I don't see why the Mountain needs to be abandoned from the transit debate. It is not at all like the horrendously laid out suburbs of Mississauga, Vaughan, and Markham. It is arrayed in an arterial grid like pattern which is the absolute dream for creating a viable transit network. Even better, there is not an egregious number of cul-de-sacs and the lots are all facing the arterial road with their frontages, rather than their rear, which means the entire Mountain has development potential. There are also a number of trip generators and commercial areas every 1-2km in each direction.
Really, Hamilton is the best location in Canada to develop into a major city, if you look at the urban fabric of both the downtown core and the Mountain suburbs. Still, the Mountain needs serious transit attention. This is what I would do:
In other cities, I've seen plans resurrected as expanded plans that satisfied a larger area = bigger voter base voting for higher-order transit.
One possible initiative to resurrect the LRT -- MAY be to expand the LRT plan somewhat, if 2022-2026 window provides a triple-pitch-in opportunity (Municipal+Provincial+Federal). Who knows? Demographics can change a lot in that time.
This plans covers 6 wards instead of 4. An additional 2 city councillors onboard can mean a city may finally be able to vote to end area rating and/or vote to raise bonds for their 1/3 share.
While Hamilton has refused to fund the LRT, but Hamilton did fund the famous
2011 Business Case. Lots of local taxpayer money was spent on THOSE documents that was used to pitch province/Metrolinx to award $1B to Hamilton LRT.
But that does not mean another council (2022 or 2026) might vote on an expanded LRT plan that satisfies a larger number of Amalgamated Hamilton wards.
Now, if you also extend to Dundas, there is a potential 7-ward coverage for a Hamilton LRT plan. Sure, each level will have to pitch over $1B each level, but the demographic changes (population) and climate pressures (slow migration to additional options beyond cars) solves that city council problem (eventually), and the next couple councils later may actually vote to go with a local third pitch-in. Who knows?
The A-Line BRT can still be built to the airport, the A-Line becomes a real LRT serving "Waterfront-GO-GO-Mohawk-StJoe-Limeridge" with a very spetacularly good business case and densification opportunity.
An expanded LRT before 2030 is one of the possibilities of an LRT resurrection, because many Mountain residents were voting against LRT because of a lack of Mountain LRT. Sure, the A-Line is poor density nearer airport, but if you start with the stub -- (A single LRT route that combines the densest A-Line + densest T-Line) -- and you magically solve the Mountain Business Case problem.
Expanded LRT plans have occured after LRT cancellations before (just look at Ottawa, even if they have teething problems).
We can still build BRT-Lite in 2021 in the meantime. I know Hamilton will #BRTcreep down to a cheap BRT. Almost guaranteed. Wasting less of the $1B per route, and saving most of previously approved $3.7B for Hamilton LRT ($1B capital + $2.7B ops/maint that was approved in a leaked document). We can use the leftover $2.7B later in the 2020s for a larger LRT resurrection. Combine that with pitchins and then there's funding for a bigger LRT plan if muni+prov+feds pitch. Hey, it's happened before (look at other cities with expanded resurrected plans).
#BRTcreep is almost guaranteed to occur:
A proper BRT costs almost as much as an LRT.
Fancy high-capacity BRTs like Ottawa Transitway requires more land than LRT. Fewer lanes for cars.
If Ford spends, Hamilton is probably not spending $1B for a proper red-asphalt fully-curbed traffic-dedicated-laned BRT in Hamilton in a semi-trenched BRT-way. Local car owning tax payer locally will not stand for it, and will easily push a few #BRTcreep dominos. It's not easy to erase a traffic lane in Hamilton without a tempting plan such as a fancy all-door level-boarding transit-prioritized metro -- like an LRT or subway.
The Hamilton LRT was practically as subway as you could get without burying, by erasing 75% of intersections along King/Main. Combined with automatic green lights for the LRT vehicles, that would have kept the LRT as fast at peak as offpeak. Hamilton LRT is using the same technique being used for Eglinton Crosstown LRT surface sections.
So it is probably going to be
#BRTcreep watered down to a cheaper express bus route (upgraded B-Line + upgraded A-Line), allowing an acceleration of an expanded LRT announcement by 2026-2030 (instead of 2050).
Bring on the #BRTcreep.
Might as well. BRT and LRT isn't mutually exclusive
At least it'll allow $1B to create a "5-BRTlite" system.
All five B-L-A-S-T routes.
Then after, it'll just accelerate an expanded LRT announcement in less than a decade -- for A-Line and B-Line. Even watered down express bus routes (DO NOT CALL IT A TRUE BRT, Hamilton is NOT getting a TRUE BRT... it's a BRTINO --
BRT in Name Only -- I have lots of info our BRT is a BRTINO).
And by the way, these images are a repost. I posted these images I created years ago, and they've all been shown on the projector in the City Council chambers during the previous administration. (I delegated) And these are only 5% of the images I've created. I'm ready to do a few more rebuttals to the "Hamilton does not deserve an LRT" debate.
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But yes, even #BRTcreep'd bus routes are MUCH better than the bus routes we have.
The advantage is the funding gets watered across multiple routes, and we've already got the leaked documents that show the additional opex funding.
Ontario Treasury Board Already Approved 1B capital + 2.7B opex+maintenance for Hamilton LRT. Mississauga got that additional funding (separate of capital funding announcement).
However, for Hamilton the numbers were intentionally distorted by the administration to create the fake "$1B grew to $5B" Hamilton LRT "overrun-in-name-only" to give excuses to unilaterally cancel the Hamilton LRT. Dirty number fudging towards the expensive side, pretending operating/maintenance is part of capital.
One of the Hamilton LRT bidders is so mad they are currently auditing the Ford numbers they currently disagree with. That's not even Scarborough drama. See? It's that bad.
Hurontario LRT got same math.
Hurontario LRT was announced as $1.6B,. If you include operating/maintenance (annual fees for 30 years) --
it is a $4.6 billion contract. $4.6B out of $1.6B. Cost overrun? No, since $1.6B is capital (to build it), and $3B to operate/maintain it.
Hamilton got unfair treatment to force a cancellaton. The
1B LRT announcement is only capital. But Ford added operating/maintenance in, and gave us an "
Overrun In Name Only"' of $1B falsely turning into $5B. Now the Auditor General is investigating.
Anyway, micdrop.
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Once the LRT is built, move the spare BRT buses to upgrade the L-Line "BRT-lite", S-Line "BRT-lite", and T-Line "BRT-lite".
Long time posters know this, the non-Hamilton-knowing newbies don't realize how important LRT is to Hamilton -- LRT is more important to Hamilton than subway is important to Scarborough.
(Yes, I'll be attacked by scarborough residents for saying that... but it's true.)
Scarborough is very lucky not to need to delete car lanes
Scarborough is very lucky to have a dedicated transit corridor that can potentially run a subway, or upgraded LRT, or other metro. Hamilton is unlucky enough to need to delete car lanes to get a metro installed locally.
(Yes, I'll be attacked by "Hamilton LRT is not a metro" crowd -- Buy it's already literally 75% metro with alldoor level boarding on subway-length chains of trains + erasure of ~75% of traffic intersections across the middle of road + automatic green light traffic priority for approaching LRT trains at the remaining non-deleted intersections. Our LRT were supposed to be higher capacity and more dedicated than Kitcher-Waterloo ION LRT. Our launch trains were supposed to be almost as long as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT trains. Our LRT is nearly identical to the surface section of Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Some of our main Hamilton LRT stations were going to be slightly bigger than several mid-route surface stations of Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
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Fair Disclosure To Newbies In This Thread: My spouse ran as a city councillor in Hamilton in 2018, so I have a good passing familiarity with the local politics, and armed with enough behind-the-scenes spidey sense to know the ~50% odds of an LRT resurrection this decade. I was also born in Ottawa. Ottawa cancelled their LRT in 2006. And look at what happened to Ottawa, resurrected with a bigger LRT plan. And Ottawa is not the only city this happened.
(Ok, Ottawa has teething problems -- but that is not universally true for all LRTs!)