Where should Hamilton's LRT stops be located? Did Metrolinx get it right?
Residents are giving input on stops, but Metrolinx can't add many more and also meet its budget
Metrolinx says it's still open to changing some of its Hamilton light rail transit (LRT) stops, but it can't add many more and still meet its $1 billion budget.
We have to be realistic. We have a certain budget to live within. You can't add 28 stops.- Andrew Hope, Metrolinx
The city and Metrolinx are in the midst of holding public information sessions, complete with paper versions of the route and coloured stickers where people can indicate where they'd like stops.
Planners are still looking at tweaking some of the stops — particularly moving or adding one to Gage Park, said Andrew Hope, Metrolinx's Hamilton LRT project director. But each new stop costs as much as $5 million, so there are unlikely to be any big additions.
"We have to be realistic," he said. "We have a certain budget to live within. You can't add 28 stops. But if there are particular areas where there's overwhelming support for a stop, we'll take that into consideration."
Hope said the call for a Gage Park stop is particularly loud.
If one is moved there as opposed to being added, it will present a dilemma. Moving a station would come at the expense of either Ottawa Street or one directly serving Tim Hortons Field at Scott Park.
Some also cite the stretch between McMaster University and Longwood stops is too far.
We are building rapid transit here. It's not a local transit system. We do need to find that balance between speed and accessibility.- Andrew Hope, Metrolinx
Planners have already tweaked two downtown-area stops to put one in the International Village. Metrolinx needs to finalize the stops by spring.
The current stops are based on a 2011 environmental assessment, Hope said. So there aren't going to be big changes.
"We are building rapid transit here," he said. "It's not a local transit system. We do need to find that balance between speed and accessibility."
At least two local residents put green stickers at Gage Park on Tuesday, when there were two pubic sessions at city hall.
Central Hamilton resident Mike Mileski said he'd rather see the Scott Park stop scrapped in favour of a Gage Park one. So "I came to ask about the feasibility of that," he said.
Mileski said he's pro-LRT in general.
We are giving this thoroughfare to Metrolinx. They are not giving us a billion dollars. They are buying one end of the street to the other and they will not answer to us.- Ken Watson, resident
"It's going to suck for five years of construction. I totally feel for the business owners downtown," he said. But "the opportunities totally outweigh the costs for me."
Central Hamilton resident Norm Robinson also wants a Gage Park stop. But he wishes the LRT route was on Barton Street instead of Main and King.
An 'un-sharing of the road'
Robinson also wishes there were more major parking lots along the route. In Edmonton, he said, LRT stops act as transit hubs. He doesn't see that with this plan.
Ken Watson, a Mountain resident, doesn't want LRT and showed up to say that. He recalls the 1950s, when Hamilton had a now-defunct rail-based transit line.
"It was an un-sharing of the road," he said. The current plan "takes up its half out of the middle and you can have what's left over."
He also said by the time LRT is implemented in 2024, it'll be an old, less desirable technology. "There are so many more options coming on stream that would move traffic and pedestrians in a friendlier manner."
With LRT, "we are giving this thoroughfare to Metrolinx. They are not giving us a billion dollars. They are buying one end of the street to the other and they will not answer to us."
Future meetings
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 14
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: LIUNA Station, Continental Express Ballroom, 360 James St. N.
Date: Thursday, Sept. 15
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: Dr. John Perkins Centre, room A and atrium, 1429 Main St. E.
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 20
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: Battlefield House Museum, Jackson House Cellar, 77 King St. W., Stoney Creek
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 21
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: Sackville Hill Senior's Recreation Centre, Fireside Lounge, 780 Upper Wentworth St.
Date: Thursday, Sept. 22
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: Dundas Town Hall, second floor auditorium, 60 Main St., Dundas