Better shelters, forget the car addicts, and other takeaways from a McMaster HSR survey

If the city wants people to get out of their cars and onto an HSR bus, it's going to have to protect them from the weather.

That was one of the takeaways from a 2019 survey of 5,781 residents, which included some who use HSR all the time, some who are considering it and 17 per cent who had never used it. City councillors will consider the findings Friday as they discuss how much money to spend on HSR in 2020.

The survey is part of the city's effort to boost ridership numbers. A group of McMaster University civil engineers and students, led by Prof. Moataz Mohamed, did the survey in September 2018 and April 2019.

The team surveyed people across all wards. About 40 per cent were daily users, 19.3 per cent weekly, 11.4 per cent monthly and 12.05 per cent ride once a year. 

Respondents ranged from 15 years old to over 80, with the greatest bulk being between 20 and 40. Many of them, specifically 2,666, had full-time jobs, while 285 were unemployed. More than 20 per cent had university certificates above a bachelor degree level, and 135 had no certificates or diplomas. Single-detached homeowners accounted for 2,354 of them, and 1,198 didn't own a vehicle. 

Here are some highlights:

People like how close the stops are, but not standing in the weather

About 56 per cent of respondents were happy with HSR, while 26 per cent were neutral and 17 per cent unsatisfied. 

The most frequent beefs were putting up with inclement weather at bus stops, how crowded the buses are, uncomfortable stops and shelters, and infrequent service on weekends, holidays and off-peak hours. People were most commonly satisfied with the walking distance from their home to a bus stop, the walking distance from a bus stop to work, the area covered by HSR, the number of transfers required and how professional and helpful staff are. 

Lower-city routes are more enjoyable

Transit users who took the survey reported the greatest level of dissatisfaction with the 44 Rymal, 41 Mohawk, 20 A-line express, 27 Upper James and 43 Stone Church routes. The routes with the highest amount of satisfaction were 12 Wentworth, 8 York, 18 Waterdown, 6 Aberdeen and 7 Locke.

Infrequent riders don't like to walk

People who don't ride HSR very often are willing to pay $2.32 if it means they can reduce their walking time by five minutes. Daily HSR customers would only pay 96 cents to reduce their walking time by that much. Infrequent customers are also more sensitive to how long it takes to get somewhere, and were willing to pay more for the trip to go faster. 

Daily riders don't want the bus to come early

Daily riders, it seems, know the pain of making it to the bus stop just in time and having the bus already gone. The results show daily riders would pay $1.09 if it meant the bus wouldn't arrive two minutes early, while infrequent and regular customers would only pay about 85 cents to avoid that. 

On the flipside, regular customers say they'd pay $2.17 to avoid a scenario where the bus comes five minutes late, whereas infrequent or daily customers would pay $1.94 and $1.87 to avoid the same scenario. 

Daily riders want to know when their bus will arrive

Daily riders were willing to pay 86 cents more to get real-time info at their bus stops, while that didn't matter as much to infrequent and regular customers. Those customers were willing to pay for on-board real-time info though. Infrequent customers said they'd pay $1.74 more, regular customers $1.29 for that information, and daily customers $1.03.

Daily riders also put more importance than potential riders on features such as wi-fi, USB chargers, security cameras, comfortable shelters and more accessible bus stops. Potential riders put more importance on HSR connecting to the GO service. 

Forget the car addicts

A predominant "car reliant attitude" emerged from some of the survey results, the report says, although most of those drivers would consider transit if the service was improved. There were hardcore car lovers though — about nine per cent of respondents — who wouldn't take transit even if it was reliable, fast and free.

There's no point trying to target those people when it comes to service quality improvements, the report says. "There are some user groups that have no intention to use transit under any circumstances."

'Transit is for those less fortunate than me'

Ten per cent of respondents said that statement is either moderately or very accurate. Of those, 3.4 per cent fell into the "very accurate" category. 

Overall, though, respondents had a good view of transit. Most reported agreeing with statements such as "I think using transit is a good decision."