Light Rail Streaming from Hamilton City Hall

design the b-line

Open Houses to review the draft design of the B-Line & Land Use Studies for both A & B-Lines

The City of Hamilton invites you to a series of Public Information Sessions.  This is your opportunity to:

• Give your view on the ongoing development of a Rapid Transit network for Hamilton
• Review details of the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) scheme for the B-Line corridor between McMaster and Eastgate
• Discuss and contribute to land use planning issues and opportunities along both the A-Line (Waterfront to Airport) and B-Line (McMaster to Eastgate) corridors

Staff will be available to explain proposals, answer your questions and understand your points of view.  In addition, members from the Rapid Transit Citizen Advisory Committee (RTCAC) will be in attendance to listen to your views.

January 19, 2011 - Downtown - Scottish Rite (4 Queen St S), 6-8pm

January 20, 2011 - West end - Westdale Secondary School (700 Main St W), 6-8pm

January 25, 2011 - East end - Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School (1715 Main St E), 6-8pm

January 27, 2011 – Mountain – Courtyard Marriott (1224 UpperJames St), 6-8pm

For further information about the Rapid Transit initiative, please visit http://www.hamilton.ca/rapid-transit.

King and Main from Eastgate to Mac up for discussion

The B-Line Land Use Visioning Workshop is quickly approaching - let us know if you are coming next Tuesday evening!

Details below….

B-Line Corridor - Public Visioning Workshop - All are Welcome!
Help shape the future of the B-Line Corridor along Queenston, King and Main Streets from Eastgate to McMaster.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - Open House 6pm - 7pm, Presentation and Workshop 7pm - 9pm

Hamilton Convention Centre, Albion Rooms, 1 Summers Lane in Downtown Hamilton

Throughout the fall, the City has been hosting a series of focus group meetings to help establish a land use vision for the B-Line Corridor. We have been hearing about how neighbourhoods along the corridor envision the land use and future development. Come out to hear what neighbourhoods are saying about the corridor and participate by adding YOUR vision for the B-Line Corridor.

Let us know if you are planning to attend the event - please RSVP by January 10, 2011.

E-mail: nodesandcorridors@hamilton.ca

Phone: Christine Newbold (905) 546-2424 ext 1279 or Ken Coit (905) 546-2424 ext 1220

www.hamilton.ca/nodesandcorridors

next stop: transit

What: Rapid Transit Open House 

Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010

Time: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. - drop in event, no formal presentations will be made

Location: Hamilton City Hall, Main Lobby

 

You are invited to attend the Rapid Transit Open House to review the current status and background of the project, meet the Rapid Transit Citizen's Advisory Committee, discuss land use planning opportunities and issues along the B-line corridor and learn about next steps.

 

Add your voice, make sure your concerns are being heard.

 

For more information, visit http://www.hamilton.ca/ProjectsInitiatives/RapidTransit/.

act rapidly!

McMaster and the City of Hamilton are seeking input from faculty, staff and students as work continues on a city rapid transit plan.
A campus-wide survey is being launched this week to learn more about the McMaster community’s transit usage and preferences. The consultation is part of the work underway to bring a rapid transit system to Hamilton, which would include a terminal on campus.
City representatives will be in the McMaster University Student Centre on December 1 and 2 to distribute and collect surveys. You can also complete survey online by visiting www.hamilton.ca/rapid-transit
McMaster is committed to working with the City to locate a rapid transit terminal on campus in an appropriate spot that provides convenient access to transit for the McMaster community and respects the campus plan. A key goal of the City is to effectively and efficiently serve the campus community and the survey will help create a better understanding of the needs of students, staff and faculty.
The City’s priority is a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system which includes a McMaster to Eastgate Square line. The City is working with Metrolinx, the provincial body responsible for expanding transit in southern Ontario. A decision is expected in the new year.

quick survey on rapid transit in Hamilton

Rapid Transit Survey

As Hamilton moves forward with plans to implement rapid transit in Hamilton, we want your thoughts on how you think the rapid transit initiative will best serve Hamilton. Help us by completing a short survey to provide your feedback and identify your preferred rapid transit alignment along the Main King corridor through downtown.

Access the survey online at www.hamilton.ca/rapid-transit or pick up a hard copy at some City of Hamilton offices, local libraries or municipal service centres. Comments are welcome at any time, but responses received by July 31, 2009 will be included in the September 2009 staff report to Council.

take time for transit survey

Public Service Announcement

Help shape the future of Rapid Transit in Hamilton!

HAMILTON, ON – July 7, 2008 – Hamilton's Public Works Department is seeking your thoughts on the rapid transit initiative to shape a more sustainable future for Hamilton. Help us by completing a short survey to share your opinions about rapid transit plans for Hamilton.

Access the survey online at www.hamilton.ca/rapid-transit or at City of Hamilton offices, local libraries, municipal service centres and at the HSR ticket office at the Hamilton GO station. Feedback received by July 21^st will be presented in a report to Council in September 2008. Public Works is committed to providing ongoing opportunities for public consultation throughout the planning process.

To review background information, reports, studies and a map of the proposed rapid transit routes, please visit www.hamilton.ca/rapid-transit

BRT or LRT? that is the question...

May 1, 2008: BRT or LRT? Comparing Alternatives, with Lessons from Waterloo Region

Public meeting and panel discussion.

Date: May 1, 2008
Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: The FRWY Cafe
Address: 333 King St. E. (at Wellington St. N.) Hamilton ON L8N 1C1
Admission: free

Presenters

* Jillian Stephen, Manager, Strategic Planning, Public Works Department, City of Hamilton
* Becky Schlenvogt, Principal Planner, Transportation Planning, Region of Waterloo
* Bob Bratina, Ward 2 Councillor (MC)

Hamilton has a critical decision to make: when we build our new higher order transit systems, will we choose bus rapid transit (BRT) or light rail transit (LRT)? What's the difference? Which choice is better?

Jillian Stephen will present an overview of the rapid transit initiative and explain how to contribute to the public consultations. Then Hamilton Light Rail will show a presentation on LRT.

Keynote speaker Becky Schlenvogt will briefly discuss Waterloo Region's evaluation criteria and explain the differences between BRT and LRT.

A panel discussion will follow, during which the presenters will take questions from the audience.

There may never be a better opportunity for Hamilton to build a modern transportation system and enjoy the benefits of increased ridership, new investment, and improved quality of life.

Please come out to this important meeting.

Co-sponsored by Hamilton Light Rail (http://hamiltonlightrail.com) and Transit Users Group (http://hamiltontug.com).

For media inquiries, please contact Nicholas Kevlahan at email: kevlahan@gmail.com.

transit wheels turning

In the words of Willie P. Bennett (R.I.P.)

Come on train
Can't you see I'm freezing here
Come on train

CATCH News – February 29, 2008

Transit revolution coming from province

Transportation decisions appear to be shifting away from city council to the province. And that will mean more transit, cycling and walking opportunities according to the head of the new transportation authority overseeing the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA).

Former mayor of Burlington Rob MacIsaac told this week’s air and climate change conference in Hamilton that major change is required and underway in moving people and goods. MacIsaac now heads Metrolinx, the renamed Greater Toronto Transportation Authority that recently directed $5.5 million to the HSR for more rapid transit in Hamilton.

“We are among the top five most congested city regions on the continent, and it’s getting worse every day,” MacIsaac warned attendees at the city’s Upwind Downwind Conference. “We are on a trajectory that will see us with Los Angeles style congestion in a relatively short period of time, and the worst in North America.”

The current congestion is already costing the GTHA economy an estimated $2 billion a year, as well as imposing unacceptable air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and stress, he said, suggesting that “land use planning got off the rails” by segregating residences from workplaces to protect people from the pollution of heavy industry.

“The suburbanization by cities has meant that walking and cycling and public transit are a lot less viable as forms of transportation because trips have become longer and they have become more complicated,” MacIsaac argued. “So ironically, what started off as dramatically improving public health, is now having precisely the opposite effect as rates of obesity and diabetes has trended dramatically upward.”

With a 50 percent population increase expected over the next quarter century, and a possible half million more cars accompanying this growth, the province has concluded that transportation planning can’t be left to cities or regional governments.

“We are now one big regional economy from Durham in the east to Hamilton in the west and York in the north,” notes MacIsaac. “Transportation investments being made in the United States are far and away superior to ours.”

He also pointed to Europe which is “light years ahead”, and specifically Madrid which has built more subways in the last decade than Toronto’s entire system. He went on to outline a future transportation system in the Toronto and Hamilton area tied to provincial land use rules, and directed by Metrolinx and including formal Metrolinx jurisdiction over GO Transit.

“When I travel to the Aldershot GO Station in the morning, I should be able to ride my bike there in protected lanes,” he envisioned. “I should have preferred and secure parking for my bike. I should be able to drop off my dry cleaning. A day care might make a lot of sense at a GO station.”

The Metrolinx board has been in place for less than a year and includes Mayor Eisenberger as Hamilton’s representative. It is currently seeking public comments on discussion papers – MacIsaac described seven of them to the conference attendees – which will be followed by “white papers” and then a set of major recommendations to the McGuinty government in June.

Their plans are moving away from road construction and towards more transit and other forms of “active transportation”. MacIsaac predicted the moves will be “difficult and controversial” and asked his audience to lobby councillors and other elected officials to support the changes.

“We need to develop a new transportation system using the principles of sustainability and mobility for those that will follow us,” he declared. “I need you to tell your councillor, your mayor and your MPP, and your MP how important that you think it is. I’m convinced that are few endeavours that we can undertake more worthwhile than changing the paradigm in transportation for our cities.”

CATCH (Citizens at City Hall) updates use transcripts and/or public documents to highlight information about Hamilton civic affairs that is not generally available in the mass media. Detailed reports of City Hall meetings can be reviewed at www.hamiltoncatch.org. You can receive all CATCH free updates by sending an email to info@HamiltonCATCH.org.

moving movie

A link to a short film about Bus Rapid Transit in Bogota Colombia that has generated much discussion on the www.streetsblog.org web site about the debate between Light Rail and BRT (with a NYC focus).

Gil Penalosa, who is featured in the film, is speaking in Hamilton on Monday, February 25, 7 pm at the Convention Centre downtown. It's free, too.

Check the movie out and consider the arguments and ideas put forward in the discussion, and how they may relate to Hamilton. Bus Rapid Transit is on the agenda in the city, and a grassroots group has formed to push for LRT.

Be sure to check out Penalosa on the 25th, and certainly get involved with TLC/Hamilton Transit Users Group/Hamilton Light Rail (links on the sidebar) to create a better and more sustainable transportation system in Hamilton.