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| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
|---|
| Allen, Jason |
Yes |
I support improving public transit in Hamilton by council honouring its commitments in the 10 year transit plan, especially around city funding for transit that was denied in year three of the plan. HSR also needs to take advantage of the Public Transit Envelope of the Federal Infrastructure Fund, in order to upgrade and replace much of its fleet while those dollars are available. inally, HSR needs to extend transit out to the exurbs and rural Hamilton, but not by running empty 40 foot buses along those routes, but by developing a mirco-transit solution such as they have in Airdrie, AB, or York Region. |
| Anderson, Sharon |
Yes |
Yes. Increased, shorter loops in high demand zones such as the area around McMaster University. Better timing of bus routes which act as connections to each other so that users do not have to wait because they just missed their connecting bus. Completing the BLAST network. I'd like to have a study completed on the feasibility of using aerial ropeway transit (ART) for the mountain accesses and for the connection to Dundas. |
| Cole, Sharon |
Yes |
My family has a long and rich history here in Hamilton, serving its industrial base and supporting unionized workers. I've been that worker. And I've been that supervisor, manager and business owner. I've worked in 'for profit' and 'not-for-profit' companies. I support publicly funded transit, though I also understand the commitments made to date and fiscal challenges at this stage of moving away from a public-private partnership solution toward solely public options. Therefore, I will strongly advocate for the compromises which have been reinforced to date between City Council and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) with respect to operating LRT, with the cornerstone being that workers be represented by ATU. Further, ATU through its workstation safety initiative is aiming to improve the overall health, safety and security of riders, pedestrians, drivers and workers and I support their efforts. |
| Eroglu, Ela |
Yes |
I support the council-approved, 10-year transit strategy that expands our bus service throughout the city and builds LRT. Our transit services were long ignored, and it is time now to re-invest the necessary capital and act. Investing in LRT is important going forward to provide fast, accessible, affordable, practical, and comfortable transportation to our residents and for the future of our City.
Working on addressing the issues that HSR has will be one of my priorities so that it can continue its tradition of offering affordable and reliable public transit to our residents. Additional money for HSR is necessary to improve and upgrade the services and attract more riders. |
| Geffros, Sophie |
Yes |
Yes. As a daily transit user, I am very familiar with the flaws in our transit system ranging from unreliability to poor service, particularly outside the lower city. Council has consistently starved the HSR to the point that it is unable to perform many of its vital services, which has led to declining ridership, which council has then used to justify their lack of investment. This past year we lost thousands of hours of service and in just October, the HSR cancelled 589 buses on 28 routes. When people feel as if they cannot depend on transit they avoid using it. We know that properly investing in our transit system will increase ridership, improve working conditions for operators, and decrease missed service and delays. In addition to the investment laid out in the 10-year transit plan, I will also advocate for an increase in the operating budget of HSR and ongoing capital investment. Further, while it is true that sometimes routes must be delayed or cancelled, school extras must run as scheduled so children get to school on time. Children cannot be casualties of the transit crisis in our city. Additionally, for many residents in Ward One, especially those of us in Ainslie Wood, the 51 University Route provides necessary access to the downtown core and the associated social, medical, and legal resources. Cancelling the 51 between May and September puts undue strain and overcrowds the 5A / 5C routes. The 51 University Route must run year-round. Finally, the City of Hamilton must consult with residents about bus stop location and safety, with an eye to increasing the number of bus shelters available. |
| Massie, Richard |
Yes |
YES! Transit is a vital public utility. Transit is not government aid for poor people without cars - Hamilton's economy relies on our transportation network. HSR must strive to increase frequency, better convenience of connections and reliability of the network - encouraging more ridership per capita and less subsidizing with our tax dollars. |
| Miklos, Lyla |
Yes |
Implementation of the LRT. More buses with more frequency to some of the more outlying areas of our city. More connections to "sister" transit systems such as GO, Burlington Transit and more. Following through on the City of Hamilton's 10 year transit plan. |
| Narducci, Linda |
Yes |
Public transit is designed in theory to help reduce road traffic. With driving on our main streets clearly, this isnt working. We need an improved public transit, create a quality service and people will leave their cars at home. More buses are needed on routes. Public transit is a service; I can appreciate the long shifts, sitting for hours on end. The HSR has an obligation to review it’s workplace culture. These workers deserve a dignified washroom and washroom breaks, they deserve to be treated fairly by all patrons, they need schedules that are supportive and conducive to being able to be engaged in outside interests or family life. |
| White, Harrison |
Yes |
Public transit is extremely important to me. As someone who did not drive at all until recently, it has been my main method of transportation since I was 12 years old. I understand how vital it is to many people’s day-to-day lives. The current transit system in Hamilton is ineffective, inefficient and underfunded in my opinion. I believe that we should implement a multitude of reforms to the public transit system, such as staggered bus routes for example. I would also like to see the implementation of a transit hub in McMaster University, or at least in that end of town, to better facilitate transit to different areas of the city. I would also like to delay the retiring of any buses, barring safety or environmental concerns, until the LRT has been completed. I would also be interested in implementing different levels of frequency for bus certain bus routes during the major student months (September-april). I am ready to start to A.C.T. on the issue of public transit in Hamilton. |
| Wilson, Maureen |
Yes |
Yes. We need to accelerate our commitment to building out the BLAST network as we build ridership in preparation for LRT. Accordingly, we must realign our budget to support our city wide objectives. (see my answer to questions 1 and 2 for more on this alignment principle). |
