The HSR wants to forge ahead on a 10-year transit strategy that would add more frequent bus service on the Mountain alongside a five-cent fare hike this year.

But council will have to vote on a 9.6-per cent transit budget bump this spring without answers to huge questions looming over the long-term future of Hamilton's bus service:

• What does the cancellation of LRT mean for the city's busiest bus corridor?

•Which taxpayers will pay for a needed expansion of transit into the suburbs?

Transit head Debbie Dalle Vedove gave City Council an update Friday on plans for bus service improvements this year — as well the results of a "(Re)envision" citizen survey meant to guide a future HSR overhaul.

That survey of 5,781 residents emphasized "frequent, reliable service" as the No. 1 improvement to prompt Hamiltonians to "make transit their first choice," said Dalle Vedove.

Dalle Vedove showed councillors a time lapse map that vividly showed much of the Mountain and all of Hamilton's amalgamated suburbs lack the kind of frequent service available along the lower city's main east-west transit corridors. The growing community of Waterdown, meanwhile, is not linked to Hamilton's downtown at all.

But if council approves paying for 'year five' of its decade-long transit strategy, another 13 buses and 46,000 extra hours of service would be added this fall.

Much of those resources would focus on extending hours and improving frequency on the Mountain-climbing A-line, Rymal and Stone Church routes. The $4.3-million cost of the improvements is expected to be offset by a planned five-cent fare hike for adults.

The service frequency map "makes it so clear" what transit improvements are needed in the city, said Mountain Coun. John-Paul Danko.

"But I don't see how we achieve that without rapid transit and without the elimination of area rating of transit as well," he said, pointing to the twin uncertainties facing city leaders.

Right now, different parts of the city pay different rates of tax based on former town borders and level of bus service.

A city subcommittee will start in February studying whether to end "area rated" transit taxes — but many suburban councillors bristle at the idea of forcing their residents to pay more for buses they rarely see.

FREQUENCY MAP CREDIT: Nikel Connor, Eldeeb Gamal and Mohamed Moataz (2019). Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) Stop Utilization Index - Weekday Operation, McMaster University.

Ontario's Progressive Conservative government also threw the city's long-term transit plans into disarray in December by abruptly cancelling a light rail transit project for the B-line in December.

A provincial task force is supposed to look at alternative transportation projects — but that process could take months.

Stoney Creek Coun. Brad Clark noted Hamilton had planned to debate a potential route overhaul this summer based on its HSR (Re)envision study in concert with McMaster University. "How does that (uncertainty) influence what we're doing?" he asked.

City manager Janette Smith, who is on the task force, said she will seek "clarity" on timelines when the group meets for the first time next Tuesday.

Proposed HSR changes this fall: • Adult fare hike of five cents to $3.30;

• Route 44 Rymal: improve peak service to every 15 minutes instead of 20; extend evening service to 10 p.m. from 7:30 p.m.

• Route 43 Stone Church: improve evening frequency to every 30 minutes until 10 p.m.;

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• 'A' Line (Bayfront to airport): improve peak service from every 20 minutes to every 15, midday service to every 30 minutes and evening service until 10 p.m.

• Improve Upper Stoney Creek bus connectivity by linking four routes — 21 Upper Kenilworth, 43 Stone Church and 11 Parkdale — at Heritage Green.

Proposed HSR changes this fall:

Adult fare hike of five cents to $3.30;

•Route 44 Rymal: improve peak service to every 15 minutes instead of 20; extend evening service to 10 p.m. from 7:30 p.m.

• Route 43 Stone Church: improve evening frequency to every 30 minutes until 10 p.m.;

•'A' Line (Bayfront to airport): improve peak service from every 20 minutes to every 15, midday service to every 30 minutes and evening service until 10 p.m.

• Improve Upper Stoney Creek bus connectivity by linking four routes — 21 Upper Kenilworth, 43 Stone Church and 11 Parkdale — at Heritage Green.



- Electric buses for Hamilton? Likely, at some point