Q: How many trains?
A: I haven't seen definitive fleet numbers but it will be enough vehicles to provide 5-6 minute headways.
Q: Where do you store the extra units Where do you service the units How much will servicing cost?
A: Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) will be stored and serviced in a maintenance facility build in the vicinity of Longwood Road and Frid Street. The maintenance facility will connect to the main LRT line via a spur line running along Longwood Road to Main Street. Incidentally, this means the LRT construction will include the cost to replace the Hwy 403 overpass on Longwood Road, which is 60 years old and due for replacement.
Q: What budget will be used to pay to service them?
A: The LRVs will be serviced and maintained as part of the Metrolinx contract with the LRT operator.
Q: What are the operational costs?
A: Operation and maintenance will be performed by the operator and paid a set amount by Metrolinx. Metrolinx and the city will have a separate agreement on cost- and revenue-sharing. The operational costs will be finalized once a bid is selected in the RFP currently underway.
Based on other similar systems, the total operating cost will be roughly similar to what the city spends on bus service for the corridor today, but with much higher ridership and operating revenue.
Q: What will the fee be to ride to use the LRT?
A: Fares will be the same as local bus service and will be integrated with HSR, so a transfer from either system will work on the other.
Q: If there is a shortfall who pays?
A: Any cost overruns are the responsibility of the proponent via the contract with Metrolinx. The city has no financial exposure if the company goes over budget.
Q: Who pays the business interruption costs of all affected businesses in the build out?
A: Road reconstruction always brings challenges. This would be true whether the road was being reconstructed for LRT or just reconstructed to replace the aging infrastructure.
The City, Metrolinx and the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce are partnering on a program to support and assist businesses during the construction phase. The Chamber is hosting a series of workshops for businesses to hellp them prepare for the construction, and the program will also include a "Shop the Corridor" marketing and outreach campaign to encourage people to support businesses during construction.
As Keanin Loomis, Chamber of Commerce president, recently explained, "We have learned the best practices in terms of how you mitigate the impact to the businesses. And what we have also learned is that the impacts are temporary and they are manageable."
Q: Do other cities have a geographic obstacle to overcome?
A: Every city has its own unique geographic and built context, and Hamilton is no different. The east-west LRT does not face any significant geographic barriers.
The second phase will be the north-south A-Line, and there are a few options for how to get up and down the escarpment. One is to use the Claremont Access, which has a grade that LRT vehicles can handle. Another option is to tunnel into the escarpment under James Mountain Road and have the LRT come out near Mohawk College.
Another option (one that tickles me) is to have a lower-city LRT, and upper-city LRT, and an aerial tram or funicular to connect the two. I believe the tourism draw would be impressive, given the views it would afford of the city and the harbour.
Q: How long to facilitate the north south build out?
A: The B-Line will start construction in 2019 and finish in 2023 or 2024. If the City is aggessive about building up service and ridership along the A-Line, we could start construction a few years after that.
It really depends on our political will. In Ottawa and Waterloo, they started planning their phase two LRT extensions while phase one was still under construction.
Q: What will happen to traffic congestion in the 10 years to build?
A: The total LRT construction time will be 4-5 years, not ten years. IN order to reduce disruption to businesses, the construction will be phased so that each segment of the line will only be inconvenienced for a relatively short time.
Q: How will the HSR be affected?
A: During construction, local bus service will continue with detours as necessary to adjacent streets (it may be necessary to put a westbound counterflow transit lane on Main Street). Once LRT is running, the local bus service will be significantly reduced and those buses will be freed up to provide more service on other city routes.
Q: Why cannot the HSR be used to accommodate the existing need?
A: The corridor's capacity to carry more buses is pretty constrained. It is already the busiest transit route in the city, with around 11 million trips a year (it represents over 40% of total HSR ridership) and passengers already have to contend with frequent pass-bys of buses that are too full to pick up any more people.
The only way to increase service is to run transit on dedicated lanes, and LRT has a much higher carrying capacity than bus rapid transit, which requires two to three times as many vehicles and drivers to carry the same number of passengers as LRT.
Q: How safe will it be to cross from the curb to the middle if the street?
A: Every significant intersection will have signalized pedestrian crossings, just like today. And with King Street as a calm, pedestrian-friendly two-way street with dedicated transit lanes, it will be much safer than it is today as a 4-5 lane one-way traffic sewer.
Q: How will seniors be able to get on and off?
A: LRT is completely roll-on, roll-off accessible right off the curb from every entrance. (Buses need to hydraulically 'kneel' for wheelchair access, which is time-consuming and draws unwanted attention, and there are only a few spots on the bus where a person in a wheelchair can fit.)
Q: Will bikes be allowed to be loaded on like buses?
A: In all likelihood - most LRT systems allow bikes. Some LRT systems have bike holders on the front like HSR buses, and others allow people to bring bikes right onto the vehicles (some have restrictions during rush hour).
Q: Why did we drop trolley buses?
A: Council made a decision some time in the 1980s to defer maintenance on its fleet of trolley buses. As a result, they gradually became more and more expensive to keep on the road until Council eventually decided to retire them in 1992.
Q: What will use more energy trains existing buses or a electric bus or trolley bus?
A: It's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. LRT vehicles are powered by electricity directly from the grid, electric buses are powered by electricity stored in batteries, and conventional buses are powered by liquid fuel (gasoline, diesel or compressed natural gas) stored in tanks.
The biggest component of the operating cost is the cost of the driver, and LRT comes out ahead on busy routes because a single driver can carry two to four times as many passengers as a bus driver.