[miketoronto]

Hamilton is a pretty big city, about the same size as Quebec City. But why has Hamilton not started any sort of express commuter bus service from the outlying areas of the city to downtown Hamilton and McMaster, besides the Beeline? And why has the city not started clubber services on Friday and Sat nights.

The following routes are from the RTC in Quebec City. They have an extensive network of express routes that suppliment the local routes during rush hours, and use highways, etc to get people to the centres of Quebec City fast. It is this network of express services along with the METROBUS(their version of the Beeline) that has halted the % loss of transit use in Quebec City, and is holding the % of transit atleast stable for now, with plans to improve how many people take transit to work.

There is also a set of late night bus routes that operate Friday and Saturday night to almost all sectors of Quebec City and suburbs, to get people home from clubs, etc. If Quebec can do it with a similar pop I am sure Hamilton could.


There are many more routes, but this is just a quick look at a couple express routes they provide in addition to the local service. And the late night service called Couche Tard.

http://www.rtcquebec.ca/_site/RTC/IMAGES/R_038_238_338_V4.GIF

http://www.rtcquebec.ca/_site/RTC/IMAGES/R_330_V4.GIF

http://www.rtcquebec.ca/_site/RTC/IMAGES/R_236_v3.GIF

Late night services. There are more. Just a quick look at two of the routes.
All depart from the centre of downtown Quebec City at about the same time.

http://www.rtcquebec.ca/_site/RTC/IMAGES/CT_080_V4.gif

This route is the late night service provided on one leg of their version of the BEELINE, called Metrobus.
http://www.rtcquebec.ca/_site/RTC/IMAGES/CT_050_V2.GIF

http://www.rtcquebec.ca/_site/RTC/IMAGES/CT_015_031_V2.GIF

[raisethehammer]

you want the short answer or the long one?

it costs money to have a good transit system. we spend all of ours on highways and sprawl.
transit funding in hamilton is lower now from city hall than it was 10 years ago.

[Da Warrior]

To tell you the truth I don't know why HSR doesn't already have 24hrs service. There's 2 buses that could easily support it 1-King, and 2-Barton, and possibly some other buses for Friday and Saturday 24hr service, like you mentioned. But I guess its because not to many places stay open after 10pm in this city compared to others.

[matt602]

The infrastructure in Hamilton, for the most part, doesn't allow it. As already said, everything shuts down after 10pm. Lots of out of towners have said to me "god, this city is so dead at night". It's quite true.

[SteelTown]

They should make the B and A Line 24 hrs service.

[mbeaumont]

Coming from someone who was born and raised in Quebec City and had to rely on the public transit there for some time now, their system sucks, unless you live along the Metrobus or 2 or 3 other high frequency routes, the service is shitty, every hour at off peak times, and every half hour at peak times, the Couche Tard buses aren't as great as you make them out to be, they all leave downtown at 1:30, and don't even cover half the routes so to catch one you have to leave a club at minimum 1:15, although I do commend them for opening up a few later routes, they added on a 3AM departure for some of the late routes, but overall it sucks, and what ever happened to the so called "tramway" we were supposed to be getting

quebec city is a car oriented city, not surprising since we have the most freeways per capita in Canada

[coalminecanary]

see the letter in today's spec.. a taxpayer complaining about subsidizing transit? i'd write a retort but it won't get printed anyway.

[DC83]

Hey when are you moving to Hamilton, Mike?? hahaha
You have great ideas and would be totally welcome here.

As for 24-hr service; I love the idea. Maybe just on King or Beeline. I wish Beeline had extended service as-is. I've been starting work at 7am for the last 2 months, and getting to Eastgate is really annoying at 6am as I'm forced to take the King. The Beeline doesn't start (at Main/John anyway) 'til 6:25am. And when does it finish? 7pm? If I want to visit my old Stoney Creek friends after 7pm, it takes between 35-50 mins to get there (depending on the night). The Beeline (Express) takes approx 25mins.

So let's start small: 24-hr King/Beeline.
I've taken the midnight Barton (2) several times, and it's actually pretty packed -- with shady characters -- but packed none-the-less. However, I don't think 24-hr service is necessary on that route. Wait until the area gentrifies (HA!) until we need to worry about that.