Hamilton Hamilton Line B LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx

The LRT groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Spring of 2011 for the B-Line.

City Staff are working with A-Line, it sounds like they'll push ahead with a tunnel up along the Escarpment for the LRT, total price tag $1.1 billion.

I'll find the latest report from the Rapid Transit Office, came out yesterday.
 
Metrolinx chair Rob MacIsaac will be in town on Tuesday afternoon to answer questions from councillors. He'll be speaking to a committee of the local chamber of commerce.
 
From Hamilton's Rapid Transit Newsletter.....

metrolinxham.jpg
 
LRT: City not 'ready to go'

LRT: City not 'ready to go'
York Region gets a leg up
October 16, 2008
Rachel De Lazzer
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 16, 2008)

Metrolinx chairman Rob MacIsaac says Hamilton has made a great pitch for funding for rapid transit but "that's different than being ready to go."

At a Spectator editorial board meeting on Tuesday, he pointed to York Region as an example of being ready. He said the first projects to be funded in the Metrolinx budget are likely Toronto projects.

York has already done environmental assessments.

York Region got a head start on its rapid transit plan back in 2001.

One of the first things it did was pull together a consortium of planning, engineering and construction firms, says Mary-Frances Turner, vice-president of the York Region Rapid Transit Corporation.

The corporation was created by the region solely to advance rapid transit there.

In September 2005, it kicked off the first phase of its rapid transit plan with buses that operate in mixed traffic.

Today, it has 135,000 riders a day.

It's pushing Metrolinx for funding to extend Toronto's two subway lines to Highway 7 and move its rapid transit buses into their own dedicated bus lanes.

Hamilton started studying rapid transit for Hamilton in November 2007. Since then, it has compiled a feasibility study, including public consultation with the community, says Jill Stephen, manager of strategic planning.

"We've gone from basically scratch to having studies where we know where rapid transit could fit, what it would look like, what the impacts would be," Stephen said.

-- Rachel De Lazzer, The Hamilton Spectator

Where councillors stand on rapid transit

THREE

Three -- Brad Clark, Sam Merulla and Lloyd Ferguson -- said they still support rapid transit but only with full capital funding from Metrolinx.

Eight councillors -- Brian McHattie, Bernie Morelli, Russ Powers, David Mitchell, Maria Pearson, Scott Duvall and Bob Bratina -- suggested their support of the project without full Metrolinx capital funding depended on several factors, such as how much the city would have to pay. McHattie and Powers said Metrolinx should cover at least two-thirds of the cost.

Monday, the public works committee votes whether city staff should continue to work with Metrolinx on LRT plans. Council votes Oct. 29.

Councillor Terry Whitehead said before replying to the poll, he wanted more details on why York had more infrastructure in place on rapid transit than Hamilton.

Tom Jackson, Robert Pasuta and Margaret McCarthy did not respond.
 
Rapid transit funding hits gridlock

Rapid transit funding hits gridlock
October 16, 2008
Rachel De Lazzer
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 16, 2008)

City staff are scrambling to find out how much the municipality would be on the hook for to cover hoped-for rapid transit plans, if the province won't pay the full capital costs.

The city has been planning based on the premise that the capital for an estimated $1.1-billion worth of rapid transit lines -- one east-west, and one north-south -- would appear in the first five years of the Metrolinx budget.

But Metrolinx chair Rob MacIsaac made comments at a Spectator editorial board meeting on Tuesday suggesting that municipal city managers should put money aside to fund such projects. He also said Metrolinx would only fund a "bare bones" version of rapid transit lines, though Hamilton would likely appear in Year 4 or 5 of the agency's 2009-2013 budget.

Acting city manager Joe Rinaldo says city staff will try to get a better handle on what Metrolinx expects the city to contribute, if anything, at a meeting with the agency this week or early next week.

Rinaldo says if Metrolinx insists on a contribution, that could seriously affect council's decision to pursue rapid transit.

"If, for example, they ask for 50 per cent contribution, that's going to be problematic.

"If they are asking for much less than that, a token contribution, that might be a different ball game," said Rinaldo, referring to roughly 5 or 10 per cent.

Many councillors feel full coverage is the only workable possibility for cash-strapped Hamilton.

Rapid transit "can only be supported if all capital costs are covered by Metrolinx," said Ward 12 Councillor Lloyd Ferguson.
 
The "S" in line S stands for "sparse". As in sparse population and sparse ridership. An RT line designed to do little but feed new sprawl.
 
Kiwi said:
From Hamilton's Rapid Transit Newsletter.....

metrolinxham.jpg
Click to expand...

What BS is this... King, Upper James, Mohawk, and Rymal all over Barton, Hamilton's busiest transit corridor, one of the busiest in the 905? I never even heard of Rymal before.

That plan looks like Hamilton's own version of Transit City - space rapid transit lines equally across the whole city, regardless of density and ridership. Though Transit City seems aimed at "priority" neighbourhoods, Hamilton's plan seems specifically designed to avoid them, hence the exclusion of Barton Street.

Just a ridiculous plan.
 
Apart from the S route, it's not bad. The "T" route could simply be served with better bus service, perhaps with some BRT measures, or a limited stop route during busier ridership periods. The A route would probably work best as a "BRT-lite" (think Viva, Acceleride, LA 700-series, especially as frequencies are not planned to be that high south of Mohawk. The B-Line is the only one where LRT could or should be advocated.

Barton Street could work just fine with better bus service, and in fact, I would almost suggest re-electification of that route, especially if an electric infrastructure will be installed for King/Main. Ridership is high, but it's a local route with a lot of turnover, and stop and go buses every 5-10 minutes on a single route (no branches) is the best situation for electric buses. There's a lot of turnover on Route 1 as well, but that also distributes passengers from Stoney Creek to Dundas and Ancaster with a couple of really big trip generators, especially Mac. There's a reason why the HSR runs express buses on Main/King and not Barton.

Route 1/10/51 corridor is busier than the 2.
 
Yes, sorry I meant to say second busiest In Hamilton. It is still much busier than the other corridors.

Even though James is not that busy it is still a good choice for BRT/LRT. But no way Rymal and Mohawk should get priority over Barton for BRT. Barton would benefit a lot from LRT and not just for increasing ridership, but also for revitalizing the corridor...
 
Looking at the projected ridership stats these are not even close to the busiest lines in the GTA ... any of them! Have a look at the document in the Metrolinx proposal!
 
I think building line A to Limeridge Mall via Mohawk would be feasible and logical. Perhaps building a branch to Limeridge Mall with the A line on James going no further south than Rymal could be justified. Anything more than that would be a massive waste of money.

There should have been a line in the Metrolinx study that declared that if a local street doesn't even have a bus route on it in 2008 that they won't even consider funding rapid transit for that road in the next 25 years.

Rymal Road, Dundas St (Halton), Taunton Road, Highway 7 (Durham), Morningside Ave... these names should haunt the transit policymakers of the GTA. And we should give kudos to Mississauga, Brampton, and York for not seriously proposing anything ridiculous.

That plan looks like Hamilton's own version of Transit City - space rapid transit lines equally across the whole city, regardless of density and ridership.
Click to expand...

Well put!
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top