I hope they opt for LRT over a BRT system for Hamilton. I think if more of Canada's transit uses electricity for our transit needs the better we will look as a country that is serious about minimizing the carbon we emit. A bus will get a lot of vehicles off the roads but an LRT doesn't have any local emissions itself compared to a bus.

I always enjoy visiting Hamilton and I think that city would get a lot more tourists to visit it if it had an LRT public transit system. I think a LRT would convince more locals to get on public transit then buses would.
 
LRT has proven its ability to act as a reliable backbone for transit in mid-sized cities. Hamilton's (and KW's) proposed system will act very differently than Transit City. That said, BRT might be better for the mountain routes, which all operate over only a couple of streets in the lower city, before fanning out on the mountain.

It will be interesting to see if ideas like returning two-way traffic to Main and King, and turning Int'l village into a pedestrian area will attract enough protest to cause a change in the plans. Unfortunately the closest example for people to look at is the line in Buffalo, which was not exactly a huge success.
 
jwill said:
LRT has proven its ability to act as a reliable backbone for transit in mid-sized cities. Hamilton's (and KW's) proposed system will act very differently than Transit City. That said, BRT might be better for the mountain routes, which all operate over only a couple of streets in the lower city, before fanning out on the mountain.

It will be interesting to see if ideas like returning two-way traffic to Main and King, and turning Int'l village into a pedestrian area will attract enough protest to cause a change in the plans. Unfortunately the closest example for people to look at is the line in Buffalo, which was not exactly a huge success.
Click to expand...

The only reason Buffalo is not a success is the city die starting 50 years ago. Holds less than 50% that it had in the 60's.

Putting it underground was a major mistake, but save you from see the poor neighborhood that are totally non existing or run down.

Then, not finishing the line like Sheppard did not help.

The mall sidewalks are way way too wide.

Don't know where the plan is to reconvert the mall area to single lane of traffic with layover parking is due to cost. I know part of the east end was started last year when I was there.

It time to start about removing lanes of traffic. Going to 2 way not the answers.
 
Answers to LRT questions long way off
Study into downtown traffic flow won't be finished until March 2011

January 21, 2010
Meredith Macleod
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/708940

While the city has set its sights on light rail running east and west on King Street, it will be more than a year before the traffic impacts are known.

A detailed study of everything from the impacts on property owners and the potential economic uplift to where stations should be located and what kind of technology should be used will not be complete until March 2011.

A big part of the planning, design and engineering study currently being tendered will be a "microsimulation" of traffic flow through dozens of intersections, with the big question being where will traffic go if light rail transit (LRT) cuts off King at Wellington.

The study will need to look at turning patterns, traffic queues at red lights, time to clear intersections once a light turns green and impacts on emergency response times.

The city has said a light-rail line running east and west on King Street from Eastgate Square to McMaster University is its top priority for funding from the province's transit authority Metrolinx.

A part of the city's proposal is the possibility of removing all street parking along the stretch, shutting down King between Wellington to west of Mary to cars, and restricting any left turns to intersections with traffic lights.

Those changes are opposed by the two business improvement areas in the downtown core, which advocate splitting the east and west lines along King and Main.

Not only does the city want to see detailed traffic data for every intersection along the 16 kilometres of King Street, they want the successful consultant to study the impacts along all the other major routes, too -- Main, Barton, Cannon and north-south routes such as Sherman and John -- to see if the capacity is there to take cars avoiding King.

"Basically, we told them to look at everything from the base of the escarpment to Barton," said Jill Stephen, the city's director of strategic and environmental planning, who is heading the transit project.

The tendering for the report will close Feb. 8.

It's expected the Metrolinx board will say yes or no to light rail for Hamilton at its Feb. 19 meeting.

Stephen says it's projected 30 to 40 per cent of vehicles would avoid the King Street corridor, at least in part, if trains were running along it.

Close to 9,000 cars on a typical day make the trek west on King at Wellington Street, for instance.

"Traffic is so vital to this," said Stephen. "We know not everyone will take the LRT or can walk or cycle to where they want to go. King and Main are the main arteries to get across the downtown."

According to preliminary projections, LRT on King and making Main Street two-way would increase traffic on York, Aberdeen, Main and Dundurn, but it's unknown by how much.

Transportation expert Richard Soberman says neighbourhoods often object to any reduction in lanes for cars, even though transit is generally agreed to be the best, most sustainable way to deal with congestion and pollution.

He points out that the conversion of a streetcar line along Toronto's St. Clair Avenue to light rail was held up for a year because of objections to losing car lanes and parking.

Provincial legislation, such as Places to Grow, and many municipal planning policies, including Hamilton's, call for intensification in urban development.

"Everyone agrees with it unless they're the ones being intensified," said Soberman, former chair of civil engineering at the University of Toronto.

According to an opinion survey released by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities yesterday, 30 per cent of Canadians cited improving local transit as a way to improve quality of life in their cities.

That came in third behind improving local infrastructure at 57 per cent and cutting taxes at 45 per cent.

One in 10 Canadians said inadequate local transit was the top risk to the nation's economy.
 
I love how in people's pririties, cutting taxes is right beside expensive programs like infastructure and transit. We're turning into children who want everything for free.
 
Ervin said:
I love how in people's pririties, cutting taxes is right beside expensive programs like infastructure and transit. We're turning into children who want everything for free.
Click to expand...

Which is why this country has a huge deficit and mounting debt, as with every other Western nation.
 
Article from Hamilton Spectator:

City looks to Europe for light rail plans TheSpec.com - Local - City looks to Europe for light rail plans

Meredith Macleod
The Hamilton Spectator

(Feb 5, 2010)

City planners don't want to follow in the tracks of other North American cities when it comes to light rail.

The consultant hired to figure out how Hamilton should move forward with a hoped-for rail line will be expected to have experience in designing a modern European-style rapid transit system.

That's a clear indication of the direction city planners intend to take with a proposed LRT corridor stretching 16 kilometres from Eastgate Square to McMaster University.

The vision is to emulate the way European cities built their LRT systems.

That means:

* giving priority to transit, pedestrians, cyclists and service vehicles rather than cars;

* making LRT fit the existing streetscape and adapting the design to fit each neighbourhood;

* having minimal or no property acquisition;

* putting the transit line close to buildings and sidewalks.
​
Jill Stephen, Hamilton's acting director of strategic planning and rapid transit, says the typical North American approach has been to try to give priority to both traffic and transit and drastically change the streetscape. Often LRT lines have been built on abandoned rail corridors or greenfield space at the periphery of the city.

"We have a lot of similarities to European cities," Stephen said. "We don't have a greenfield corridor or an old highway or a rail corridor like some North American cities have used."

Instead, Hamilton must contend with a set right-of-way and a streetscape built alongside. In some areas of the proposed route along Main and King, the corridor is narrow.

"European cities have used what they had available and maximized it," Stephen said. "There are models for making this work."

The tendering for the year-long planning, design and engineering study to lay out the details of an east-west LRT line will close Monday.

A team of city and Metrolinx staff will choose a consultant based on a scoring system and bid price.

Metrolinx, the provincial agency charged with transportation planning in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, is expected to make a recommendation about whether Hamilton should get LRT or bus rapid transit Feb. 19.

Stephen says Hamilton's transit team has studied transit systems from around the world.

"We're trying to get a sense of what has worked, what hasn't and what lessons can apply to Hamilton."

A delegation from Hamilton visited Portland, Ore., Charlotte, N.C., and Calgary about 18 months ago to see transit systems in action and talk to the people who built and use them.

The team is studying the types of vehicles in use elsewhere, how they're powered, the routes they take, and how other municipalities have built ridership and consulted with the community.

Stephen said a goal of the Hamilton system will be to reflect the character and history of individual neighbourhoods through the design of vehicles and stations and the use of public art.

"This is a chance to celebrate Hamilton," she said.

"It gives people a sense of ownership."

MODEL TRAINS

Here are some of the city transit systems Hamilton is looking to emulate and some it wants to avoid.

THE GOOD

DUBLIN, IRELAND

* Sleek trains

* Boarding at street level

* Building entrances built specifically for LRT users

* Stations integrated into existing streetscape and landscape

LYON, FRANCE

* Branded car, made to look like a silkworm, to represent Lyon's silk industry

PORTLAND, ORE.

* Cars, buses, LRT mingle together

* System reflects history and character of individual neighbourhoods

STRASBOURG, GERMANY

* LRT runs down the middle of a busy street

* Stations are located where people are anywayy

EDMONTON (future plan)

* Low-level boarding

* Runs at curbside on well-travelled road

THE BAD

EDMONTON (present)

* Runs on fenced-off tracks behind residential neighbourhoods

* Concrete platforms

* Doesn't mingle with city life

* No opportunity for economic development alongside stations

TORONTO

* Streetcars can't be joined together to increase capacity

* Streetcars don't have priority within mix of traffic

* Don't run on dedicated tracks

SACRAMENTO, CALIF.

* Boxy, chunky vehicle

* Raised platforms for boarding

* Stops have nothing around them

CALGARY

* Boxy train

* Barren, concrete stops

* Away from main streets

SAN DIEGO, CALIF.

* LRT is on periphery, not on main streets

mmacleod@thespec.com

905-526-3408
Click to expand...

The point about giving priority to transit, pedestrians, cyclists and service vehicles rather than cars, still has to be implemented in Toronto. The St. Clair ROW still does not have true transit priority. The confusion with the traffic signals is one problem.
 
^^ I like how Aesthetics makes up like 3/4 of the "true importance of LRT." Apparently un-grade-separating Edmonton's LRT is actually a good thing! It might make it run slower, make it less reliable, and make it less of a real RT system, but it'll look a bit more like LRT is "supposed" to look like. I see all of the goods/bads "pretty/unpretty cars, integrated with streetscape, pretty platforms," etc. etc, yet there's barely a mention of trains being able to reach full speed, don't have to worry about conventional speed limits, fast boardings, etc. etc.
 
Kiwi thanks for the heads up. I look forward to the Feb.19/10 Metrolinx announcement on what they are going to fund for Hamilton- LRT or BRT. I hope Hamilton gets LRT.
 
Apparently the business case has been completed MONTHS ago. It was pushed around and delayed three times. The Feb 19th announcement won't include any funding arrangement.
 
BRT will rule as Metrolinx thinks it better than LRT.

At the same time, TC and GO are eating up most of the $11 Billion funds for transit, leaving crumbs to do the rest of MoveOntario2020 plans.

All this GO expansion cost has to come from somewhere considering a lot of it was never part of MoveOntario2020 plan in the first place.

Then we got to have that money to built the subway to RHC when it cannot carry the ridership that is needed for it in the first place.

Then, the idea that $50 Billion is going to cover this transit plan is laughable in the first place and where is the money to cover the operation cost.

Hamilton needs an LRT on King and Main.

Even Mississauga will get BRT when it can justify LRT now.
 
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