Will the Pan Am Games turn more Hamiltonians into transit lovers?

It will bring more visitors to Hamilton. It will draw the eyes of sports fans across North America. But local organizers are hoping the 2015 Pan Am Games have an added benefit — turning more people on to transit.

Organizers are banking on one in five Hamiltonians taking transit during the Pan Am Games, whether they're attending the soccer games at Tim Horton's Field or not. That would mean 20 per cent of residents taking HSR, or walking, or pedalling down local bike lanes. And each ticket holder for the event, which runs from July 10 to 27, gets a free bus ticket.

The city is optimistic this habit will stick, said Al Kirkpatrick, the city's manager of transportation planning.

People might not have tried to take public transit, but because they have the ticket that gets them on there, they'll find that it's good and it's easy.- Coralee Secore, the city's director of Pan Am initiatives

"We're hoping that they'll say 'My ticket gets me on HSR for free. I'll try that,'" he said. And "hopefully that's part of our legacy, that more people will use active transportation rather than their car."

The concept of providing a free bus ticket with every game ticket isn't a new one for Hamilton. It already happens with Hamilton Tiger-Cats games. That program is "well used," said Coralee Secore, the city's director of Pan Am initiatives.

There are no firm numbers on how many people use the tickets for Ticats games, or how many transit converts that brings, she said. But the city will try to collect some of that data during Pan Am.

"I think it could work," she said of Pan Am bringing transit converts.

"People might not have tried to take public transit, but because they have the ticket that gets them on there, they'll find that it's good and it's easy."

Traffic and security were the main topics at a sparsely attended meeting on Wednesday. TO2015 is holding meetings in all of the host communities, from Milton to Welland.

Hamilton's latest was at city hall, and Ministry of Transportation, city and TO2015 officials were on hand to answer questions. But only about a dozen residents attended.

Previous meetings have been better attended, Kirkpatrick said. So he's not concerned about the attendance at the one on Wednesday. Organizers plan more meetings in the coming weeks to encourage people to take transit, he said.

Sheri Selway was one of the handful of residents there on Wednesday. She rode her bicycle from her north-end home. She wishes more people would care about the city's transit system.

"I would hope that too," she said of the Pan Am Games turning people on to transit. 

Transit has been a big issue in Hamilton in the recent months. In February, HSR head David Dixon even warned council that the current system is "untenable" if the city doesn't invest money. Hamilton also lags behind other cities when it comes to boosting ridership.