Rapid Transit

[bigguy1231]

Since when does Bob, the village idiot, Bratina decide anything for this city. I thought we had a council that made these decisons. One person with one vote should not be setting the city's agenda. Thats something council should be doing.

[SteelTown]

Gonna miss Jill but it's understandable especially with our Mayor.

City’s rapid transit director on first train to Niagara

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...ain-to-niagara

The manager in charge of Hamilton’s contentious rapid transit file is leaving the city for another job.

Jill Stephen will work her last day Sept. 22 before she becomes senior transportation planning engineer in Niagara Region.

Her departure was announced to staff and councillors in an email Thursday from Gerry Davis, general manager of public works.

“It goes without saying that Jill’s initiative and dedication to the positions she held at the city will be difficult to replace,” he wrote. “I wish Jill every success in her future endeavours and we will certainly miss her on our department management team.”

Stephen, 37, was widely seen as a fast-rising star at the city. She was director of strategic planning and was then made director of the rapid transit team.

In recent weeks, that team has been mostly dissolved, following an email from city manager Chris Murray in July that announced all work on LRT beyond the city’s obligations to the province were being suspended.

It was then announced that Stephen would take on the Pan Am Games file in addition to her rapid transit duties.

While there has been much discussion about the city’s commitment to LRT in the wake of negative comments made by both Murray and Mayor Bob Bratina, Stephen says none of that played any role in her decision to leave the city.

“I have young kids at home … I realized how important my family is to me. I needed to get some balance.”

[drpgq]

Wow. LRT really is on the ropes.

[SteelTown]

Jason Farr's LRT motion.....

http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...sit__Farr_.pdf

[SteelTown]

McGuinty’s keen to get GOing on all-day service for city

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...rvice-for-city

Premier Dalton McGuinty says all-day GO — not LRT — is the province’s first transit priority for Hamilton.

McGuinty, who sat down with The Spectator this week while campaigning for October 6 provincial election, said the province is following Mayor Bob Bratina’s lead by focusing its attention on GO rather than light rail transit (LRT).

“That was the No. 1 ask of the city,” McGuinty said. “We’ve had some important conversations with the mayor, and this is their priority. Which made it our priority. Over time, we can enter into other discussions about things like the LRT.”

The city’s commitment to LRT has been under scrutiny since July, when city manager Chris Murray suspended all work on LRT beyond the city’s obligations to the province. That email surfaced soon after Bratina and Murray declared GO to be the city’s top priority — a statement that has prompted a backlash from some community members and councillors.

Last week, Bratina reaffirmed that LRT “is not a priority” during one of his recent appearances on CHML.

Ryan McGreal of Hamilton Light Rail said the premier’s comments demonstrate that the city has mishandled the LRT file. He points out that it was the McGuinty government that gave Hamilton $3 million to study LRT and that McGuinty campaigned on plans to build two LRT lines in Hamilton before the 2007 election.

“It’s not surprising the province is backing away now. We’ve given them an excuse not to fulfil their promise. We’ve given them an out,” said McGreal.

“We’ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy. We spent all summer bashing LRT … You have a demoralized and dispirited staff who have been scattered to other departments. We have torpedoed our LRT commitment.”

However, councillor and LRT advocate Brian McHattie says the premier’s comments don’t mean the city will never see provincial cash for LRT — just that it’s not a short-term goal.

“I think LRT — you can read his comments any way you want, I guess, but I’ll read them as LRT is still on the agenda, but it’s a future orientation,” McHattie said. “I think that’s fair, not knowing the details about what the mayor’s been telling him.”

McGuinty said getting all-day GO to Hamilton is a key part of his election platform.

“I think one of the specific commitments of great interest to the folks in Hamilton will be our commitment to bring about full-day GO train service,” he said.

“It’s a place on the move. We want to help folks in Hamilton move a bit more. We’re convinced that the new GO train service will be very helpful in that regard.”

[SteelTown]

Manager’s exit sets up LRT showdown
Andrew Dreschel

Rightly or wrongly, many at City Hall are convinced there’s more to LRT poster girl Jill Stephen’s surprise departure than her desire for a better work-life balance.

The fact that the director of the city’s rapid transit team is leaving to take a less demanding position in Niagara certainly dovetails with her stated yearning for more family time.

But there’s a lot of hallway chatter that Stephen is packing it in because she’s frustrated that her light rail portfolio has been shunted aide by Mayor Bob Bratina and city manager Chris Murray.

Small wonder people are shocked. Stephen wasn’t just the head of rapid transit.

She was inextricably linked to light rail in the same way Murray was once identified with the Red Hill Parkway project.

Stephen threw her heart and soul into former mayor Fred Eisenberger’s LRT vision for the city — to the point where some believe she became emotionally as well as professionally attached to the project.

They think Stephen saw the writing on the wall when Bratina and Murray seemed to downgrade the light rail proposal from an image-changing priority to a fuzzy long-term option,

It’s believed that combination of a lack of clarity and leadership convinced her the time was ripe to reorder her own priorities.

If so, Stephen is far too much the pro to ever bad mouth her employer.

And while her departure surely casts yet another shadow of doubt over LRT, it needs to be emphasized that it’s not dead yet.

Thanks to a motion from Councillors Jason Farr and Brian McHattie, on Oct. 11 council will have an opportunity to override Bratina’s position and force him to recommit to strongly lobbying the province and Metrolinx for more funding.

There’s no question Bratina’s lukewarm comments have hurt Hamilton’s place in the transit funding queue and pool.

But a strong majority vote from council can send the message that the city is still firmly aboard.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...p-lrt-showdown

[SteelTown]

The Spec: Do you think Hamilton should receive provincial funding for LRT?

Horwath: I’ve been pretty clear about that. I’ve had meetings with Metrolinx and encouraged them to seriously realize how important the LRT system would be for the City of Hamilton.

I’m absolutely 100 per cent in favour of LRT in Hamilton.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...andrea-horwath

[MalcolmTucker]

Not just realize - they need to seriously realize. I am surprised she didn't say she was 110% behind it!

[SteelTown]

The Spec: Do you believe that Hamilton should receive provincial funding for LRT?

Hudak: We have a very different approach from Dalton McGuinty, who tells communities what their priorities are. We’re actually going to listen to what mayors, councillors and local residents have to say. We’ve set aside $35 billion for infrastructure projects, targeted largely at breaking gridlock. So I’ll look forward to the best suggestions that Hamilton has, whether it’s roads, bridges or transit, instead of following Dalton McGuinty’s model where he decides what’s best.

The other thing I’ll add to the transportation file: Our party, the Ontario PC party, is the only party that supports the Mid-Peninsula corridor, which will be the largest investment in job creation in Hamilton and Niagara that we’ve seen in generations; both in building the highway and attracting more businesses along a new transportation corridor. That will create more jobs for Hamilton residents.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...ader-tim-hudak

[CaptainKirk]

http://www.raisethehammer.org/

Clark cannot understand why Council seems willing to let the offer of 100% capital cost for LRT slip away. "It is incredibly frustrating that we were promised this commitment and now this Council has jumped through hoops to get the Pan Am Games money, and the entire argument was, 'Why would you turn down 56% of the money?' Well, I'm curious: why are we going to look the other way on LRT when 100% of the money was promised by senior levels of government? I don't get it."

Asked about Mayor Bratina's claim that Hamilton might have to pay $150 million toward the cost of LRT, Clark replied, "I keep hearing that we're going to have to pay. Where did that come from?"

He noted that Waterloo Regional Council agreed to cover some of the capital cost to fast-track their LRT proposal after years of development, but that Hamilton should not be held to the same cost breakdown.

"People in the media kept saying to me, Who really believes the Province was ever going to pay 100%? I said I believe it, because they're doing it in Toronto. So it's to our own neglect that we're not looking at what's happening in other municipalities, because Toronto asked for it and they got it."

Clark pointed out that the shift in priority from LRT to GO transit does another thing: "No one's talking about this, but GO transit capital expansion is paid for by the municipalities," not the Province. "This has been the case for quite some time."

When Clark was the Minister of Transport in the Harris Government, he uploaded the operating costs for GO Transit to the Province, but "we maintained that a portion of GO capital was to be paid by municipalities. There have been a number of iterations since then, but for now the capital cost goes on development charges to the city. If we don't have the money, we have to tax for it."

According to Clark, when the Premier promises GO Transit expansion over the next ten years, the capital cost is on the City's dime, not the Province's.

[matt602]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The other thing I’ll add to the transportation file: Our party, the Ontario PC party, is the only party that supports the Mid-Peninsula corridor, which will be the largest investment in job creation in Hamilton and Niagara that we’ve seen in generations; both in building the highway and attracting more businesses along a new transportation corridor. That will create more jobs for Hamilton residents.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...ader-tim-hudak

To me this basically translated to: "Don't worry about public transit. We're going to build a giant highway for people to drive on and it's gonna create lots of jobs. Seriously, trust me."

To be honest I don't really think any of the 3 parties will take public transit within the GTA-H seriously enough, but I definitely think the Con's are least concerned with it. I suppose it makes sense as their target voters are mid-upper class people who use their automobile as primary transportation.

[SteelTown]

The Spec: What does your platform specifically offer to residents of Hamilton?

McGuinty: One of the specific commitments of great interest will be our commitment to bring full-day GO train service. Hamilton is growing in leaps and bounds. It’s been extraordinarily successful at drawing in new investment. It’s a place on the move. We want to help folks in Hamilton move a bit more. We’re convinced that the new GO train service will be very helpful in that regard.

The Spec: That actually dovetails into the next question. Do you think that Hamilton should receive provincial funding for LRT?

McGuinty: Well, first, we walk. And then we can talk about running. What I mean by that — I mean let’s focus on the GO service. That was the number one ask of the city. We’ve had some important conversations with the mayor and this is their priority, which made it our priority. Over time, we can enter into other discussions about things like the LRT.

http://www.thespec.com/news/election...liberal-leader

[drpgq]

^^^^

I wish there was more information about what all day GO train service actually means. From what I understand, the benefit for Hamilton is minimal. The GO bus service from Hunter will continue to move far more people, with more frequent service and faster apart from some peak periods.. If there's something I'm missing, I'd like to be enlightened .

[Jon Dalton]

I want good train service to Toronto badly, in fact I'd personally use it as much as light rail. The bus can be fast, but you never know when it will be stuck in traffic or packed to standing room only. If you want to take a bike, it's getting more and more frequent that the bike rack is full. These problems are only going to get worse as traffic congestion increases and there is higher demand for the service.

However none of those facts make a dent in the argument for LRT which would bring more value to the city in terms of transit quality, image and private investment. We need both services. Nowhere else in the world does a city this size and as close to its country's largest, have to choose between decent regional transit and decent local transit.

[go_leafs_go02]

LRT would benefit the City far more than expanded GO Train service. Yes, all day train service would be great, but you can bus it over to Aldershot to make a quick transfer, and I would argue the time parallels between a train from James Street N. to Aldershot compared to a bus would be quite minimal.

Is it ideal? nope, but I think putting focus on keeping jobs and commuters within the City would be beneficial, and LRT would aid that. Go Transit will just continue to aid Hamilton into slowly become more of a bedroom community. I'm not opposed to it, but LRT would have much much more benefits for the City.

[matt602]

I wonder how those who are stuck standing on crowded King, Delaware and B-Line buses will benefit from all-day GO service to Toronto? Or those who have to wait for the next 2 or 3 buses that pass them?

[durandy]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

I want good train service to Toronto badly, in fact I'd personally use it as much as light rail. The bus can be fast, but you never know when it will be stuck in traffic or packed to standing room only. If you want to take a bike, it's getting more and more frequent that the bike rack is full. These problems are only going to get worse as traffic congestion increases and there is higher demand for the service.

However none of those facts make a dent in the argument for LRT which would bring more value to the city in terms of transit quality, image and private investment. We need both services. Nowhere else in the world does a city this size and as close to its country's largest, have to choose between decent regional transit and decent local transit.

I'll even argue against your devil's advocate. Bus stuck in traffic? This almost never happens for long periods, due to communication between drivers. I've been stuck on disabled trains or trains pulled over successively for freight or signal problems far more often than I've been delayed unreasonably in buses. Standing room only? This is the norm for the commuter train returning from Union. Happens rarely in buses, almost never if you catch it from Hunter. Bike rack? Bikes aren't even allowed on the 'express' trains.

[markbarbera]

The biggest plus to the Liberals' all day GO train service promise is the fact that it will be all day, both ways. Meaning GO trains can finally be used to commute from Oakville, Burlington, Grimsby and St. Catharines into downtown Hamilton for work. People often interpret all day commuter train service as just another step towards Hamilton becoming a bedroom community, but the fact that it will be coming into the city instead of just leading commuters out will go a big way to help sell the downtown core to potential office tenants. This has the potential to be a significant EcDev driver.

With regards to the bus vs train debate, I have been a rush hour commuter for nearly a decade now and will choose the Lakeshore train over the bus because my years of experience has proven the train to be more reliable than the bus during the rush hour, particularly in the past year or so. Trains being stuck behind freight is more or less a thing of the past now that the third rail is being completed along the Lakeshore line.

Now, if it is non-peak, then I'll hop on a bus as the express bus can get into Hamilton in 45 minutes. But when it comes to reliability during rush hour, forget it.

[durandy]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Jason Farr's LRT motion.....

http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...sit__Farr_.pdf

Farr put this motion off until October at Monday's GIC meeting. He wants to wait for the staff report on LRT to come out. Whitehead questioned why the motion was taken off, but then meekly accepted Farr's rationale that the timing was better to have the staff report in hand.

Which is strange, since the whole point of the motion seemed to be to counter the perception that LRT was being downgraded. If they wait until the report is out in October - a report which surely will be much diminished with Stephen's departure - it may be an afterthought. What's the point of 'reaffirming' support for LRT if not to make a symbolic statement. And you make that statement where the statement has the greatest impact, ie during the election when the project hangs in the balance. It seems to me that Farr has just scored a nice win with his ward constituents, while totally backing down before the mayor and city manager.

[SteelTown]

McGuinty’s email landed the same day city council demanded by a 13 to 3 vote that the Liberals come clean on whether they intend to honour their 2007 commitment to fully fund two LRT lines for Hamilton.

Bratina voted against the motion, which was presented by Councillors Brad Clark and Lloyd Ferguson.

Both councillors were taken aback by the premier’s signal that Bratina seems to have gone rogue, turning a personal priority into Hamilton’s.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...be-going-rogue