The future of Hamilton's public transit

[mikevbar1]

[QUOTE=catcher_of_cats;9425063]

Originally Posted by mikevbar1

The other end of the Blue line goes into Dundas, and this is more tentative because there is no precedent for service along this section historically speaking, so I figure this would probably be a later extension.

Not to be a Debbie Downer but building a rapid transit line into Dundas beyond extending the new LRT to University Plaza is frankly crazy even for fantasy map. The demand is simply not there. There is not even demand to have a bus run every 15 minutes straight down King Street to the new terminal at Mac even though they probably should. This section of the city has under 10,000 people, a high number (over 30%) who are seniors. There is no actual space for stations of any type, access is terrible (located partially up the escarpment), coordinating transit right-of-ways through the Bayview Junction is a non starter for the railways. There is also very little redevelopment potential in this part of the city plus very firm urban growth boundaries surrounded by conservation areas and farmland.

Extending the B line to University Plaza though is almost a no brainer if thousands of units, most of them geared towards students or affordable housing are constructed within a five minute walk of potential stations. Proper local bus routes can feed this terminal from anywhere in Dundas.

Remember that Dundas is a fractured community due to a lack of through streets between the various parts like Pleasant Valley, University Gardens, Highland Park, the Yorkview area, and the old town. It can take between 8-15 minutes to drive between these areas yet at the same time a driver can be at James and Main in 15 minutes from anywhere in Dundas.

Didn’t even think about that. I did consider the possibility of creating a fork off the main line into Dundas, but at that point it’s too much effort for what it’s worth. I know there’s the argument that you can induce demand and all, but I don’t see that happening here. Luckily it’s a mostly irrelevant part of this plan, and if the city were to ever consider expanding on top of the main sections then Dundas has track ready. That’s assuming there’s sufficient demand of course; otherwise, the busses will have to do.

[Markus83]

Nice work @ TheRitsman!

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Markus83

Nice work @ TheRitsman!

Thanks, I don't know if I posted it in the Rapid Transit thread too, but when I was in KW riding the ION I realized I don't know KW that well and was trying to orient myself constantly. Hamilton's is a bit easier, but I wanted to give people the ability to compare the LRT with their Google map

[mishap]

[QUOTE=catcher_of_cats;9425063]

Originally Posted by mikevbar1

Extending the B line to University Plaza though is almost a no brainer if thousands of units, most of them geared towards students or affordable housing are constructed within a five minute walk of potential stations. Proper local bus routes can feed this terminal from anywhere in Dundas.

I think any westward extension should go towards a gateway terminal in the Meadowlands. From Main and Osler, the line could follow the Hydro right-of-way up the escarpment by means of a fill/tunnel/cut combo. This corridor has been mentioned in previous documents as something for future consideration though costs are an issue.

The Meadowlands Terminal would serve Ancaster and Mountain buses, including the Mohawk Express, plus GO service from Brantford and points west, plus possibly Cambridge. Imagine a single GO bus to travel between Hamilton and Waterloo Region's LRT systems. Buses to/from west could access the 403 via transit-only ramps along Golf Links Road, not unlike what is done in Ottawa.

While not a cheap option, Metrolinx would probably be more inclined to pitch in if the escarpment crossing were a shared bus/rail corridor, allowing their GO buses (and maybe HSR and intercity carriers) to skip the problematic 403 hill. This would also give them a more direct routing to McMaster without need for doubling back.

[mikevbar1]

[QUOTE=mishap;9426016]

Originally Posted by catcher_of_cats

I think any westward extension should go towards a gateway terminal in the Meadowlands. From Main and Osler, the line could follow the Hydro right-of-way up the escarpment by means of a fill/tunnel/cut combo. This corridor has been mentioned in previous documents as something for future consideration though costs are an issue.

The Meadowlands Terminal would serve Ancaster and Mountain buses, including the Mohawk Express, plus GO service from Brantford and points west, plus possibly Cambridge. Imagine a single GO bus to travel between Hamilton and Waterloo Region's LRT systems. Buses to/from west could access the 403 via transit-only ramps along Golf Links Road, not unlike what is done in Ottawa.

While not a cheap option, Metrolinx would probably be more inclined to pitch in if the escarpment crossing were a shared bus/rail corridor, allowing their GO buses (and maybe HSR and intercity carriers) to skip the problematic 403 hill. This would also give them a more direct routing to McMaster without need for doubling back.

Completely agree, the power line corridor along Scenic has always been an area I imagined could see a bustling transit connection, and the line could extend all the way to the airport or form a loop by extending eastward along rymal. Tunneling is only getting cheaper, so I imagine we could see an innovative solution sometime down the road where a true rail connection could exist (LRT is probably easiest however). There is also the possibility to simply follow the 403 and go between the lanes as can be seen in Chicago, but going up and down the 403 and looking at the median makes me hesitant there's actually enough room to build a connection here. PS, the site I have been using for my maps was http://jpwright.net/subway/ , just enter a new city and you can draw all the lines you want. Only problem is it doesn't have any population data outside NYC, but that's fine for the purposes of a diagram.

[LikeHamilton]

Stoney Creek and Mountain residents will benefit from Hamilton proposed transit expansion plans

By Kevin Werner Reporter Stoney Creek News Mon., Jan. 25, 2022

Hamilton’s plan to invest another $5 million in the 2022 transit budget will mean expanded service for Stoney Creek and Mountain residents.

Transit Director Maureen Cosyn Heath said the Year 6 investment plan of the city’s 10-year transit program will mean expanded service for Route 23 that covers Upper Stoney Creek and the Mountain area involving Mud Street West, Green Mountain Road, Highland Road and Highbury Drive; additional service for the Upper Ottawa Route 22 line that will get workers to the nearby business park with improved frequency of buses and additional service during evenings; and Saturday service additions for the A-line along Upper James.

The proposed $5.5 million will mean 14 additional buses, 49,000 new service hours, and a five cent fare increase starting Sept. 1, 2022.

Stoney Creek Coun. Brad Clark applauded staff for improving transit in upper Stoney Creek, a growing area considering more people, especially students, are using the service. It is expected the new service will begin in September 2022.

“I have been working with staff since my election to address Route 43,” said Clark. “You have addressed it.”

Mountain Coun. John-Paul Danko also praised staff for investing in the important A-line that services businesses along Upper James to the waterfront as well as the Hamilton International Airport.

“The A-line is really the key north-south spine (of the transit system),” he said. “It will be a key component to intensification on our urban planning. It is really great news.”

The city is planning on spending about $8.5 million to improve about five intersections along the route, install transit signals at 26 intersections, and upgrade the streetscaping, said Brian Hollingworth, director of transportation.

“There is lots of work going on along the A-line,” he said. “Stay tuned.”

Further transit improvements to the Stoney Creek area are planned in Year 7, beginning in September 2023.

Stoney Creek Coun. Maria Pearson has been fighting to get expanded transit in her area for years as residential development projects continue to be approved, especially along the northern side of the Queen Elizabeth Way. She said as businesses such as Amazon at Barton and Glover and Venetian Meats on Lewis Road open, employees are needed to get to work.

“A lot of workers do not have vehicles,” she said.

Jason VanderHeide, manager of transit planning and infrastructure, said staff have met with Amazon officials and it is expected transit service should be ready to carry the estimated 5,000 employees to work at the company’s Upper James location by the end of 2022.

He said in Year 7 of the strategy, when an additional 49,000 service hours and 14 new buses will be provided at a cost of nearly $6 million, Stoney Creek will benefit from the investment. It will include extension of Route 55A to Fifty Road and the busy Winona Crossing shopping complex and expansion of Route 5 Delaware King and Highway 8.

“(The plan) will be the focus of the lower Stoney Creek area and how we can improve it,” he said.

VanderHeide said staff are testing smaller 30-foot buses rather than the 44-foot or 60-foot articulated buses to transport people along the South Service Road, Arvin Avenue and Barton Street areas.

Meanwhile, residents can still take advantage of the Stoney Creek Trans-Cab service, but they still have to pay 50 cents for a ride, said Nancy Purser, manager of transit support services.

“Trans-Cab is still an augmented service,” said Purser. “It is not free.

https://www.thespec.com/local-stoney...ce=parsely-api

[ZTrade]

Getting transportation to lower stoney creek along south service road, and to winona crossing center is huge. so many jobs and future residential out there. Transcab is very inconvenient, looking forward to seeing what the routes will look like in lower stoney creek/winona

[Innsertnamehere]

why south service road? I mean it's a nice to have to access the industrial areas, but I think North Service Road needs it more. The areas along South Service Rd can walk up to Arvin if they have to at least.

I mean ideally there is service on North and South Service Roads as well as Barton, but in a world of limited resources I have to question that priority..

Also, I question the utility of extending the 5 bus to Highway 8. Again, not a terrible thing, but it's a lot of extra service hours servicing mostly low density, relatively higher income areas less likely to take public transit that already have decent service coverage. Is the aim to get improved connections to the 55 along Highway 8? I'd be more sympathetic if it was extended along 8 to Dewitt or Fruitland, as at least it's hitting more destinations that way.

The extension of the Barton branch of the 55 to Winona is badly needed however and excellent news, even if it is still a year and a half away.

[mishap]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Also, I question the utility of extending the 5 bus to Highway 8. Again, not a terrible thing, but it's a lot of extra service hours servicing mostly low density, relatively higher income areas less likely to take public transit that already have decent service coverage. Is the aim to get improved connections to the 55 along Highway 8?

Almost certainly for the connections. The thing is, if the 55 is still only going as far as Jones Rd, it's not a lot of places to transfer to/from. Even going to ED Smith would still require a Transcab connection.
The extension of the 5, along with the increase in service on the 44, makes the 58 quite redundant. I have to wonder if the 58 will be scaled back even more (daytime or rush hours) or eliminated altogether.

The extension of the Barton branch of the 55 to Winona is badly needed however and excellent news, even if it is still a year and a half away.

That "branch" is already longer than the main 55 before the extension, and has quite a different ridership pattern. Surely it should have its own name and route number, and not be locked into a schedule based on the Highway 8 bus.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by mishap

Almost certainly for the connections. The thing is, if the 55 is still only going as far as Jones Rd, it's not a lot of places to transfer to/from. Even going to ED Smith would still require a Transcab connection.
The extension of the 5, along with the increase in service on the 44, makes the 58 quite redundant. I have to wonder if the 58 will be scaled back even more (daytime or rush hours) or eliminated altogether.


That "branch" is already longer than the main 55 before the extension, and has quite a different ridership pattern. Surely it should have its own name and route number, and not be locked into a schedule based on the Highway 8 bus.

Don't disagree on the numbering, however post-lrt the stretch of Highway 8 between Centennial and Grays will likely be a pretty high frequency core route where a lot of ridership is focused given the densities along that stretch.

The Barton 55 branch is mostly there to service employment uses and I imagine has highly focused ridership patterns on rush hours, while the south branch along 8 is more so servicing large residential areas.

I imagine the Winona extension of the 55 Barton route will change a lot of it's ridership patterns though, with the greater connections to the Winona area being more important.

The Fruitland-Winona Secondary Plan subdivisions are scheduled to start major construction in the next year or two as well, which will drive greater ridership east of Fruitland. I wouldn't be surprised if the first units are occupying right around when the bus is extended. There is going to be a huge boom of population in the area going out to 2030 or so, and in a fairly dense development pattern as well. Most of of the new units in the secondary plan area will be townhouses and denser, with a relatively small number of detached units. Full buildout in the secondary plan is for 16,000 people, and typically full build outs of subdivisions results in actual populations being higher than initial city projections as developers try to maximize units.

[TheHonestMaple]

Has there ever been discussion of putting a GO Station near Tim Hortons field? Say at that empty plot of land West of Gage at the very north end of Chapple Street? Would only be ~300m from the stadium. Not all that different that Exhibition Station to BMO Field. I could imagine it being called "Stadium Station" or something like that.

The huge Canada vs USA match this weekend really highlighted the fact that there is really no reason why Tim Hortons field can't host big games like that, and bring in supporters from Toronto.

[ShavedParmesanCheese]

The Dominion Glass site is slated to be the city's newest park, called Stadium Precinct Park during early development, but now to be called Brightside after a neighbourhood in that area which was eaten by Dofasco 70 years ago.

A midway stop between West Harbour and Confederation is a great idea, although which street to put it on has its pros and cons. Assuming you could find space, putting it on Gage I think would really limits its usefulness outside of game days. I think Ottawa St. would be a more solid choice given it's surroundings, not to mention that very large, almost station-shapped vacant lot right next to the tracks, and it could accomodate additional traffic during game days with a shuttle, something the HSR does to the malls already. Or you could just leg it.

[ScreamingViking]

Long ago Exhibition Station was basically just a couple of platforms and a ticket booth. I believe trains only stopped there during events at Exhibition Stadium and for the CNE.

I would think that's an option at Gage, exclusively for events at THF. Minimal maintenance, and don't need to build the full station infrastructure like at others. Maybe CN would want Metrolinx to build a siding and switches specifically for the GO train to use. You may not even need a station building or attendant, given the use of PRESTO and ability to buy tickets using a smartphone.

Maybe there should eventually be a permanent station at Ottawa St., once there's a mature all-day service running through Hamilton... that's a long stretch between West Harbour and Centennial, it would serve a lot of people in that part of east Hamilton, may lead to the Centre becoming a commercial/residential node rather than just a retail wasteland, the improvement in transportation access to the industrial land to the north may spur new business, etc. But a Gage platform would be less than 700m from the stadium and very convenient for those who prefer not to drive to the stadium.

[TheHonestMaple]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

But a Gage platform would be less than 700m from the stadium and very convenient for those who prefer not to drive to the stadium.

It would actually be even less than that, more like 300m. They could renovate Chapple Street to become pedestrian only with nice landscaping, and do a pedestrian tunnel under Barton. Shame they've committed to a park there.... seems like a wasted opportunity for something great.

[TheRitsman]

I think Ottawa Street makes more sense since the entirety of Centre on Barton is zoned for high density, and Ottawa St is a destination in and of itself.

The stadium is only a 20 minute walk from where a station might be, and if Hamilton Bike Shared bikes are provided it's a 5 minute bike ride. A Gage Ave Go station would only be 800m from an Ottawa St station so it doesn't make sense to have both, and Exhibition is a 10 minute walk from the concert venues by the lake. A 20 minute walk among legions of fans is not that bad really (maybe I'm just used to to living downtown). Nothing a shuttle or improved bus service couldn't fix.

[TheHonestMaple]

I would actually argue that it would make more sense at Gage, despite Ottawa being a larger commercial area. People from Toronto/Burlington/Oakville are realistically not going to take the GO Train into Hamilton just to visit Ottawa Street. However, they may use it to go to a CFL or Canada soccer game. I actually think demand for the station would be far higher if it were positioned at Gage. It would likely get heavy weekend usage there. The difference between a 300m walk and a 1km walk is actually quite a bit. Also, that empty lot is just too far from the commercial area on Ottawa to make sense anyway. No one is going to want to walk nearly 1000m just to get to Ottawa's commercial strip.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

It would actually be even less than that, more like 300m. They could renovate Chapple Street to become pedestrian only with nice landscaping, and do a pedestrian tunnel under Barton. Shame they've committed to a park there.... seems like a wasted opportunity for something great.

Are you sure you're measuring correctly?

Between Beechwood and the tracks, straight up Leinster and Chapple, is around 520m (it's <300m to Lloyd)

Doubt the city would do more than enhance the crosswalks though. A tunnel would be a big cost, especially for the amount of use it would get.

[ScreamingViking]

Gage makes sense from a gameday perspective. Ottawa and the Centre from a long-term planning perspective (and that would not be about people living east on the Lakeshore line coming into Hamilton; it would be about Hamiltonians living in the area of Ottawa and Barton using the station to travel to Toronto or Niagara)

No reason you can't have a full station at Ottawa and a platform near Gage used only for event days.

[TheHonestMaple]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Are you sure you're measuring correctly?

Between Beechwood and the tracks, straight up Leinster and Chapple, is around 520m (it's <300m to Lloyd)

Doubt the city would do more than enhance the crosswalks though. A tunnel would be a big cost, especially for the amount of use it would get.

I guess I was measuring right from where Chapple ends to the edge of TIm Hortons field. What I would consider to be the entrance to the parking lot to a theoretical GO station. It would be an additional 200m or so to the tracks.

Would be cool if they built the park there AND constructed a go station right at the tracks. Would be a cool transition walking through a park after hopping off the train.

[SteelTown]

Controversial bus-only lane returns to King Street in Hamilton

https://www.insauga.com/controversia..._BtvPfTVaKqISM

It was a hot topic back in 2015, and 2022 will likely produce similar contention as the City of Hamilton moves to implement a bus-only lane on King Street.

This time, though, the dedicated bus lane, located to the right of the five-lane King, will run between Queen and Dundurn streets.

Work is expected to begin Friday and will take three days to complete — weather permitting.

The new 800-metre-long bus-only lane will be marked with red paint, signage, and pavement markings at intersections and transit stops.

“The bus-only lane allows transit buses to safely pull over to pick up passengers efficiently and will serve as a protecting buffer between pedestrians using the sidewalk and live vehicle traffic,” according to an official city statement.

Vehicles can enter the bus-only lane when making a right-hand turn onto Strathcona Ave., Locke St., Pearl St., and Ray St; however, drivers will be fined for using the bus-only lane for general travel, stopping, or parking.

Between the lane reconfiguration work and the designated bus-only lane, the number of lanes for regular vehicles will be three, with a fourth lane for buses only.