With a rapidly developing downtown and a growing population, Hamilton has identified the urgent need for better public transit infrastructure. The city's importance within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and large number of commuters call for better connectivity between those two urban and business centres. Several initiatives have been or will be implemented to connect the city and its neighbourhoods to their surrounding areas. In an era where car ownership is declining and younger generations are relying on public transit as their main mode of transportation, the time has come for the city to commit to the development of better transit options for its residents.

An interactive map of Hamilton's bike-sharing system, image courtesy of SoBi Hamilton

On the city level, Hamilton recently launched its own bike share system, known as SoBi. With 750 bicycles and over 100 hubs scattered across the central areas of the city, the system has been a great success among the 5,300 Hamiltonians who have already subscribed to the service as of July 2015. High subscription rates are attributed to the high number of bikes relative to the system's size and city's population, the GPS tracker and payment interface technologies that enable users to drop bikes off or pick them up wherever and whenever they want, as well as a the intuitive geo-localizing smartphone app. 

Raise the Hammer's map of existing and proposed bike paths in Hamilton, image courtesy of Raise the Hammer

To support the spur of cyclists in Hamilton, resident associations are campaigning for the development of a dense bike-lane system in their city. Grassroots movement Yes We Cannon aims, for instance, to convince the city to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians by creating a bi-directional bike lane on the busy thoroughfare of Cannon Street. Citizen group Raise the Hammer, who believe in the potential of their city to become a perfect work/live/play model, has created a map, shown above, cataloguing the existing bike lanes or off-street trails and the proposed and ideal greenways, often called bike boulevards. These initiatives come as an answer to the city's somewhat slow—40 years—implementation schedule of its Shifting Gears 2009 plan to expand Hamilton's bike lane network. 

Rendering of B-line trains along King Street in downtown Hamilton, image courtesy of the City of Hamilton

Another network proposed for the city is the BLAST, a  rapid transit system consisting of five Light Rail Transit lines. It is part of Hamilton's 2007 transportation master plan as well as Metrolinx's regional transportation plan called The Big Move. In May 2015, the Government of Ontario announced it would fully fund the design and construction of a truncated version of the original B-line, henceforth running from McMaster University to Queenston Circle through downtown, as well as a segment of the A-line to provide a connection with the new West Harbour GO Station. Construction of the $1-billion (CAD) project is expected to start in 2019 and will help the city to forge its new post-industrial identity, while supporting its revitalization efforts by changing the nature and uses of its main streets. 

The proposed BLAST transit network, image courtesy of the City of Hamilton

This will not be the first time in history that Hamiltonians are able to ride rail transit downtown. Indeed, the Hamilton Street Railway once operated over 45 kilometres of electric railway on seven routes. This came to an end in 1951 when, after years of war time and thus limited access to materials to maintain its system, the decrepit HSR was first bought by Canada Coach Lines. The system was later purchased by the City of Hamilton itself, who gradually replaced streetcars with trolley buses and, eventually, diesel vehicles. Over the past few years, major North American cities have been experiencing a strong comeback of LRTs along their streets, and Hamilton is following the same trend.

Public plaza in front of the West Harbour station, image courtesy of Metrolinx

Finally, as part of the same Metrolinx The Big Move plan, a new GO station opened its doors last July in Hamilton's West Harbour neighbourhood. While James North station only provides rush hour service with four trips to and from Toronto's Union Station per day, service is expected to reach a 30-minute pace during peak hours once the GO Regional Express Rail track electrification program unfolds, some time over the next decade. Around the new station, work on the south track, the pedestrian bridge, the bus loop and parking lot will not be completed before 2016. Only then will passengers be able to fully embrace the 'Kiss N' Ride' facilities and new pedestrian/bicycle pathways, improving the connection between different modes of transportation. 

The latest GO train map, including the new West Harbour station, image courtesy of GO Transit

This is not the only addition to GO's presence in Hamilton. The Stoney Creek community, 10 kilometres east of the West Harbour station will be home to a new GO station in 2019, as part of GO Transit's planned Lakeshore West line service extension to Niagara Falls. In May 2015, the Government of Ontario confirmed that work on the future Centennial Parkway station would start in 2017, for an estimated cost of $150 million (CAD). 

Stay tuned for further updates about Hamilton's real estate and transit developments. Meanwhile, you can take part to the conversation by leaving a comment at the bottom of this page, or by participating in the Hamilton forum.