The future of Hamilton's public transit

[thistleclub]

HSR ridership declines as service improves
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Dreschel, Feb 1 2017)

It's a public transit head scratcher.

Despite significant improvements to Hamilton's transit service, HSR's ridership declined by about 435,000 trips last year, representing a revenue shortfall of about $860,000.

The decline comes on the heels of the city adding 75,771 new hours of bus service and the debut of 25 new buses.

It also coincides with the introduction of a new bus terminal at Mohawk College, 46 new transit shelters, the reduction of "pass bys" by full buses, and an uptick in overall reliability.

On top of that, 2016 was the second year in a row that ridership dropped dramatically. In 2015, after a couple of years of welcome gains, it fell by about 391,000.

Ironically, this back-to-back slide happened in the first two years of council's 10-year strategy for growing transit.

Besides the aforementioned enhancements, that strategy also saw the hiring of 50 new HSR employees as part of a long-term goal of fixing problems, expanding routes, and ramping up service in prep for the arrival of the $1 billion light rail system.

So why are thousands of Hamiltonians apparently turning their backs on the bus?

Nobody seems to know. Or at least nobody seems to have a definitive answer. One thing is certain, however: the decline is not unique to Hamilton.

From Toronto to Halifax and from Calgary to Vancouver, bus ridership is either flatlining or declining. The same thing is happening across the United States, sometimes even in the face of costly investments in bus services.

The worrying issue surfaced at last week's presentation of the 2017 transit budget to Hamilton councillors. That's hardly surprising since — as per the approved 10-year strategy — the proposed budget includes a request for 26 new employees, five new buses, 34,000 additional operating hours, a 10-cent fare increase, and $2.5 million from the tax levy.

Under questioning by councillors, transit director Debbie Dalle Vedove couldn't point to any one cause for the ridership downturn but noted that fare increases and lower gas prices might be contributing factors.

Read it in full here.

[HillStreetBlues]

Is Dreschel new? It's not a "head scratcher"- HSR predicted that ridership would decline when fares were raised. The improvements to HSR constitute a decrease in the frequency that riders will be passed by a crush-loaded bus. It's not a mystery that some people will choose not to pay extra for that.

[NortheastWind]

It must be because of the SoBi bikes

[thistleclub]

Kevin Werner tweets:

An Clr Lloyd Ferguson "challenges" mayor Fred Eisenberger to make a public statement not to dismantle area rating for transit. #HamOnt

and

Mayor Fred Eisenberger says Ham will have to deal with area-rating for transit. But he says he will wait until next term. #HamOnt


Previously, in the Hamilton Spectator, Feb 2, 2017:

Hamilton suburban politicians will soon be facing a critical decision whether they actually want to become part of the new City of Hamilton or not.

Two years ago councillors agreed unanimously to implement a $302-million 10-year transit strategy that has now become the blueprint to improving needed bus service throughout Hamilton, especially in the suburbs.

The city has already spent about $6 million in 2015 and 2016 to start driving the plan, but had no impact on the taxes in either year.…

Implementing the first two years of the plan was the easy part since it cost taxpayers nothing. Hamilton has now met the projected service demands, providing improve transit service from the downtown to the Mountain, across the Mountain, and in Waterdown. There are downsides, though. Ridership has declined by 400,000 trips and the system still has a deficit.

But now the rubber will be meeting the road in 2017 when the plan demands major financial investments to make it viable.

[thistleclub]

TTC wants report on fares lost because of malfunctioning Presto readers
(Toronto Star, Ben Spurr, Feb 22 2017)

The TTC board has asked for a clear accounting of how much money the transit agency is losing as a result of malfunctioning Presto devices.

At a meeting of the board on Tuesday, commissioners voted to have agency staff produce a report later this year on the “failure rate and loss revenue cost” of the Presto fare card system.

Board member and Councillor Joe Mihevc, who moved the motion for the report, said it was important to get a “methodologically rigorous” report of how much the TTC is losing. Under a deal reached in 2012, Metrolinx, the provincial agency that owns Presto, is contractually obligated to compensate the TTC for forgone revenue due to Presto problems....

The TTC’s deputy CEO Chris Upfold told the board that the TTC is working to put a number on Presto losses but has yet to finalize the figure with Metrolinx.

He said that Presto readers on buses and streetcars are exhibiting new failures at a rate of less than 1 per cent, but because of a backlog to fix them, about 8 to 10 per cent are out of service at any given time.

~

Previously...

12% of Presto card readers on buses don’t work, Metrolinx audit says
(Toronto Star, Ben Spurr, Oct 6 2016)

~

The HSR significantly lags the GTHA in terms of Presto adoption (IIRC, around 8% of users as of 2013) but it's still revenue loss (and potentially skews HSR ridership counts as non-paying passengers are waved through) so I'd be interested to know if the City is investigating this issue in pursuit of correction/compensation. Given the mistrust of Metrolinx in certain camps, it would be instructive to see how many of council's transit cynics (or boosters, for that matter) have bothered to exercise cost-recovery mechanisms in existing Metrolinx contracts, and what is being done to arrive at a solution.

[ScreamingViking]

I've come across readers in subway stations that aren't working either. Not much of an issue at Union where there are lots, but a couple of times in the past year BOTH readers have been out at the station I usually use when coming home, so they've let PRESTO users pass through.

[mishap]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

I've come across readers in subway stations that aren't working either. Not much of an issue at Union where there are lots, but a couple of times in the past year BOTH readers have been out at the station I usually use when coming home, so they've let PRESTO users pass through.

The card reader failure rate on HSR buses is nowhere near 1 in 8, plus the the driver's unit can be used for backup. Between those two, it's scanning nearly 100% of cards tapped (barring a card failure). Now the printers on those systems...

[davidcappi]

As a former commuter from Hamilton to Toronto, I can tell you that the way Presto is configured at Union makes it way too easy to just walk onto a GO train at rush hour without paying, and if you do choose to tap, and your card doesn't work, there's no way for anyone to immediately assist you, so it's easier to just board the train. I saw people do this all the time. By the time you get on the train, it's so packed to standing room that the conductors don't bother checking tickets because the cabins are impossible to navigate between Union/Oakville.

[matt602]

As already posted, the PRESTO printers are the problem for the HSR, not the scanners. The printers have become so problematic that they've had to re-adopt the old style of manually punched transfers because the printers have been failing so frequently. Even when they're not completely broken, the paper roll jams up if you pull the transfer before the machine cuts it. They should have gone for a design more like the TTC's transfer machines in the subway stations where the machine prints and cuts it before dropping it into a glass enclosed box for you.

[movingtohamilton]

Originally Posted by mishap

The card reader failure rate on HSR buses is nowhere near 1 in 8, plus the the driver's unit can be used for backup. Between those two, it's scanning nearly 100% of cards tapped (barring a card failure). Now the printers on those systems...

I've used Presto for years, for GO buses and trains, HSR, Oakville Transit, TTC.

Occasionally the card reader on an HSR bus isn't working, and I'm waved on.

But I'll admit to not knowing why anyone needs something printed.

Tap on HSR bus, travel to destination, tap on again within 2 hours if you're transferring or returning. Or tap on again after 2 hours for another fare deduction.

So it's a *Presto* printer that's generating a transfer for people traveling on HSR who don't have a Presto card?

[Beedok]

I find it weird how Presto seems so much more successful in Ottawa, the place it wasn't designed for, than the GTHA where it was meant for...

[mishap]

Originally Posted by movingtohamilton

So it's a *Presto* printer that's generating a transfer for people traveling on HSR who don't have a Presto card?

Yup. To be fair though, some of those - but a very small percentage - are for TransCabs and companion fares. A large part of the failures would be overuse, printing way more transfers than they were ever intended to do. Surely, the original plan must have been to phase out paper passes and tickets by now, otherwise a separate, replaceable printing unit (like on OC Transpo) would have worked better.

[SteelTown]

Federal budget promises housing, transit boost for city

Hamilton Spectator
By Matthew Van Dongen
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/7204306-federal-budget-promises-housing-transit-boost-for-city/

Hamilton politicians are anticipating a multimillion-dollar boost for affordable housing and another round of transit cash after Wednesday's federal budget.

But they're also still waiting on tens of millions of dollars for buses and water infrastructure announced in last year's budget.

The Liberal government's second budget included a vow to spend $11.2 billion more on affordable housing units over the next decade. The Canadian government will also continue spending the $3 billion previously promised for transit over three years.

Hamilton is desperate for social housing help given its aging buildings and growing wait list of 6,000 residents or families seeking affordable places to live, said Chad Collins, president of Hamilton's social housing agency.

"We've been told to expect affordable housing help and it will certainly be welcome," said Collins, also a city councillor. "But, hopefully, whatever money is announced will flow sooner rather than later.

"We (the city) are still waiting on the money promised for infrastructure last year to actually land."

The newly dedicated housing cash will go to building and fixing units, as well as encouraging housing providers to hook up with private partners on new projects.

Collins said city council and CityHousing Hamilton are already studying "creative" partnerships on major social housing and mixed-income redevelopments in the east and north ends of the city, as well as on a city-owned property on York Boulevard.

CityHousing Hamilton has around 60 damaged units that can't be used because of a lack of repair cash, Collins said. The agency also needs $6 million to overhaul a mostly empty MacNab Street North social housing tower.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, on a European trade mission, issued a statement thanking the federal government for "paying attention to municipalities."

He applauded the government's decision to put up a larger-than-normal percentage of cash for shared-funding infrastructure projects, including 50 per cent for rehabilitation. Traditionally, shared-funding among governments is split in thirds.

A second round of federal transit funding is also expected this year, but city staffers were still trying to calculate Hamilton's allocation Wednesday night.

The city is still waiting for an expected $36 million in transit cash first promised in the 2016 federal budget, as well as $30 million for water and sewer projects. The city applied to use the grants to start work on a "bus barn" and add transit priority signals to improve HSR service to the Mountain.

Council is debt-financing the city's share of matching project cash — but still hasn't heard if the projects meet with federal approval, or when grant money will start to flow. That could make it difficult to complete the projects by the March 2018 deadline.

Planned water and sewer projects using federal grants include rehabilitation of the Ancaster water tower, decommissioning of a Waterdown sewage plant and pumping station upgrades.

[SteelTown]

Federal cash boosts bus, GO service in Hamilton

Hamilton Spectator
By By Matthew Van Dongen
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/7218805-federal-cash-boosts-bus-go-service-in-hamilton/

A long-awaited influx of federal transit cash will boost bus service on the Mountain and – eventually – GO train frequency to Hamilton.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Etobicoke Friday to commit $1.8-billion to GO Transit's ambitious regional express rail program, which promises to eventually extend all-day commuter train service to Hamilton.

Local federal and provincial Liberal elected represetatives also gathered at the HSR centre on the Mountain to announce a long-awaited $36 million – which the city must match – for 13 local bus projects in Hamilton.

Notably, that includes $14 million towards design of a planned new "bus barn", $5.1 million for 16 new buses and $3.5 million for bus shelter replacement.

Bob Bratina, MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, said the new bus money, combined with the investment in GO transit, "will provide transit options for thousands of residents" in and around the city.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger said the city is grateful for the cash – and a deadline extension on the projects that were originally supposed to be completed by March of next year.

City budget staff warned earlier this month some of the proposed project timelines were in danger because the expected federal cash commitment had yet to be confirmed. Councillors recently decided to put off hiring extra drivers this year because the expected new buses can no longer be delivered in time to be used in 2017.

Trudeau's cash commitment to Metrolinx will also be used in part on $196 million worth of improvements to the Lakeshore West GO line – including the addition of 10 kilometres of new track needed to improve commuter train frequency to West Harbour GO station.

Metrolinx said Friday the federal contribution does not speed up the existing timeline for track work and other improvements in the Hamilton area, which are already underway.

But Eisenberger said he understands promised frequency improvements to Hamilton's two GO stations will happen within the next five years.


What does $36 million buy?

Bus barn planning: $14.3 million

New buses: $5.1 million

Bus shelter replacement/fixes: $3.5 million

Automated passenger counters: $2.1 million

Transit priority measures for A and T lines: $1.9 million

End of line infrastructure: $1.6 million

Bus hoists: $1.5 million

Transit-link sidewalks: $1.5 million

Digital radio system: $1.5 million

HVAC upgrades (HSR centre): $1.1 million

Passenger IT software upgrades: $802,000

Garage door replacement (HSR centre): $660,000

Bus wash racks: $440,000

[drpgq]

The expenses associated with the bus barn are amazing.

[realcity]

"What does $36 million buy?

Bus barn planning: $14.3 million"

Just for planning???? City if frigged

[realcity]

Make no mistake non of this transit trains and buses has nothing to do with Fred. Bratina is beyond all this. He started this when mayor, now he's the bagman.

[thistleclub]

Hamilton council briefs: PRESTO agreement, waste collection satisfaction
(Stoney Creek News, Kevin Werner, May 2 2017)

It may have seemed like Hamilton politicians only debated the light-rail transit issue at its April 26 council meeting, but there were other items on the agenda that prompted further discussion and debate.

One of those was extending Hamilton’s association with the Metrolinx’s PRESTO fare system for one year under the current terms, and then approving a new 10-year operating agreement with the provincial agency that will see the city receive more gas tax revenue.

Under the new agreement, Hamilton will pay upwards of $4 million to Metrolinx by 2027 in commission, a significant increase from its current $422,000 commission it now sends to the agency.


In return, Hamilton will receive in gas tax funding, starting in 2019 a doubling of the $11 million to $22 million. The one-year extension to 2018 will continue the two per cent commission agreement of the fare collected.

Metrolinx will also require all municipalities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to pay three per cent of revenue to install upgraded PRESTO fare card systems, including on all HSR businesses and on the proposed light-rail transit system.

In 2021 when the nine per cent fare commission kicks in, Hamilton is expected to spend over $2 million on updated technology equipment to accommodate the PRESTO system.

Nancy Purser, manager of transit support services, said Hamilton must approve the PRESTO fare system operating agreement to receive the increase gas fund revenues from the province.

[ScreamingViking]

One hand giveth while the other taketh away.

Growth in ridership would help increase that gas tax funding, under the formula used by the province (assuming the growth is above the average for the province, and the population portion cooperates). So getting the 10-year transit plan back on track next year is very important from that perspective, never mind improving the bus service itself.

In the longer term, as electric vehicles become more common, it will be interesting to see how the senior levels of government adjust their funding programs that are based on gas tax revenue.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

One hand giveth while the other taketh away.

Growth in ridership would help increase that gas tax funding, under the formula used by the province (assuming the growth is above the average for the province, and the population portion cooperates). So getting the 10-year transit plan back on track next year is very important from that perspective, never mind improving the bus service itself.

In the longer term, as electric vehicles become more common, it will be interesting to see how the senior levels of government adjust their funding programs that are based on gas tax revenue.

Jurisdictions that ostensibly pay for roads with gas taxes will have to move to VMT systems quickly. Because of the take-up of electric vehicles, but also because gasmobiles are becoming more efficient, and most importantly because they have mostly found it impossible to increase gas taxes. January was the 25th anniversary of the last time Ontario raised its gas tax. Moving to a VMT system means charging drivers in closer relation to the wear they actually put on the roads, but it's also an opportunity to increase taxation to actually cover the cost of the roads. It has to happen, and soon.

Remind me: is HSR increasing fares again this year? Improving service is good and necessary, but if fares go up, ridership will continue to decline, and Hamilton's share of the gas tax will remain flat or declining.