The Hamilton Street railway, which recently raised cash fares a dime to $2.10, has seen ridership decline from 22.9 million in 1992 to 20.3 million last year.
Fare increase and service cuts threatened by city council (January 2003). Read the TLC leaflet and contact your councillor today!
City council is planning on increasing bus fares by ten cents per ticket/cash fare, by $3.00 for a monthly pass, and $20 for a senior's annual pass.
If they do this, staff reports indicate a loss of 355,000 rides, which will likely lead to further route reductions and more fare increases!
STOP THE BUS FARE HIKES! LATEST NEWS
We're having an impact! - council has backed away from supporting any service cuts. Keep the pressure on. There is still a chance to stop the fare increase. Call councillors and tell them we need more and improved HSR; tell them it is unfair to pay more for the same level of service. Let them know that if they support the fare increase you will work against them for the November 10, 2003 municipal election.
Come to a meeting to help us continue the fight against fare increases: Monday, January 27 at 6:00pm, McMaster University Student Centre room 318- meeting followed by a free screening of the film BUS RIDERS UNION at 7:30 pm Call your councillor and tell them you do not support an HSR fare increase.
Tell them you support public transit because,
Ask them how they can justify spending millions to build the environmentally destructive and costly Red Hill Creek Expressway if they can''t afford to maintain essential community services like the HSR, libraries and social housing.
HSR bus fares are going up but bus service is staying the same.
In its first major budget decision, council voted overwhelmingly yesterday to accept a staff suggestion to boost HSR fares. But they rejected reduced service in the evenings and eliminating it on holidays and to parts of Dundas and Stoney Creek.
The decision must still be approved and some councillors want council to bear responsibility for a move that is causing community concern.
The decision will see and adult bus fare rise by 10 cents to $2.10, raise the adult monthly pass to $64 from $61 and increase the senior bus fare by $20 annually.
The move puts more than $2 million back into the budget. Staff have recommended $41 million in cuts to reduce a property tax increase of 13.5 per cent, or about $300, to 5.8 per cent or $124. The increase is based on a house assessed at $155,000.
Staff told councillors that not accepting the cuts will add 1.2 per cent to the increase, or about $26. This means the average property tax increase now stands at $150.
Ward 3 Councillor Bernie Morelli and Ward 4 Councillor Sam Merulla led a bid not to increase the senior bus pass, but it was defeated in a 7-6 vote.
Wade said he doesn't support raising the fares and chopping service because it is a double whammy. "We can't hit these people twice," he said. "For many of our people, this is their only mode of transportation."
Ward 1 Councillor Marvin Caplan said, "This is not just a budget issue. It's also social services. It's inappropriate for us to reduce services this year."
He opposed any changes to bus service.
Councillors also supported a request from Ward 2 Councillor Andrea Horwath to create an HSR level-of-service policy, rather than making decisions based on money. This review will also look at rapid transit lines for busy bus routes, double-decker buses and a private taxi-bus service.
Meanwhile, Wade has written an e-mail to all city workers asking for confidential advice on cutting costs.
The e-mail comes in the wake of complaints from several councillors about waste and irregularities.
Call your councillor and tell them you do not support an HSR fare increase.
City councillors can be reached at 905.546.2730 or E-MAIL OR PHONE YOUR COUNCILLOR
Tell them you support public transit because,
Ask them how they can justify spending millions (over $10 million from this budget) to build the environmentally destructive and costly Red Hill Creek Expressway if they can’t afford to maintain essential community services like the HSR, libraries and social housing. Ask them when they last took a bus.
We need MORE HSR not higher fares and reduced service. GET INVOLVED in the fight for sustainable transportation in Hamilton - Contact Transportation for Liveable Communities at 905.525.9140 ext 26026, or Friends of Red Hill Valley 905.381.0240
Monday Morning Picket at City Hall Parking Lot
Citizens opposed to the proposed $2.6 million in cuts to the HSR are demanding that City Councillors park their cars and ride the bus while they deliberate on the 2003 budget.
Starting at 9 am, the citizens will be holding a picket at the Hunter Street entrance to the second level parking lot at Hamilton City Hall where councillors have free parking spots. They will be delivering a letter to councillors as they arrive at City Hall for the next budget meeting.
The letter follows below
For more information contact
Randy Kay, Transportation for Liveable Communities, (905) 525-9140 ext. 26026
Don McLean, Friends of Red Hill Valley (905) 664-8796
To the Mayor and all Members of Hamilton City Council January 13, 2003
The draft 2003 budget calls for $2.6 million in cuts to the HSR public bus system, as well as fare increases totalling nearly one million dollars. These are very serious changes that will greatly affect many members of the Hamilton community.
Over 20% of the households in Hamilton do not have a car. Over 80% of the people currently using the HSR don’t have a car, or can’t drive because of their age or physical condition. City Councillors aren’t in this position, so before you make major decisions about the HSR budget, you need to gain some serious experience of the public transit system in Hamilton.
Therefore we are asking each member of City Council to park your car and ride the HSR from now until the 2003 budget is finalized (February 5 or later).
For members of Council who live in areas that have no bus service (the majority of the City of Hamilton), we are asking that you catch the bus that runs nearest to your home and use the transit system between that point and City Hall.
If any Councillor needs assistance in figuring out the HSR system, or is a bit afraid of trying to ride the buses, we will provide you with an assistant to help you get oriented.
Please keep in mind that if your budget or Council meetings run into the evening, that the budget calls for only one bus per hour after 9 pm and no buses at all after midnight. Maybe spare a thought for the people who work afternoon shifts and won’t be able to get home. If you travel during the school rush hour periods, please be warned that your bus may be full and not able to stop and pick you up. And remember that this will get much worse if you adopt the budget proposal to eliminate extra buses for rush hour service.
Also please get a transfer when you get on the bus, and keep it. This is your proof that you used the HSR and we’ll be coming by shortly to ask to see these. Remember, we are eager to put you on the bus.
Happy riding!
contents:
Live BUS LINKS:
TLC LEAFLET (2003)
Click here for full council contact information
Contact TRANSPORTATION FOR LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES
905.525.9140 ext 26026 www.hwcn.org/link/tlc, or Friends of Red Hill Valley 905.381.0240
LATEST NEWS!
Councillors endorse higher bus fares
By Dan Nolan
Municipal Affairs Reporter
The Hamilton Spectator (January 18, 2003)
For Immediate Release - January 13, 2003
Citizens Demand Councillors Take the Bus.
TLC helps head off fare increases in May 2002
Transportation for Liveable Communities believes sustainable transportation needs to be adequately funded in order to serve the interests of the population, both in terms of air quality and access to affordable public transit.
In a city where one in five (20%) households do not own an automobile, and where automobiles account for much of the poisonous air that results in an estimated 279 premature deaths a year and more than 2,000 extra hospital admissions (with a price tag of $35 million in pollution-related health-care bills), raising bus fares and reducing service is not an option for council.
Hamilton can not afford to cut back on HSR funding. TLC wants to know what Mayor Wade has done with the $3.2 million in yearly transit savings gained when the Province took back responsibility for GO transit. "The GO money must be re-invested in public transit to address the public good and get us where we want to be sustainability-wise" insists a TLC spokesperson.
An indication of skewed priorities, for every dollar Hamilton spends on bicycle improvements, they spend $209 on roads. The 2001 city budget didn't include the $15,000 needed to paint new bike lanes.
In a climate where the city permits sprawl development and will hand over $1.7 million to consultants on the Red Hill Creek Expressway project, TLC can only conclude that the city is out of step with the concerns of citizens locally and in the global community who seek answers to global climate change and killer smog.
A single bus can take up to 40 cars off the road, save as much as 70,000 litres of fuel and keep 9 tonnes of air pollutants out of the air per year. Studies indicate that for every dollar invested in transit, business revenue increases by $3.50. It makes sense to fund and improve the HSR as a publicly owned asset to the community.
Contact your City Councillor and tell them to support the HSR - no fare increases or service cuts! You can reach your councillor by calling 905-546-2489 or click here for full council contact info
SOURCES: (Dr. David Pengelly, McMaster University Institute of Environment and Health. "Ontario's Air, Years of Stagnation" Ontario Medical Association Report 2001.The Hamilton Spectator "Staff told to find more tax cuts in budget," Thursday, March 28, 2002. The Hamilton Spectator, "Wade says he may not give GO cash to HSR" Friday, September 28, 2001.Transportation, Operations and Environment report TOE 02040, March 22, 2002. Pollution Probe. Alvord, Katie "Divorce Your Car" New Society Publishers (p.166)
The city will need to cut 43 staff, end support for clean-air programs, reduce bus service and enforcement of its noise bylaw to bring a ballooning tax increase under control.
Those cuts and others, totalling $24 million, proposed by finance staff at a budget meeting yesterday still leave city homeowners facing a tax increase of almost 5.75 per cent. For a home assessed at $155,000 that translates into a tax increase of $129.
But at that level, the city will still manage to put $14 million of new money into economic development, public health and social service programs that are failing to meet provincial standards, and improve ambulance service.
Nonetheless, Mayor Bob Wade and city councillors who got a view of the staff proposals yesterday said 5.75 per cent is still too high and told staff t find new cuts that will take the budget somewhere below 5 per cent for residents.
"Clearly 5.75 is not acceptable," said Wade. "What I suggest we do is send staff back to the drawing board to come back with a scenario under which they get us under five."
Budget director Rob Rossini says staff already have a menu of possible cuts to get taxes lower. It includes higher bus fares and revisiting the already agreed upon ice-rental rates. But he would not say what would be pulled from that menu to meet the new target.
"It's a matter of prioritizing that list. But like I said, it will mean cuts to existing services, it will mean increasing user fees, it will mean closure of facilities, I think we have pared this budget down as far as we can go."
Yesterday's budget session, the second for council this year was, for the most part, another day of bad news and limited choices. But in the past few weeks the budget picture has nonetheless improved dramatically.
Coming into yesterday's session, councillors had been told that just to maintain existing services, the budget would have to increase by $33 million.
That meant a 12 per cent - about $245 - tax increase with no new programs or enhanced services.
But the proposal yesterday was a balanced mix of cuts and enhancements that tried to fit with council's desire to begin acting on its strategic priorities.
New proposals offered yesterday included another reduction for business taxes as the city struggles to improve its competitive picture. The enhanced services include public health programs in food safety, tobacco control and social service programs for the homeless, employment support and child care. In the cuts that were proposed, staff tried to stay away from core services and programs. For example, the corporate secretariat, which last year had a budget of $5.8 million would be trimmed by $1.4 million by eliminating various auditing, training, support and communication functions.
But there are some service impacts to the Hamilton Street Railway, DARTS, to enforcement of some city bylaws, and to grass cutting.
The budget also proposes reducing the city's $700,000 contribution to the RBG by $100,000.
There was little reaction from councillors to suggest how those proposed cuts will be received. The picture also shows that the city continues to be constrained on capital spending.
In the first budget session attended by new CAO Bob Robertson, he noted that the city's capital program list is simply not affordable.
[emphasis added]
Mayor Bob Wade says there's no guarantee Hamilton's bus service will benefit from all of the money earmarked by the province yesterday for improved public transit. Wade says some of the money could be spent on unrelated items, perhaps even cutting local taxes. He made the remarks after Premier Mike Harris unveiled what is intended to be a major cash infusion for municipal transit systems.
Harris says the government will spend $300 million a year for 10 years to pay one-third of the capital costs of local transit. That will mean as much as $2.5 million a year for Hamilton, based on current budgets.
The premier also announced the province will take back operation of GO Transit, saving Hamilton its $3.2-million contribution toward GO's annual operating costs. But there were no provisions to increase daytime GO train service into Hamilton.
The province says enhanced public transit is a key part of reducing highway gridlock. Transportation Minister and Stoney Creek MPP Brad Clark says there's no question that's where Hamilton's money should be going.
"My understanding is the municipality would like to do some things with transit, so we would expect that they would be spending it on transit," he said yesterday.
But Wade was noncommittal.
He says the $2.5 million will definitely be used to top up the existing budget for the replacement of buses and the construction of facilities such as bus loops. But he won't make any promises on the $3.2 million the city will no longer give GO Transit.
"I can tell you from talking to Mr. Clark, he is suggesting that that would be an appropriate spot to put the dollars, but on the other hand he did say they can't dictate to us how we use those monies."
Wade says it will take weeks to sort out exactly how much money needs to be spent on improving transit.
But even if all of the new money were spent on the Hamilton Street Railway bus system, it likely wouldn't cover the needs identified by transit planners. The HSR has been able to replace enough buses to maintain the bare minimum, but city council has given it little money for anything else.
Spending that has been put on hold includes $1.7 million a year for 10 years to replace outdated computer systems; $4 million to replace worn-out fare boxes; and an unknown amount for a new downtown transit terminal. "We have some pretty seriously aging infrastructure," said the city's director of transit, Don Hull.
More money is also needed to expand into underserviced areas, including Waterdown which has no bus service.
Additional service is also needed on overcrowded east-west routes through the city core.
It all adds up to continued frustration for riders. There's also sure to be more frustration among GO Transit users.
As part of its decision to resume responsibility for GO, the province has agreed to fund GO's 10-year, $1-billion capital investment program, according to GO spokesperson Karen Majerly.
That plan includes track improvements to increase the number of trains on the Lakeshore route from Burlington to Toronto.
That will indirectly benefit Hamilton because GO buses connect to meet the trains. But the $70 million of further track construction needed to double the number of rush-hour trains to Hamilton and provide limited daytime service is not included in the capital plan.
Clark says it will be up to a new GO Transit authority, which will include municipal representatives, to make final decisions about what services will be provided. He says he can't second-guess what the authority will do.
Yesterday's decisions to resume funding municipal transit, and to take back GO, represent major policy reversals for the Tories.
When the province took over all responsibility for education funding in 1998, it forced municipalities to assume all costs associated with local transit. The province also downloaded the operation of GO to Toronto-area municipalities and Hamilton.
The municipalities argued that the policy made Ontario the only jurisdiction in North America that forced local governments to pay 100 per cent of transit costs.
But until yesterday, the province refused to budge.
Harris now says unexpected population growth forced the change of heart. "You could say that we became victims of our own economic success."
For his part, Wade was full of praise for the provincial decision, even if he is not sure how the city will spend all of the money.
"The fact the province is coming back to the table with dollars for transit is extremely important," he said.
Clark said he consulted widely with municipal leaders, including Wade, in the leadup to yesterday's announcements.
Ontario wants Ottawa to match the $300-million annual contribution to transit capital costs. Harris trotted out the Liberals' 2000 campaign platform which promised assistance for municipal transit infrastructure.
"I have every confidence that the federal government will step up to the table," Clark said.
If Ottawa does contribute, municipalities would only have to pay a third of their transit capital costs. Transport Minister David Collenette made no promises yesterday.
The transfer of GO Transit back to the province could mean an infusion of as much as $4 million into Burlington's transit system. Mayor Rob MacIsaac calls the money "a very significant aid to us in terms of providing transit and in our ability to maintain and enhance the transit system."
But he said it's far too early to tell how that money will be spent.
"Once the details shake out, it will be incumbent on us to do a review of our transit system in conjunction with our neighbours in Oakville and Hamilton," he said. "We need to determine how we can provide seamless public transit."
The provincial government announced earlier this week that it will spend $3 billion over the next 10 years to renew the province's urban transit systems, reducing municipalities' share of the costs from 100 per cent to about one third. Premier Mike Harris also announced the province will take over the entire cost of the province's GO Transit system of trains and buses, which are expected to carry 43 million passengers this year, freeing up more than $100 million that Greater Toronto Area municipalities have been contributing to the regional transit system. Halton region's portion is about $11 million.
It's a major policy reversal for the Harris government, which downloaded the costs of public transit to the municipalities in 1998.
It's a welcome reversal to municipal politicians, who have insisted since the downloading that it's inappropriate to fund public transit through municipal taxes.
"I think it's a very positive move that they've done that," said MacIsaac. "It's a very welcome, prudent measure that acknowledges the struggles that municipalities have been having with funding transit and providing effective transit."
The extra funding will allow GO Transit to expand service between Toronto and the communities with 905 area codes that surround the city. Those service improvements are part of a $1-billion, 10-year plan, which includes construction of a third track in the bottleneck between Oakville and Port Credit. That change will bring more GO trains into Burlington.
"With these commitments from the province, we may be able to go forward faster than we had planned," said GO spokesperson Edmund Shea.
The provincial government's policy reversal on GO Transit costs also means the demise of the Greater Toronto Services Board, which has been overseeing GO Transit while lobbying for a broadening of its powers.
MacIsaac, a proponent of a stronger GTSB, is disappointed by its demise. But Halton Regional Chairman Joyce Savoline believes dismantling the board is a good thing.
"The province and the federal government needed to be involved in transportation issues and that was what the GTSB set out to try and fix," she said. "But we weren't able to make the necessary changes. That's in part because it wasn't structured well -- one municipality (Toronto) had half the votes and that just didn't work."
Savoline is encouraged by the establishment of a new Smart Growth Council for the Golden Horseshoe, one of five new councils that will develop plans and help direct infrastructure investments across the province.
She said it's important to take a bigger picture approach because "anything that happens in all of Ontario will benefit the Greater Toronto Area. Just trying to fix the problems in the GTA pushes the problems outward.