Hamilton Street Railway Route ideas.

[miketoronto]

Here are my ideas for making Hamilton Street Railway more attractive to commuters. What do you guys think of my new route ideas to speed up service and attract choice riders????? Right now HSR suffers from only having a ridership that is about 20% Choice. Meaning the other 80% are captive. I would like to turn that around

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ROUTE 55E: STONEY CREEK EXPRESS
Buses would run local from Stoney Creek City Hall to Eastgate Square. Then EXPRESS to Downtown Hamilton and McMaster University. Making no stops inbetween.

ROUTE 2E: BARTON EXPRESS
Buses would run local from Stoney Creek City Hall to Centennial Parkway. Then run express to Downtown Hamilton and McMaster University, with a stop at Hamilton General Hospital.

ROUTE 43E: MOUNTAIN EAST EXPRESS
Buses rould run their normal local routing through the subdivision at the end of the route east of Winterberry Drive. Buses would then enter the Lincoln Expressway and run express to Limeridge Mall. Buses would then run express from Limeridge Mall to Downtown Hamilton, stopping inroute at Mohawk Road, Fennell Ave, Queensdale Ave, and Concession Road.

ROUTE 102: LIMERIDGE-MCMASTER EXPRESS
Buses would run EXPRESS from Limridge Mall to McMaster University via the Lincoln Expressway.

ROUTE 52E: DUNDAS EXPRESS
Buses would run their local routing from Dundas to McMaster University. Then run EXPRESS to Downtown Hamilton.

ROUTE 16E: ANCASTER EXPRESS
Buses would run their normal local routing in Ancaster, then run EXPRESS to Downtown Hamilton via area highways, after serving MEADOWLANDS.

ROUTE 103E: EASTGATE-MOHAWK EXPRESS
Buses would run express from Eastgate Square to Mohawk College, stopping only at Limridge Mall. Buses would use area highways.

[DC83]

How about "Shoppers Express"?? Route 99!

Starting downtown, go express along Main down Ottawa to the New Centre;
Back up Ottawa to Main, express to Eastgate;
Up Centennial, express to Summit Park Shopping area (Hwy-53 / Hwy-20);
Express to Limeridge via The Linc;
Back onto the Linc, express to Meadowlands;
Down the Ancaster Hill (Hwy-403) to Mac;
Back downtown K/J via Main.

[SteelTown]

A couple of the route you have Mike are already being planned part of the new BRT routes such as Route 55E and almost Route 43E.

One BRT route will replace the current Beeline buses which goes from Eastgate Square to McMaster. A few stops along the way.

Another BRT route will go along the Lincoln Alexandar Expressway and making two stops at Limeridge Mall and Upper James.

The other BRT route will go from James Street from the waterfront all the way up to eventually Hamilton Airport on Upper James.

Route 102 could work but currently people who work or a student at McMaster can park at Meadowlands and take a shuttle bus to McMaster so you could change Route 102 from Meadowlands to McMaster instead.

I dunno if Route 103 would work since a lot of Mohawk students drive and currently Mohawk students don't have a special free HSR pass like McMaster. So not a lot of students use the buses at Mohawk. But i think eventually soon Mohawk will be getting a special HSR pass. Just the students have to vote on the issue, I think the vote last time a majority said no to HSR pass.

[MikeTTG]

Isn't it a requirement that at least one express route have a stop in front of mikescarborogh's suburban abode? Or does that only apply to the TTC?

[Doady]

What's with all the express routes? Hamilton does not need that many.

[SteelTown]

The solid red line is where the BRT will be running, 2 East-West BRT routes (one for Lower Hamilton and one for Hamilton Mountain) and 1 North-South BRT route.

[DC83]

That looks awesome - and is definately needed for upper james. Plus the streetscaping would make it more "Hamilton" and not so "Mississauga". Maybe people would actually walk along the street without being afraid of being hit by cars zooming by like they do now :s

And the green dotted line... does that suggest that GO will be heading towards Brantford / K-W??
I knew about Niagara expansion but never heard of anything about going towards the Kitchener-Waterloo area?

[raisethehammer]

you're right...the Upper James idea does like awesome. Problem is, most people who live in that area have this strange notion that 'Mississuaga' is better than 'Hamilton'.
They would fight it tooth and nail. Anything that might slow down their almighty cars will simply not fly with Mountain residents.
That said, it's a no-brainer and with public input should go ahead whether some car-addicted honks like it not. but this is Hamilton and that would require actual leadership.
It'll never happen. They'd be better trying to do something like that along Centennial Parkway or Main West from 403 to Dundas. Unless public money is spent on highways and more asphalt for cars mountain residents consider it to be a waste and a 'subsidy'. Perhaps someday they'll come to realize that the biggest subsidized area in all of Hamilton is the burbs and it's massive, multi-lane roads and highways.

I love the BRT plans....I don't think we need a 'shoppers BRT'. Who is going to go from mall to mall to mall?? BRT should be along mixed use nodes...high dense population with shops, services, parks, offices etc.....diverse uses will make it successful.

[SteelTown]

Creating a BRT median will largely depend on how much the feds and province is willing to spend. Mayor Katz of Winnipeg returned $17 million to the feds and the province, he's against the BRT.

So Hamilton might get $34 million towards the BRT. Three way funding that would be $51 million which I think is the price tag the Steering Committee wanted.

If the funding is around that amount than a median along Upper James is looking brighter. But be prepared for complaints, the biggest complaint I heard during the open house was how are cars going to turn into the stores or the movie theatre if the turning median is gone.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Doady

What's with all the express routes? Hamilton does not need that many.

Hamilton does need these. There are a lot of people without cars in Hamilton, and it takes a long time to get around. My bus route (#5 from Dundas to Stoney Creek) takes an hour and 20 minutes end to end. That's nearly a three hour round trip. The last time I was on the only existing express route (the Beeline) the bus passed by around 100 people because it was full (I'm not exaggerating, there were three stops passed over, each with enough people to fill a bus).

[Boomtown_Hamilton]

Originally Posted by flar

Hamilton does need these. There are a lot of people without cars in Hamilton, and it takes a long time to get around. My bus route (#5 from Dundas to Stoney Creek) takes an hour and 20 minutes end to end. That's nearly a three hour round trip. The last time I was on the only existing express route (the Beeline) the bus passed by around 100 people because it was full (I'm not exaggerating, there were three stops passed over, each with enough people to fill a bus).

That's why if you make some of these routes BEELINE Express just like they have on Main street you would be able to get to Stoney Creek from Dundas in half that time.

[Boomtown_Hamilton]

The one area I'd like to see the H.S.R. (Hamilton Street Railway) somehow remedy is if I'm at the east end of Hamilton; say around Eastgate Square and I need to get to the East Mountain around where Upper Ottawa and Rymal is they don't really have a route that takes me DIRRECTLY from East Hamilton to the East Mountain....If I'm at Eastgate Square and need to get to Upper Gage and Rymal road, as it stands now I need to Circle the entire City to get to East Mountain.....for example: At Eastgate Square I take the King Bus to get downtown...when I get downtown at Gore Park I transfer over to the Upper Gage Bus and that bus then goes up the mountain and travels east along Concession street and then finally makes the turn on Upper Gage...by the time I get to my destination almost 2-hours that have elapsed...I've tried this already more than once and timed it each time...2-hours is the average; this includes having to wait for the King Bus at Eastgate and waiting for the other at Gore Park.....Now for a Bus to go up Highway 20 is a bad idea cause that stretch of the road is very bad for accidents; Highway 20 has a very bad track record for that sort of stuff....so what is the solution then?....I think when Steeltown posted up the idea of the Incline Railway couple of weeks back that would be the solution for that part of the City for pedestrians from East Hamilton wanting to get to the east Mountain in the shortest amount of time....they use an Incline Railway at East Hamilton and transfer from there to a Bus on the Mountain.....I'm assuming here that the Incline Railway(s) would be run by H.S.R.

[raisethehammer]

A new route is starting up next year...#59. it will run from Eastgate Sq to the southeast mountain area - Hwy 53&20 and then I think it comes west into the 'heritage green' neighbourhood. So that should help you Boomtown.

With median transit like this the signal lights are set up at intersections with a long left turn sequnence that allows people to make U-turns. Then it's easy for someone who's coming off the Linc to get to the theatre. U-turn at Rymal and you're in. Also, people need to be a little wiser with their trip planning. Back when I lived on the Mountain I was amazed at how people would cross Upper James IN THEIR CARS from one parking lot to another. now people might actually have to plan and hit the stores on the east side at once, then the west side. Sure it might be a little less convenient for cars, but that's the point. It will be MORE convenient for transit riders. The BRT stops at that street halfway between Ryman and Stonechurch and the folks get off and walk to the theatre. That is the only way any city can get people out of cars and into transit. No parking hassles, lineups, traffic jams etc.....
We'll have to see if city hall has the leadership and vision to make it happen despite the cries from some car-addicted folks.

[SteelTown]

Move towards a bus rapid transit system
October 20, 2006

A small step towards a Hamilton bus rapid transit cleared the public works committee this week when councillors accepted a recommendation from the transit master plan steering committee to move the city's only express bus to an all-day service next year.

The popular Beeline express bus operates between McMaster University and Eastgate Mall with some extensions into lower Stoney Creek. The 33-minute ride compares favourably with driving speeds, but the service is currently only provided during morning and afternoon rush hours on weekdays.

Under the proposal adopted on Monday, the every-ten-minute service will be extended through the mid-day period and into the evening – running continuously from 6 am to 9:30 pm. The transit committee selected this improvement over an option to moving the service to every 7.5 minutes during the rush hour periods.

The McMaster-Eastgate corridor is the most heavily used in the HSR system, with demand exceeding capacity by at least 50 percent for much of the day – resulting in overcrowding and numerous times when passengers are forced to wait for later buses, despite the addition last year of three new buses serving the university.

The newest changes follow a city decision last month to buy bigger buses for the corridor – replacing some of the standard 40-foot vehicles with 60-foot articulated (bend-in-the-middle) buses. Those new vehicles will also arrive in 2007 and will have a distinctive paint job as an initial step to developing a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that would feature faster transit along major city roadways.

The Beeline was set up in 1989 and was expected to be followed by other express bus services. Instead, service cuts and fare hikes slashed transit use in the 1990s, dropping annual rides to below 20 million from a near 30 million level in 1985. The slide has been slowly reversed in recent years, but Hamilton's transit growth still lags far behind other major Canadian systems that are registering growth rates exceeding three percent a year.

Bus rapid transit is being widely adopted in North America as a lower-cost alternative to subway and other rail transit services. A Hamilton BRT is a central recommendation of the city's draft Transportation Master Plan developed by IBI consultants and unveiled in two mountain open houses last month.

Brian Hollingsworth of IBI told the transit committee earlier this month that the preferred solution “really hinges on aggressive transit expansion”. In addition to the McMaster-Eastgate corridor with potential extension all the way to Winona, the proposals call for establishment of a north-south express service from the waterfront to north of Rymal Road using James and Upper James. An east-west mountain route is also under consideration, with current thinking favouring a bus corridor along the Lincoln Alexander Parkway .

“Transit is only going to work if the city gets serious about compact mixed-use development around transit nodes and corridors,” Hollingsworth told the committee. Pointing to the city's commitment to the Red Hill Creek Expressway, he said “I think if the city put those sorts of efforts into the BRT network, it would result in something fantastic.”

The recommended changes to the Beeline service are subject to a final decision at city council on the 27th of this month. Then the new city council which will get the final say on whether the costs can be covered within next year's budget.

Funding for the Beeline changes, and several others recommended by the transit committee, would at least partially be drawn from gas tax revenues that have been made available to the city by the provincial and federal governments for the specific purpose of improving public transit.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by flar

Hamilton does need these. There are a lot of people without cars in Hamilton, and it takes a long time to get around. My bus route (#5 from Dundas to Stoney Creek) takes an hour and 20 minutes end to end. That's nearly a three hour round trip. The last time I was on the only existing express route (the Beeline) the bus passed by around 100 people because it was full (I'm not exaggerating, there were three stops passed over, each with enough people to fill a bus).

Hamilton is a small city, it does not need so many express routes as Miketoronto proposes. If the buses are too slow then it is due to congestion and overcrowding and a simple matter of adding bus lanes and more buses to existing routes.

[matt602]

It is definitely NOT due to congestion. It is very rare that you'll run into a traffic jam in Hamilton, unless it is rush hour.

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by Doady

Hamilton is a small city, it does not need so many express routes as Miketoronto proposes. If the buses are too slow then it is due to congestion and overcrowding and a simple matter of adding bus lanes and more buses to existing routes.

Hamilton does need them. Hamilton covers a pretty large land area, and if you don't provide speedy transit, then people will just continue to use their cars. The stats already point to this.

80% of HSR riders are capitive. Meaning they have no choice but to ride HSR and are not choosing it by choice.

Smaller cities like St John are looking into providing express bus routes for commuters. If a small city of 75,000 can do it, then I think Hamilton can and should.

If transit does not compete with the car, it will never carry anyone but the poor.

[raisethehammer]

I agree with the need for more express buses and bus-only lanes, BRT etc.... however, I don't see the need for an express service that only goes from one shopping area to another....they need to service a wide range of areas - shopping, residential, office, business parks, industrial, waterfront, tourism, transportation links - GO, VIA, airport, harbour etc......

[Doady]

The main reason for any express route is because the ridership of a regular bus route is so high that the buses become really overcrowded and slow and the route is able to support additional service in the first place.

Throwing express routes all over the place is pointless. Just look at empty VIVA buses in York Region: a waste of money.

[SteelTown]

Beeline, King and University all go from the east to McMaster and all are overcrowded. When I first started working at McMaster I took the bus to Gore Park and every single time I tried to get on a bus to McMaster it was always full and drives right on by without even stopping at the downtown stop, pretty bad when you can't pick up a load of people when you are at the main downtown transit stop. Eventually I got sick of it and now I drive to work and take a shuttle bus to McMaster from the parking lot.

Upper James is crowded too which will have its own BRT line.