Why Hamilton's transit system isn't working for riders or drivers

The city is being unfair not only to its bus riders but also its drivers if it doesn’t improve its transit system, and fast.

That was the stark message from David Dixon, the city’s new director of HSR, as he presented a 10-year transit plan for Hamilton on Friday.

The city needs to spend $302 million over 10 years to fix and grow the system, Dixon said. Asking riders and drivers to keep dealing with the current HSR system is “untenable.”

They cannot deliver the service they are being asked to deliver.- David Dixon, Hamilton's new HSR director

“They cannot deliver the service they are being asked to deliver,” Dixon said. “They don’t have sufficient run times. The loads are beyond what they’re capable of carrying.”

Dixon presented the plan to councillors at a general issues committee budget meeting on Friday.

It recommends a fare increase from $2 to $2.25 for bus tickets in September, followed by a 10-cent increase for the next three years. Cash fares — which cost slightly more — would increase from $2.55 to $3 in September.

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That increase would largely pay for $6 million in improvements to the system over the next two years. In 2015, the city needs the full time equivalent of 50 new employees and 25 new buses to deal with overcrowding, Dixon said.

In the next decade, he said, the city needs to spend about $302 million, $200 million of which is for a new maintenance storage facility. If the city gets 25 new buses, Dixon said, it will already have to park them outside.

There is an immediate need for transit upgrades, he said. Currently, riders wait for buses that come late because the run times are unrealistic. When a bus does come, sometimes it’s full and passes by.

Clashes are 'human nature'

“It’s human nature,” he said. “You get more and more angry with the situation and that tends to be taken out on operators who have very little control over the very elements people are complaining about.”

Guess what, folks? We’re there.- Mayor Fred Eisenberger on LRT funding

City staff will bring back a report in three weeks, and council will vote on whether to make the improvements then. The improvements would be part of the overall budget, which council passes in April.

Transit has been a hot-button issue in recent months. In January, city council voted 9-7 to remove its only transit lane, which ran a two-kilometre stretch of King Street. LRT was a divisive issue in the October municipal election, with Mayor Fred Eisenberger pledging a citizens panel on the issue. Last week, Eisenberger met with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, telling reporters after that her government has pledged full funding for the system, estimated at $1 billion in 2014.

Eisenberger is worried that this new transit plan muddies the waters for LRT. The province has already committed full capital funding to build LRT, he said. 

Hamilton has been waiting for it, and “guess what, folks?” he said. “We’re there.”

LRT ask and the transit plan 'a happy marriage'

The city expects to learn in the next two or three months if LRT in Hamilton is part of the next phase of a Metrolinx project funded out of a $15-billion provincial transit commitment for the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area. A Hamilton LRT line would cost $1 billion according to Metrolinx estimates.

Approving this plan won’t get in the way of that, Dixon said. “It’s a happy marriage.”

The goal is to boost ridership, he said, and Hamilton is lagging behind in its targets. A rapid transit system would jump start that.

Coun. Sam Merulla of Ward 4 was also due to introduce a motion on Friday to have transit applied to the general levy rather than through area rating, a system where wards only pay for services they receive. It’s a controversial notion for Wards 9 through 15 in Hamilton, which would end up covering $7 million more for transit.

But Merulla had to leave for other commitments, and the motion will be presented at an upcoming meeting.