The City's LRT plan has $3.4 billion in federal & provincial funding. Show your support for the plan.

Metrolinx Benefits Case Analysis Update

Update from City of Hamilton Rapid Transit Office on timing regarding the Metrolinx Business Case Analysis (BCA) on rapid transit in Hamilton.

By City of Hamilton Rapid Transit Office

Metrolinx is concurrently undertaking nine separate Benefits Case Analysis studies for projects that were identified for early implementation as part of the Regional Transportation Plan. Hamilton's B-Line corridor BCA, Eastgate Square to McMaster University, is one of these nine studies.

Recently, due to a number of different issues, Metrolinx staff have advised Hamilton staff that the aggressive timelines set for completion of the BCA's, for all nine projects, may not be able to be met. This is in part due to the new structure of the Metrolinx Board and the time required to develop the BCA and undertake required modeling.

It is anticipated that the results of all nine BCA's will be delayed to Fall 2009, although no specific date has been set for anticipated Board approval.

The Rapid Transit Team will continue to keep Council and the City of Hamilton public appraised in regards to the status of the BCA and impacts to Hamilton's own proposed timelines/plans for implementation, once more information is available.

Following the presentation of Hamilton's BCA to the Metrolinx Board, staff will bring forward a report to City Council for their consideration. It is anticipated that this comprehensive report will include information on the recommended rapid transit plan for the B-Line corridor (as recommended by Metrolinx staff and endorsed by their Board), associated impacts, potential timing for implementation and funding matters.

Although it was anticipated that this report would be presented for consideration in September 2009, most likely, due to the Metrolinx process, this report will not come forward until Fall 2009.

Public Consultation Update

In addition to the Community Update Meetings that were held in June 2009, the Rapid Transit Team continues to engage the community through various mediums in order to gather public opinion on the potential routing options for rapid transit along the B-Line.

The survey is available online at www.hamilton.ca/rapid-transit or at Hamilton Public Library branches, Municipal Service Centres, Councillors' Offices, Mayor's Office, Clerks Office and HSR ticket office/GO Station, in addition to being made available at the Community Update Meetings and other public events throughout the summer.

Input was requested by July 31, although surveys will continue to be available throughout the summer. Comments are always welcome at rapidtransit@hamilton.ca.

Rapid Transit Team staff will provide the results of the survey to Council at its Public Works Committee Meeting on September 14, 2009.

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Featured Statement

Since returning to live in the Hamilton area many years ago I have followed the debates on the proposed
LRT here. I have attended meetings, read reports and heard many, many arguments, both pro and con. Ultimately, after reviewing the facts, I became a strong supporter of the project and the benefits that experts (Metrolinx, urban planners, and others) suggested could arise from its completion (these positives seem to be occurring in K-W, Ottawa and other places where LRT’s have been built).
Whether related to reducing pollution and congestion, addressing our woeful local infrastructure crisis, allowing improved business opportunities, building a stronger tax base or, simply, providing a better alternative for residents here to traverse our core, I realized it won on all levels.
Thus, it didn’t surprise me that in the last provincial election all of the parties seeking my support seemed to agree on the project’s merits and that it should be built if retaining funding promises and building LRT were what the local electorate wished for. This was clearly stated in the subsequent municipal election.
Then… Just before Christmas, in a gong show announcement, the province (ie. the currently ruling party) abruptly, and without any publicly accessible justification, pulled the plug and sidelined the project based on, what?... spite it seems. We may have a long history of electing Liberal and NDP candidates here in Hamilton but decisions like this confirm why we do!
I am mad that the current government has thrown business decisions, based on electoral promises, into chaos; that the years of hard work studying what the best transit solution for Hamilton is have been arbitrarily dismissed, and; that Hamiltonians will not be able to enjoy the benefits that I (and many, many better versed experts on the topic) believe would have resulted from its construction.
With this decision, the current government has, to my mind, shown itself to be spitefully, not factually, orientated; anti-business; anti-facts, and anti-environment. It also, strangely, given the circumstance, seems willing to squander hundreds of millions of dollars to scratch an itch it didn’t need to notice. That’s wise? I don’t think so.
As such, I hope the current government will return to Hamilton and announce a subsequent decision/reversal on the LRT that it doesn’t need to run from. The future is longer than an electoral cycle and this is no way to govern for the future. Business/environmental/urban planning decisions are not made on four year terms.

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