall in response to pending fare hikes — needed because council refuses to invest in the systemic upgrades they identified as necessary to supporting higher-order transit. (The city's transit director, for his part, unwittingly enabled council's intransigence when he suggested that the HSR currently lacks the passenger volume to even merit a transit-only lane, before going on to recommend the need for more such lanes.)

I agree with this 100%. I can't see travel from the James North station ever be that impressive compared to the overall usage of a B line LRT. Plus any sort of spur or detour discounts that there may well be below that want to get from the East side of the city to the West side or vice versa versus just going from the East side to downtown or the West side to downtown.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Throughout Hamilton's history, it seems rail, either heavy or light, always seems to be a great issue. Whether geography (i.e. the lake and the escarpment) or politics, it would appear there will never be any easy answers.

One wonders what strings MacNab had to pull to get the railway to run through town back in 1854. Where is our 21st century laird today? Our leader? Our boy soldier? Allah knows, we're gonna need serious help from above to get this done.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

One wonders what strings MacNab had to pull to get the railway to run through town back in 1854.

Wonder no more. Their Town breaks it down for you:

“MacNab and his associates saw that the only way of raising enough money to make their railway a reality was to create the right political climate, in which government subsidies would become available. From 1845 on they made a concerted effort to achieve their objectives. In that year Hamilton’s Board of Trade (the forerunner of the Chanber of Commerce) was organized, and the most important project they supported was the railway. But even with speeches at public dinners and wordy legislation giving moral support, the railroaders were unable to raise much money. In 1845 Hamilton town council voted the paltry sum of £25 to the railroad, although the chief engineer had estimated that it would cost about £4,322 for every mile of construction. Sir Allan MacNab and his fellow promoters of the Great Western were not about to accept this setback.”

So MacNab and his railway associates attained and leveraged political power in order to have legislation torqued into a shape that benefitted their private interests, then played local government like a fiddle, getting free land, tax concessions and direct investments in railway stock — and almost bankrupting Hamilton in the process. Takes two to tango, of course, and in Their Town’s telling, Hamilton aldermen from back in the day seem pretty much as facepalm-friendly as contemporary councillors.

Full points to Thomas Beasley, though.


Another perspective appears in Oscar Douglas Skelton’s The Railway Builders: A Chronicle of Overland Highways (1920), particularly chapters IV, V & VI. From the latter:

"The first 'age of iron--and of brass' came to an end before 1860. Between 1850 and 1860, it has been seen, the mileage of all the provinces grew from 66 to 2065. By 1867 it had increased only 213 miles. In two of the intervening years not a mile was built. A halt had come, for stock-taking and heart-searching.

This first era of activity had given as its most obvious result over two thousand miles of railway. In Nova Scotia, Halifax was linked with the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St Lawrence; in New Brunswick, St John was connected with the Gulf, and a road was struggling Canadaward from St Andrews. In the Canadas a 'Grant Trunk,' so nicknamed, ran from Rivière du Loup the whole length of the province to Sarnia, while lesser roads opened up new districts to the north or gave connection with the grain-fields and the ocean 94 ports of the United States. The western province, at all events, was well served for a pioneer country, and the shipper and consumer had no great cause for complaint.

To the taxpayer it seemed otherwise. He had been induced to embark on a lavish policy of financial aid on the assurance that the roads would at worst be no burden, and at best might yield large profits to the state. As a matter of fact, nine out of every ten dollars advanced might be written off as lost. The Grand Trunk, Great Western, and Northern roads were indebted to the old province of Canada on July 1, 1867, in over twenty million dollars for principal advanced and in over thirteen millions for interest. Other roads were indebted to Canadian municipalities in nearly ten millions for principal alone. Yet the taxpayer was not wholly justified in his grumbling. There had been waste and mismanagement, it is true, but the railways had brought indirect gain that more than offset the direct loss. Farming districts were opened up rapidly, freights were reduced in many sections, intercourse was facilitated, and land values were raised. The contribution to the railways was bread well cast upon the waters. It would have been better, if foresight had equalled hindsight, to have given the money out and out.

For the shareholder, English or Canadian, there was little but disappointment. Grand Trunk ordinary stock in 1865 was selling at 22, and even Great Western at 65. The securities of several of the minor roads had been almost entirely wiped out by reorganizations. In 1866 some $4,180,000 was paid in dividends and leases, representing only 2.7 per cent on the $158,000,000 which the roads had cost or were alleged to have cost. Premature extension into unremunerative territory, for political or contracting reasons, excessive competition in the fertile areas, heavy fixed charges on inflated capital or leased roads, water competition, absentee proprietorship, all played their part. Whatever the causes, the results were clear, and capitalists long fought shy of Canadian railway projects."

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Cheers for that.

From the above quote on how the railway came to town: '...and almost bankrupting Hamilton in the process.'

A massive amount of money to be sure. However, where would Hamilton be without the GWR having come through town? That would be some fun speculation.

The outlay required for this proposed LRT project is also pretty eye-popping. I wonder whether future Hamiltonians might look back on this (potential) expenditure and look at it the same way i.e. that it was a necessary investment.

[ScreamingViking]

The railways certainly had a role in allowing the city to develop as an industrial powerhouse. Though the port was key to that too. Even if rail had bypassed the city initially, I'd think the growth of the port (a no-brainer I think, given the natural advantage of a large bay sheltered from the lake) would have led to rail connections.

Another interesting what-if... suppose CN's main line had taken the route that TH&B/CP did, down along the Cootes side of the Heights parallel to Dundurn St. and then across the south flank of Dundas climbing the escarpment from the valley. We may have had a major train station right on the QC-Windsor corridor, still in use today, somewhere along Dundurn (perhaps where the plaza now is)

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Yeah, lots of fun 'what ifs.'

Dundas did have a stop along that route back in the day, however - just above Dundas District HS and below the 'peak.'

I can't help but think places like Dundas, Ancaster, Waterdown and so on will once again become important settlements - more so than Hamilton, that is. History does tend to repeat itself, after all.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Dundas did have a stop along that route back in the day, however - just above Dundas District HS and below the 'peak.'

The CN route yes, I was referring to the other one that's now the rail trail (not sure there was a Dundas station along that - the conservation area trail centre is a replica "train station" but was there a real one there at one time?)

[matt602]

The Dundas train station was along the still used CN Dundas Subdivision. I believe there were also stations along the line that is now the rail trail though.

[lucasmascotto]

Premier pledges support for Hamilton LRT, then quickly takes it back
Says she misspoke on location of light rail transit project
By: Adam Carter
(CBC Hamilton: Monday, May 04, 2015)

Premier Kathleen Wynne almost provided some clarity on Hamilton's rapid transit system situation on Monday, before promptly muddying the waters again.

During question period at Queen's Park, Wynne said, "If we don't work with Hamilton and build that LRT, and make sure we get that infrastructure in place Mr. Speaker, then the boom that's happening in Hamilton can't continue."

"I'm not going to stand by and let that happen."

While that was no doubt music to the ears of LRT advocates everywhere in the city, she rose a few moments later to clarify her statement on a point of order, to remove the "L" from the conversation once again.

"I referenced the Hamilton LRT when I was talking about projects," Wynne said. "Line 30 in the budget, Mr. Speaker. I should have said either the Huron main L.R.T. Or the Hamilton rapid transit, Mr. Speaker. Point of correction."

Which puts the city right back where it was on the rapid transit question.

The newest provincial budget mentions "rapid transit" for Hamilton, but the city is still largely in the dark as to what that would look like – light rail transit or bus rapid transit.

The provincial budget, presented by Finance Minister Charles Sousa, pledges money for "rapid transit" for Hamilton, which will be funded out of a $16-billion Moving Ontario Forward envelope for the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area.

But it didn't mention a specific dollar figure, or the type of rapid transit. And while Minister Steven Del Duca will come to Hamilton within the coming weeks to discuss transit for Hamilton, some say they've heard it before.

The city wants $1 billion to build a 13-kilometre LRT line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. It also wants about $302 million for HSR improvements, including $200 million for a maintenance facility on the Mountain.

Other communities in line for LRT have commitments in hand. Kitchener-Waterloo is currently building a line. The province announced the Hurontario LRT line earlier this week connecting GO stations in Brampton and Mississauga.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

The CN route yes, I was referring to the other one that's now the rail trail (not sure there was a Dundas station along that - the conservation area trail centre is a replica "train station" but was there a real one there at one time?)

Ah OK. That line is a bit of a mystery to me. I recall seeing trains run along that line back in the 80s. At that time it was just freight.

And then there's the old radial line that ran from Hamilton to Brantford (among other destinations). That was narrow gauge trackage, though.

We need a rail enthusiast to chime in on this topic...

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by lucasmascotto

Premier pledges support for Hamilton LRT, then quickly takes it back
Says she misspoke on location of light rail transit project
By: Adam Carter
(CBC Hamilton: Monday, May 04, 2015)

Premier Kathleen Wynne almost provided some clarity on Hamilton's rapid transit system situation on Monday, before promptly muddying the waters again.

During question period at Queen's Park, Wynne said, "If we don't work with Hamilton and build that LRT, and make sure we get that infrastructure in place Mr. Speaker, then the boom that's happening in Hamilton can't continue."

"I'm not going to stand by and let that happen."

While that was no doubt music to the ears of LRT advocates everywhere in the city, she rose a few moments later to clarify her statement on a point of order, to remove the "L" from the conversation once again.

"I referenced the Hamilton LRT when I was talking about projects," Wynne said. "Line 30 in the budget, Mr. Speaker. I should have said either the Huron main L.R.T. Or the Hamilton rapid transit, Mr. Speaker. Point of correction."

Which puts the city right back where it was on the rapid transit question.

The newest provincial budget mentions "rapid transit" for Hamilton, but the city is still largely in the dark as to what that would look like – light rail transit or bus rapid transit.

The provincial budget, presented by Finance Minister Charles Sousa, pledges money for "rapid transit" for Hamilton, which will be funded out of a $16-billion Moving Ontario Forward envelope for the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area.

But it didn't mention a specific dollar figure, or the type of rapid transit. And while Minister Steven Del Duca will come to Hamilton within the coming weeks to discuss transit for Hamilton, some say they've heard it before.

The city wants $1 billion to build a 13-kilometre LRT line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. It also wants about $302 million for HSR improvements, including $200 million for a maintenance facility on the Mountain.

Other communities in line for LRT have commitments in hand. Kitchener-Waterloo is currently building a line. The province announced the Hurontario LRT line earlier this week connecting GO stations in Brampton and Mississauga.

Maybe Hamilton should jump on board with that Northern Separatism movement.

[mattgrande]

So is Wynne just trolling us now?