Rapid Transit

[LikeHamilton]

Here we go again. This has been studied to death. If done properly and without political interference, it will come to LRT is better and cheaper to operate than BRT. And we will have wasted more time and money.

The problem is that most people, if not all of the BRT supporters, think that BRT means getting a whole bunch of long buses and let them run willy nilly around the city. If you don't like them on this street, you just move them. They don't get that BRT needs dedicated lanes also. I have talked to many BRT supporters who have basically told me this. They just don’t understand BRT and they are not interested in researching what LRT and BRT is all about.

The other anti LRT supporters are people who do not want anything on any road that may add even 30 second to their drive. I had a conversation with a gentleman who would have buses removed from his favorite route across the city because they sometime slow down his drive.

At first when LRT was proposed, I thought it was a crazy idea to put a train across the city even though I travel a lot and have ridden many LRT and street car system across the world. I was against it. I did my own research and I have become a fan of LRT (and even a fan of a limited return to some street car service.10 American cities are reintroducing street cars)

[thistleclub]

Here we go again.

Flamborough-Glanbrook Tory MPP Donna Skelly says Hamiltonians could pay bulk of LRT costs
(Hamilton Mountain News, Kevin Werner, Aug 12 2020)

Flamborough-Glanbrook Progressive Conservative MPP Donna Skelly says the city’s light rail transit project’s price tag of $5.5 billion is as advertised and one of the reasons why the government pulled the plug on it last year.

“It is extremely expensive for Hamilton,” said Skelly in an interview.

Skelly reiterated similar comments made by Premier Doug Ford on Aug. 7, during his daily news briefing, when he said it will be up to Mayor Fred Eisenberger to determine if a “massive tax increase the likes of which has never been seen in Hamilton before” should be slapped on taxpayers to pay the rest of the cost of LRT.

“I want transit in Hamilton, but they need to get their numbers down pat,” Ford said.

Skelly said the province will continue to offer $1 billion in capital costs to Hamilton, but it will be councillors’ responsibility to determine if the money should be used for LRT or bus rapid transit.

“It will be up to you to determine how do you spend that money,” she said.

Read it in full here.


Four years earlier…

[thistleclub]

We need new representation for Ward 15.

No LRT: We need new transit options for Hamilton
(Hamilton Spectator, Judi Partridge, Aug 25, 2020)

It has now been revealed that the true cost of Hamilton’s LRT will be significantly more than the $1 billion from the province. The ill-conceived LRT which would run from McMaster to Eastgate Square has thankfully been cancelled by the province. The increased costs will most definitely be put on the backs of our taxpayers who cannot afford more tax increases. It never made any sense to me, and to some of my council colleagues, how Hamilton would receive an LRT line for significantly less cost than to build and operate everywhere else in North America.

Ridership on the HSR has dropped considerably in the post-COVID world. People are scared and no longer taking transit. As more and more companies shift to having employees work either full-time or part-time from home the need for transit will also drop. The reduction in ridership has led to significant losses for transit operations all across the globe. With operating costs and life cycle costs that could balloon north of $60 million a year, council is left to ask who’s going to pay these increased costs? One way or another, it will be the residents of Hamilton. Premier Doug Ford stated recently he was “Not prepared to put the burden of the tax on the backs of the people of Hamilton.”

The task force and report convened by Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney in assessing alternative ways to spend the billion dollars in Hamilton, did not solely recommend building LRT. It made recommendations that if followed would benefit the entire city while not burdening taxpayers with increased taxes they cannot afford.

The council-approved Rapid Ready Report, often held up by advocates as a blueprint for building LRT in Hamilton, calls for the creation of three new rapid bus links to connect to the existing HSR network, to connect all communities of Hamilton. It includes our three GO stations that were completely bypassed by the now-cancelled LRT.

The way forward now is the council-approved BLAST Network including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to the airport. We must rethink transit to ensure there is connectivity to all areas of the city. The proposed BLAST network runs through all 15 wards of the city and will help to connect areas that were previously not served well by transit. The proposed BLAST network would help connect people like never before.

For the people of Waterdown/Flamborough, the L line would connect Waterdown directly to the newly constructed GO station on James Street and the Aldershot GO station. For the people of Elfrida and Upper Stoney Creek, the S line connects them directly to the new Confederation GO station. The task force’s report also calls for the improvement of GO rail service along the Lakeshore line to bring all-day 15 minute GO service to Hamilton. That promise has been dangling before us for more than 20 years. It’s time we took the opportunity to finally realize it. All-day GO service will help alleviate pressure on our highways and give Hamiltonian’s fast, efficient and easy access to the rest of the GTHA, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Anyone who has to drive the 403/QEW every day will appreciate having an option to take a modern and rapid transportation network that can get them where they need to go without having to sit in bumper to bumper traffic.

I was elected to help build Hamilton’s economy and help solve the problems residents of Hamilton face every day. During the last election, I heard repeatedly from voters, please do not build the LRT, we need better transit everywhere. I heard you loud and clear, and will continue to oppose the LRT and to work with my council colleagues to start the process with our provincial partners to get the money flowing to make better transit connectivity a reality. It is time for the mayor, council and staff to work hand in hand respectfully with our provincial MPPs and the premier to build the best transit for everyone in Hamilton. We need to listen to the residents we talk to every day and not just those fixated on LRT. We need to get this right. We need to open our minds to new transit options and a path forward to greater opportunities for our residents.

[thistleclub]

By the by, Metrolinx's 2015 estimate for BRT capital costs on the 14km B Line was $545M, roughly $590M in today's currency.

[thistleclub]

the L line would connect Waterdown directly to the newly constructed GO station on James Street and the Aldershot GO station.

Neither, as it turns out: "Corridor / main route: Highway 6 and York Boulevard"

On top of which, Waterdown ridership has difficulty meeting even the fare passenger boardings needed to rationalize conventional bus service, let alone the levels that would support BRT service, especially on the 14-15km L line, where barely any stops are logistically possible.

From the HSR's 2019 Budget Presentation (Jan 25, 2019 GIC):

Routes Currently Below ‘Boardings Per Peak Service Hour’ Standard

Routes 6, 7, 8 - Aberdeen/Locke/York
Route 12 Wentworth
Route 16 Ancaster
Route 18 - Waterdown
Route 42 - Mohawk East
Route 52A - Dundas Local
Route 55 - Stoney Creek Central
Route 56 - Centennial
Route 58 - Stoney Creek Local

The 18 Waterdown didn't even exist pre-2008, having been axed by council after a pilot year in 1993-1994 where it reportedly averaged around 12 fares a day. This is why the L route appears on BLAST's 2041 planning horizon. Even at that, it is the most blue-sky route.

The task force’s report also calls for the improvement of GO rail service along the Lakeshore line to bring all-day 15 minute GO service to Hamilton. That promise has been dangling before us for more than 20 years.

Again, nope.

Metrolinx's Initial Business Case for Regional Express Rail was initiated as "a response to the commitment made by the Province of Ontario in 2014 to implement a Regional Express Rail (RER) over a 10-year period." That project first appeared in April 2014's budget — six years ago, well into Hamilton's rapid transit saga. It had previously been floated as part of MoveOntario 2020, which morphed into The Big Move. That was in December 2008 — 12 years ago.

The prospect of GO Trains on 15-minute headways running in and out of Hamilton to Union was always a long-term project contingent upon ridership demand and budget capacity. It's entirely possible that Aldershot won't merit 15-minute all-day GO Train service, and its ridership is 2-3 times all of Hamilton's train stations combined.

Clr Partridge's transit expertise is encapsulated within her inane 2015 motion to request the MTO mandate new GO Transit routes that would cannibalize 18 Waterdown. And FWIW, she's also a resident of Carlisle, meaning that she's rural, and pays no municipal transit levy at all.

[Innsertnamehere]

I was going to say - the L line is down 6 to York and into downtown. It doesn’t hit any GO stations.

Most of the BLAST network is also just priority measures - I believe only the A line and B line were scheduled to get dedicated lanes, and the A line only partly.

I’m torn as the B line being a BRT would likely give me a single seat ride into the downtown, while the LRT is overall clearly the far superior choice for the city as a whole, and would be much more comfortable, even if it did introduce a transfer. Not like I really take transit downtown when I go anyway so I guess it’s not a huge concern.

[LikeHamilton]

LIUNA offers to partner in resurrected LRT project worth $3.5 billion

By Matthew Van DongenSpectator Reporter | TheSpec.com | Tue., Aug. 25, 2020

Construction union LIUNA has pitched itself to the government as a partner in a resurrected LRT project built with a $3.5-billion mix of public and private cash.

A high-level analysis done for the union explores a variety of options to pay the bill for light rail transit, including an infrastructure bank loan and $250 million in land development partnerships — potentially with LIUNA’s pension arm — that could see condos built above stations and apartment towers spring up along the LRT corridor.

But $1.2-billion in contributions from each of the federal and provincial governments still represent the “best bet” to make light rail a reality in Hamilton, said LIUNA vice-president Joe Mancinelli.

“My hope is the feds and the province get together and figure out a way to get this done,” he said Tuesday, arguing the prospect of pandemic stimulus funding means “the timing just couldn’t be better” for a federal contribution to the on-again, off-again LRT project.

LIUNA asked its investment arm, Fengate Capital, to review light rail building costs after the Progressive Conservative government killed Hamilton’s LRT project in the middle of construction bidding last December, citing budget estimates that had ballooned from $3.6 billion to $5.5 billion.

An upset Mancinelli publicly questioned that claim, calling the LRT cancellation “cowardly” and vowing to “investigate.” The results of that investigation ended up in a confidential “unsolicited proposal” sent to the provincial Transportation Task Force studying how to spend $1 billion previously earmarked for the cancelled train.

(That task force, which included a LIUNA appointee, recommended in March that the province fund either light rail or bus rapid transit in Hamilton. The province said Tuesday those findings will likely be made public in the fall.)

The Fengate review assumes Hamilton’s planned 14-kilometre LRT would cost about $3 billion to build, but differing financing and contract options peg total “net present value” costs between $3.4 billion and $3.9 billion.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger said Tuesday LIUNA’s assessment sounded “not far removed” from the all-in budget of about $3.6 billion approved by the former Liberal government.

The Spectator was given a summary of the review, but does not have access to Fengate’s background research. The summary gives high-level estimates for theoretical cost-covering scenarios. Highlights include:

• $250 million in private construction cash in return for land development along the route;
• a low-interest loan of up to $1.1 billion from the Canada Infrastructure Bank;
• raising construction cash by giving investors a slice of fare-box revenue over 30 years;
• federal and provincial funding of $1.2 billion each;
• “Year 1” operating and maintenance costs at $23.9 million.

Mancinelli said he commissioned the research by Fengate — which has a history of involvement in major public-private projects like hospitals — in part to dispute the provincial LRT cost estimates that he argued are “unfairly inflated.”

But he said LIUNA is also “very interested” in either joining a future consortium bidding on a resurrected LRT, or approaching the winning bidder to talk about building partnerships along the route.

That’s a sensitive topic for advocates who want surplus LRT lands dedicated to affordable housing. Many have already expressed anger about developers “gentrifying” the transit route, pushing out low-income renters.

Mancinelli said LIUNA’s involvement would not preclude new affordable housing and the union-developer would be open to building new rental apartments on the route. “You get more housing, and we get a long-term return.”

The LIUNA vice president said he has forwarded the research to Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna and discussed the options with Premier Doug Ford, adding he “seems to have a renewed interest” in the project.

Ford’s spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment Tuesday. But the province has previously said its contribution is capped at $1 billion and Ford predicted earlier this month that resurrecting LRT would result in “a massive tax increase” for Hamilton residents.

McKenna has called LRT Hamilton’s only “shovel-ready” transit project with pandemic stimulus funding looming. She told The Spectator earlier this month the government is “open” to considering a LRT funding request.

Despite the review’s findings, Mancinelli clarified LIUNA is not interested in pursuing a slice of LRT fare-box revenue in exchange for upfront construction funding. “I think that is revenue the city will need for operations,” he said.

The province says it would have cost the city $1 billion to run the cancelled LRT — part of an overall $5.5-billion project estimate that is still largely confidential.

The Fengate review focused on building costs, but included a “Year 1” annual operating and maintenance payment of $23.9 million for the private design-build-operate scenario. No explanation of that figure was available Tuesday.

Several city councillors have vowed to oppose LRT if it is put back on the table, citing fears of a tax increase and cost overruns.

Hamilton LRT Report

https://www.scribd.com/document/4716...ort#from_embed

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...5-billion.html

[drpgq]

Good to see Liuna come on board possibly. Also hopefully the province would override the city zoning at stations.

[thistleclub]

No guarantee divided Hamilton council would support a resurrected LRT — even if it was offered
(Hamilton Spectator, Matthew Van Dongen, Aug 27 2020)

Don’t expect a wary city council to unanimously welcome back LRT even if — an awfully big “if” — the province offers to resurrect the cancelled project.

The Spectator published exclusive details Tuesday of a previously confidential LIUNA proposal to build the long-planned 14-kilometre light rail transit line for $3.5 billion using a mix of public and private cash — ideally, without a municipal capital contribution.

The Progressive Conservative government, which killed a Hamilton LRT project mid-procurement in December, is now studying its own task force recommendations to spend $1 billion on either light rail or bus rapid transit in the city.

But some councillors say the pandemic crisis and a slew of “conflicting” budget estimates for the axed LRT have changed the political outlook on council for a project that was controversial at the best of times.

Light rail has always had solid support from at least six council members, including Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

But a survey of councillors and their recent public statements suggests at least half of council’s 16 members now either publicly oppose LRT, have concerns based on cost or want to look at bus rapid transit instead. (The Spectator is still waiting to hear from some councillors.)

“For anyone who has a clear grasp of municipal finances it’s more than obvious that the LRT project is dead,” said Coun. Chad Collins. The Ward 5 councillor reluctantly voted to support the project in 2017 but now argues any pandemic stimulus funding should go to dire needs like housing, rather than “feel-good capital projects.”

Coun. Tom Jackson, another past soft-supporter of LRT, said he would now “prefer” to use provincial rapid transit cash to expand electric, express bus service “from coast to coast” across the city. “COVID has changed so much for us,” he said.

Councillors Brad Clark, Maria Pearson and Brenda Johnson have all said they want to explore bus rapid transit. (BRT is usually defined as express buses running in separated lanes with platforms or stations.)

Read it in full here.


As always, the "transit champions" who back BRT are either being wildly disingenuous or have not bothered to look into that solution. Maybe both.

The City's 2008 Rapid Transit feasibility study assumed that James Mountain Road would close to private traffic in order to be dedicated to north-south BRT, which would roughly follow the routing of the 20 A-Line. In order to generate necessary ridership numbers, the HSR would eliminate the 20 and likely the 27 as well, since both are substantially or wholly interlined with the harbour-to-airport routing.

The A-Line alone is 34 lane-kilometres of permanent bus lanes north-south, and the B-Line another 28 lane-kilometres east west, backed by the same people who had conniptions over the half-baked King Street Bus Lane pilot project that was a 1:31 scale model. (Recall newly minted transit advocate Whitehead, January 2015: "What would it take for public transit staff to say no to bus lanes? Would it be short of a nuclear bomb going off?")

Metrolinx's 2015 Summary Report update notes that "BRT runs along an exclusive median within the existing right of way... Some automobile traffic would be diverted away from the B-line route to parallel routes, and a section of Main Street would be open to local traffic only." The report also mentions that "The project would be jointly sponsored by Metrolinx and the City of Hamilton," however you choose to read that.

Assuming that any of BLAST's BRT routes had been provincially vetted and were shovel-ready, which they have/are not, work would necessarily be put to an RFP/RFQ, meaning that the investment would drag out for another year or more, and it's entirely possible that the HSR would not be awarded the contract but would instead be obliged to cede half of its revenue generators. Before that, however, the province is likely to insist on the same sort of study, analyses of existing ridership and jobs/residents proximate to proposed stops, and community consultation undertaken around LRT (to say nothing of council indecision), meaning many more years before we would reach the tendering phase.

BRT would also require wholesale 50-year road rebuilds and the construction of dedicated corridors, work which makes up a huge share of the economic impact of BRT. Nor would that work proceed any more swiftly than LRT: Metrolinx's 2010 BCA noted of its BRT/Phased LRT/Full LRT comparison that "The construction period is assumed to be the same for all three options with start in 2011 and completion by 2014 for opening of service in 2015."

[TheRitsman]

What a shit show

This city is the most disorganized mess majority of the time.

[thistleclub]

Also, "want to explore bus rapid transit" is about the extent of these councillors' commitment. It sounds like an action, but it's actually more vague than that.

Bizarrely, it also treats BRT as an emergent phenomenon when there's already a BRT network on the horizon, one that presumably resulted from previous explorations: BLAST, which was featured in the City's 2007 Transportation Master Plan, 2013's Rapid Ready report, and 2015's Ten Year Local Transit Strategy.

[ScreamingViking]

Council may have the time to dither away, in the short run anyway. I can't see Ford announcing anything anytime soon. Accepting money for this project from the feds, despite being on "best-buds" terms with Freeland, risks giving the Liberals something to drum on for the next federal election.

That said, they'll continue dithering well beyond offers from senior government or the likes of LIUNA, and beyond any rise in transit ridership depending on how things evolve with COVID recovery. It's what they do best.

[Jon Dalton]

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2020/09/03/premier-and-mayor-put-spats-aside-during-fords-hamilton-visit.html

Premier and Mayor Fred put spats aside during Ford’s Hamilton visit
By Katrina ClarkeSpectator ReporterFri., Sept. 4, 2020timer2 min. read
3 minutes

Premier Doug Ford and Mayor Fred Eisenberger made nice Thursday during Ford’s visit to Hamilton — despite clashing on everything from light rail transit to public drinking tickets in recent months.

Ford stopped in at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 105 training facility in Hannon with Minister of Labour Monte McNaughton and local MPPs for the premier’s daily COVID-19 update.

Earlier in the day, Ford visited the KF Aerospace facility in Hamilton and Thames River Chemical Corp. in Burlington — two local businesses “stepping up with Ontario-made solutions in the fight against COVID-19,” according to his itinerary.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford visited the IEBW training facility on Nebo Road to announce funding for trades and do his daily press conference. In this photo, Ford tries some electrical wiring under the supervision of Susanne Maniks, left, and Deneen Clairmont, right.

Ford said he was glad to be in “the beautiful city of Hamilton.” He met with Eisenberger during his visit but the mayor was tied up with a police services board meeting during the COVID-19 update, traditionally attended by local mayors when Ford is in town.

Asked about Hamilton’s long-in-limbo LRT — specifically the proposal from LIUNA to build the LRT line for $3.5 billion with a mix of public and private cash — Ford said he wants the project to go ahead.

“I had a great meeting with Mayor Eisenberger,” Ford said. “We have agreed that we’re going to work together and, you know, I love LIUNA.”

He took the opportunity to ask the federal government for cash.

“We need your help,” he said. “We need you at the table. And I know they want to, but they haven’t showed up at the door yet.”

In a statement about Ford’s visit, Eisenberger struck an optimistic tone.

“Premier Ford wants to work with me and the City of Hamilton and we want to work with the premier,” the statement read. “Premier Ford said today he’s on for LRT and I’m ready to work together to get shovels in the ground.”

The show of teamwork was in contrast to the adversarial relationship the premier and mayor have had recently.

In August, Ford took Eisenberger to task over the city’s handling of public drinking tickets — police handed out 369 public drinking tickets from mid-March to the end of July, at a time when infectious disease experts were calling for cities to loosen rules on drinking in parks. The premier said the city had the power to change public drinking rules; the mayor said they didn’t. The mayor eventually acknowledged the premier was right.

So now Ford wants to build it again? FFS it would have been way easier not to kill it, eh?

[LikeHamilton]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2020/09/03/premier-and-mayor-put-spats-aside-during-fords-hamilton-visit.html

So now Ford wants to build it again? FFS it would have been way easier not to kill it, eh?

I think Ford had a drink of Skelly's koolaid and has now sobered up!

[ChildishGavino]

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

I think Ford had a drink of Skelly's koolaid and has now sobered up!

huh, I always thought Skelly was just one of Ford's cronies.

[matt602]

I think this is all bullshit PR talk. I'm sure beyond closed doors or to other audiences, he's still anti-LRT. Money talks, Dougie.

[thistleclub]

Go back to the presser that kicked off the most recent round of anti-LRT talk. Ford appears to be pivoting from a 3P model project in which the province is the sole backer to one where he's looking to all three levels of government to ante up. This week's story seems to bear that out.

Premier Ford, August 7, 2020:

“We’ve committed $1B to the LRT in Hamilton. And it was the NDP and the Liberals who just didn’t give two hoots about the taxpayers in Hamilton, that wanna ram this through. And I just ask the people of Hamilton, there’s $1B in operating costs, I’m not prepared to put the burden of the tax onto the backs of the taxpayers in Hamilton. We have $1B, we’re gonna give it to Hamilton, to make sure that helps them. I truly believe Hamilton needs a transit system. The area’s growing. More people are going there. I get it, and I’m there to support the people of Hamilton. But the easy way out is just take the NDP/Liberal approach and just say, tax the pants off these people, because they’re going to be paying taxes on it. We’ll give a billion dollars, but the City has to pitch in too. It’s $1B in operating costs. We had experts go in there and it is $5.5B. Unequivocal. It’s $5.5B and the previous government was saying whatever they wanted to. Just to buy votes. I don’t believe in that. I believe and we stuck by the plan, $1B during the campaign, we haven’t wavered, I want to get transit for the people of Hamilton. They’re in need of it, I want to support ‘em, we’re putting $1B up, but I guess it’s up to the mayor to ask the people of Hamilton, do you want your taxes to go up? Not a little bit, either, drastically go up, to pay for the transit system. And on the other note, the feds have been great by the way, they haven’t put in a penny. There hasn’t been one single penny from the feds on this transit plan. That’s not a knock against them, it;’s just a fact. We’re the only ones stepping up saying here’s $1B. You hear silence from the City of Hamilton, you hear silence from the federal government, and it’s $5.5B. So it’s gonna be up to the mayor to ask the people of Hamilton, do you want a massive tax increase the likes of which is never seen in Hamilton before. My goal is to build an affordable transit system for the people of Hamilton. I want transit in Hamilton. But they need to get their numbers down pat."

It's probably being introduced as a poison pill, however. Ford's CV is a little mottled on transit.

Globe and Mail, Feb 9, 2012:

Transit City, the light-rail network that Mr. Ford declared dead, is suddenly alive and breathing again, having emerged like Lazarus from its underground tomb. Karen Stintz, the estimable TTC chair whom Mr. Ford was foolish enough to underestimate, is the hero of the hour, talked about as a contender for mayor in 2014.

It is hard to imagine a more galling outcome for Mr. Ford, who has said over and over that "people want subways" and that he would never stand for more "streetcars" (his sneering shorthand for light-rail) on city roads. It undermines one of his central campaign promises: to deliver subways and only subways. It hurts his strategy for re-election, which relies in part on delivering a subway to vote-rich Scarborough.

While Ms. Stintz took the high road, calling the vote a "common-sense compromise" instead of a defeat for the mayor, the Ford brothers were clearly displeased. A bitter Doug Ford blamed downtown interests, saying they have created a "two-tier city" in which the downtown enjoys subway travel and people are "freezing their backsides off up on Eglinton." He warned, "This fight is not over. We need to bring it to the streets."

It was a sign of the Fords' frustration that instead of dominating council, as they did through much of their first year, they are now threatening to go around it. It is pure populism, an appeal to go over the head of city councillors straight to the subway-loving people.

Yet the mayor has only himself to blame. He killed Transit City on his very first day in office, upending a plan that was negotiated, approved, funded and under construction. He took it on himself to cook up a new one with the provincial government that would have wasted nearly $2-billion by burying a light-rail line designed for surface travel. He promised to build a vastly expensive Sheppard subway without any real idea of how to pay for it.

Toronto Sun, July 29, 2013:

The Ford brothers are diving into the Scarborough byelection in a bid to derail the Liberals’ self-proclaimed “subway champion” Mitzie Hunter.

Councillor Doug Ford came out Monday calling it “disgusting” that the Liberals are trumpeting their Scarborough-Guildwood candidate as a “subway champion” on new revamped lawn signs now popping up in the riding.

“She’s the subway champ? That’s just disingenuous with the people. She was nowhere to be found for the last two and a half years fighting for subways,” Ford told the Toronto Sun.

“She’s contradicting herself. She was on CivicAction wanting to raise taxes on the people of Scarborough, she was all pro-LRT, she was handpicked to be on that special committee about transportation … and it was all about LRTs. Where did she just all of a sudden have a change of heart? That is so disingenuous.”…

Hunter’s “subway champion” signs started to roll out after city council voted to push for a subway extension rather than the Scarborough LRT and the provincial Liberals agreed to shift $1.4 billion from the LRT project towards the subway.

CBC News, Oct 20, 2014:

Murtaza Haider, an associate professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management, specializing in transportation management, took a close look at Doug Ford's transit plan.

The big idea for Ford's transit plan is essentially the same as his brother Rob Ford's plan, said Haider. The plan focuses exclusively on building a network of new subway lines across Toronto, both in areas where there is currently demand and in areas where demand to support subway lines does not exist.

Financially, Haider said the biggest issue is that the costs for subways have been systematically low-balled. Ford says he'll build 32 kilometres of new subway lines for $8 to $9 billion. According to Haider, that seriously understates the cost of building new subway lines by several orders of magnitude…

There are several issues with the Ford proposal for eight kilometres of new subways to replace the RT in Scarborough. Ford believes the city can build 8.2 kilometres of subway lines for $1.4 billion. Haider says it will be at least two or three times more.

Eric Miller is a University of Toronto professor and transit expert. He said Ford is offering nothing new relative to the failed policies of his brother from the past four years. 

Subways along Finch and Sheppard Avenues and burying the eastern portion of the Eglinton Crosstown are individually and collectively a colossal waste of money, both to build and in terms of the on-going operating subsidies that they will entail. The current and future travel demand in these corridors simply does not justify anything near the capacity (and associated cost) of subways, Miller said.

According to Miller, these travel needs can be effectively served in a high-quality manner by much less expensive solutions.

"These ideas were soundly and rightfully rejected by city council in 2012, and, in my view, they have no chance of being adopted in the future. As far as I am aware there are zero professional reports that support Mr. Ford's proposals, and his capital cost estimates are so low as to lack any credibility whatsoever," Miller said.

"I would characterize Mr. Ford's transit platform as an 'anti-transit anti-plan'," Miller said. "It is 'anti-transit' since it consists of ideas that are not implementable, and so they impede rather than advance improving transit services in the city, thereby hurting the very people they ostensibly help. And it is an 'anti-plan' since it is not based on any supporting technical analysis."

[SteelTown]

LRT fallout: Metrolinx plans to demolish 21 buildings in Hamilton’s light rail ‘ghost town’

Matthew Van Dongen
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...host-town.html

The province’s transit agency plans to demolish at least 21 buildings bought for a cancelled Hamilton LRT line “for safety’s sake” — despite community calls to resurrect the properties as affordable housing.

Metrolinx had already spent $80 million buying 60 homes and businesses along the King-Main corridor — forcing dozens of tenants to relocate along the way — when the Progressive Conservative government abruptly killed a planned light rail line last December citing a ballooning budget.

Outraged tenant advocates demanded in January that empty buildings in the LRT “ghost town” be turned over to the city for affordable housing, arguing more than 100 rental units were boarded up in the middle of a housing crisis.

Since then, a provincial transportation task force has recommending revisiting LRT or bus rapid transit in the corridor — but no decisions have been made.

In the meantime, Metrolinx announced Friday it would knock down at least 21 of the empty buildings — some of which have been vacant and without heat for nearly two years.

The demolition “is not connected to any planned transit project,” the agency said on its news blog, but instead is planned “to reduce the risk of fire and other potential hazards.”

Internal Metrolinx documents showed the agency was worried about “public safety issues” as far back as the fall of 2019, due in part to vandalism and people breaking into the empty buildings. Experts warned empty, unheated buildings can quickly become mould traps or succumb to animal and weather damage.

In January, the city said it had received relatively few trespassing complaints at the buildings and Metrolinx emphasized it had a security company doing regular patrols on the corridor.

But Friday, the agency said on its blog that security company has noted a “risk of fire” due to smoking and illegal dumping. “Vacant structures can become safety hazards, prone to vandalism and break-ins, no matter what efforts are in place to secure them,” the agency update said.

Metrolinx hired Budget Demolition to knock down the buildings once permits are acquired, likely in the fall of this year through early 2021.

The fate of the remaining two-thirds of vacant buildings remains up in the air, although the agency noted there are no plans to knock down or empty buildings with tenants still living inside.

More to come.

[Innsertnamehere]

Hmm.

Hopefully the project still ends up happening and this isn't an issue, but still. The the last thing the city needs is a bunch of empty lots in legal limbo along it's main street.

[Doady]

It's sad how much public transit in Hamilton has been neglected since the 90s. In the past 10 years, the per capita transit ridership of Hamilton has fallen even behind Mississauga and Brampton Transit. That's just ridiculous and LRT won't reverse this decline. London, Winnipeg and Quebec City don't need LRT either. I hope for LRT in Hamilton but LRT is just such a small part of building successful transit and building healthy and vibrant downtowns. The transit system of Hamilton should be 30% bigger than it is now and the province and the lack of LRT are really not the main reasons for that. If Hamilton had transit ridership on par with London (60 riders per capita instead of 45), the case for LRT would have been even harder to ignore, and the LRT probably would have already been built by now.

You want LRT? Then start investing in buses. Start laying the foundation for LRT. No LRT can exist in isolation. Plenty of US systems build LRT and then neglect buses, LRT expansion motivated by anti-bus attitudes, and so transit ridership decline down there continues. No matter what Hamilton eventually builds, LRT or BRT or nothing, the City of Hamilton needs to invest in major expansion of its bus services.