Hamilton Street Railway

[JRM1000]

1823 on 27/35

1820-1825 are in service. 

[JRM1000]

1829 and 1830 in service 

[JRM1000]

1827 and 1828 in service 

That leaves 1826 which has yet to go into service.

 

[JRM1000]

1826 is now in service.

[soo8513]

Rode 1825 on 35 College yesterday. Had a tough time climbing the mountain. Have never noticed that on 0610-, 920-. 1420-classes.  Thoughts?

 

 

 

[Vekoma]

On 8/9/2019 at 8:55 PM, soo8513 said:

Have never noticed that on 0610-, 920-. 1420-classes.  Thoughts?

 

 

 

Really? I remember when I was attending Mohawk back in 2013 I used the 35 up the mountain all the time, the 09 artics struggled sooo much with the West 5th access. There were a few times the artic would slow to like 10-15 km/h with the engine roaring. I haven't ridden anything up the west 5th access since then but in MY experience all the artics struggled with that one. Maybe the 06 artics handled it slightly better but I can't remember.

[AmanKh]

1 hour ago, Vekoma said:

Really? I remember when I was attending Mohawk back in 2013 I used the 35 up the mountain all the time, the 09 artics struggled sooo much with the West 5th access. There were a few times the artic would slow to like 10-15 km/h with the engine roaring. I haven't ridden anything up the west 5th access since then but in MY experience all the artics struggled with that one. Maybe the 06 artics handled it slightly better but I can't remember.

Agree with you on that one, that is still the case today. I'd would even go as far to say that all buses have a tough time getting up there unless they're running nearly empty.

[TransferCutter]

Maurice Powell has been a Hamilton bus driver for 50 years

Congratulations Maurice

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/bus-driver-1.5249472?fbclid=IwAR3BVQZJzXRxMUTRQj0O_lWVQIybAL_XdKlmvoSpNb2LzNCKUs8XI7KeaiU

[H4 5600]

HSR 0913 apparently caught on fire. 

Credit to the IG account in the screenshot.

[Chris W]

4 hours ago, H4 5600 said:

HSR 0913 apparently caught on fire. 

Credit to the IG account in the screenshot.

It was doing a 41 Mohawk at the time. Judging by the location, that's west on Mohawk towards Upper James.

I'm not sure the state of it so I can't say for certain if it can be repaired. I've seen buses come back from worse.

[Hamilton]

What day and time did this happen?

 

[H4 5600]

6 minutes ago, Hamilton said:

What day and time did this happen?

 

according to transit55, it was switched off the 41 on august 17 at 4:35 pm, so that would be the approximate time.

[Hamilton]

The only vehicle fire around that time.

HamOnt Fire Dept @HFD_Incidents·Aug 17

NEW | F19029979 | VEHICLE FIRE | Loc: HAM @ UPPER WENTWORTH ST/KINGFISHER DR | Units: E2 | 08/17/19 15:26

Plus a few minutes latter.

HamOnt Fire Dept @HFD_Incidents·Aug 17

UPDATE | F19029979 | Units: E2, L4

[H4 5600]

1 hour ago, Hamilton said:

The only vehicle fire around that time.

HamOnt Fire Dept @HFD_Incidents·Aug 17

NEW | F19029979 | VEHICLE FIRE | Loc: HAM @ UPPER WENTWORTH ST/KINGFISHER DR | Units: E2 | 08/17/19 15:26

Plus a few minutes latter.

HamOnt Fire Dept @HFD_Incidents·Aug 17

UPDATE | F19029979 | Units: E2, L4

This looks like it was 0913, as it was scheduled to be passing upper wentworth/kingfisher around that time. 

[Hybrid0920]

The damage on 0913 wasn’t actually too bad. I could see it being repaired for sure. 

[Vekoma]

With all the new artics in service, have 0610 and 0615 been retired?

[Mishap]

4 hours ago, Vekoma said:

With all the new artics in service, have 0610 and 0615 been retired?

According to Transit 55, both were in service as recently as Wednesday.

[JRM1000]

12 hours ago, Vekoma said:

With all the new artics in service, have 0610 and 0615 been retired?

615 is currently assigned to a King run. 

[Chris W]

16 hours ago, Vekoma said:

With all the new artics in service, have 0610 and 0615 been retired?

They're keeping those ones for the September service changes. As previously mentioned, only 0603 and 0611-0614 have retired. The rest, 0520, 0601-0602 and 0701-0709 are being stored in case they need them come September.

[JRM1000]

1845-1849 are now in service. 

[Hamilton]

Hamilton to study opting out of Metrolinx's transit procurement program

Sep 09, 2019 by Kevin Werner  Stoney Creek News

Stoney Creek Coun. Brad Clark says that Hamilton may have to put the brakes on the city participating in Metrolinx’s purchasing program for buses and other transit vehicles.

Clark, who last month asked city staff to review Hamilton’s involvement in Metrolinx’s Transit Procurement Initiative, said the city may be seeing an unexpected rise in the price tag to buy buses rather than saving money for its residents.

“We experienced a 30 per cent increase in the cost of buses purchased through the (procurement program) through Metrolinx when that program is supposed to be saving us money,” said Clark. “You can’t end up pushing us into something that ends up costing our taxpayers.”

Clark said a few of the buses that Hamilton did purchase had faulty air conditioning systems.

Nitish Bissonauth, Metrolinx spokesperson, disputes the councillor’s statement, saying that HSR has a “unique bus fleet operation” and is the only transit agency in Ontario that has recently purchased compressed natural gas buses.

“CNG buses are in limited supply with only two bus suppliers in the market,” he stated. “HSR did not pay more for their purchase. The decision to purchase these buses was made years ago by Hamilton city council.”

In 2014 and 2017, Hamilton purchased 12-metre compressed natural gas buses.

Bissonauth said the air conditioning issue in some of the buses “has been resolved” by retrofitting “by the original equipment manager of the buses.”

Hamilton has been involved in Metrolinx’s procurement program since 2008, when it joined with eight other municipalities to buy 12-metre diesel low-floor vehicles.

Two years later Hamilton purchased additional 12-metre diesel low-floor buses along with Barrier, Durham, London, North Bay, St. Catharines and Welland transit agencies.

Hamilton also bought an eight-metre diesel specialized low-floor vehicle in 2012, and then in 2014 Hamilton purchased 12-metre compressed natural gas low-floor buses. In 2016, Hamilton bought minibuses and the following year it purchased 12-metre compressed natural gas low-floor vehicles.

The procurement program was created by Metrolinx in 2006 that involved a consortium of six agencies — Barrie, York Region, Durham Region, Burlington, London and Transit Windsor, which later dropped out of the program — to purchase 12-metre low-floor vehicles. They were delivered in 2007 and 2008.

The program, stated Metrolinx on its website, “has been one of North America’s most innovative transit procurement programs.”

“Metrolinx is able to negotiate reduced prices by purchasing in bulk and those savings are passed on to municipalities that voluntarily choose to use the program,” said Bissonauth.
Over the last 13 years, the program has worked with 49 provincial transit agencies — saving taxpayers about $25.9 million in purchasing and administration costs since March 31, 2018 to buy 1,769 buses, said Bissonauth.

Hamilton, though, has not made a bus purchase under the current 2017 to 2020 contract, he said.

He pointed out that in Metrolinx’s 2018-2019 annual report to be published in September, transit agency satisfaction with the procurement program is 93.2 per cent.

Under the city’s 10-year transit strategy, which was initiated in 2015, the city purchased 25 new buses at a cost of $15.6 million. In the 2019 budget that was approved by councillors earlier this spring, 30 new buses were projected to be bought.

By the end of 2018, HSR had 263 buses, with the projection to increase the fleet to 347 to service the city’s BLAST network.

The goal of the strategy is to spend $30 million for 45 buses, which the city has identified funding areas for the purchase. There is also a plan to buy another 81 buses for $56 million, but there is no money identified for the purchase, according to the plan.

City transit staff will be reviewing Clark’s request, which was approved by council, with a report expected sometime in the fall to review the benefits and “deficiencies” of participating in Metrolinx’s program.

https://www.hamiltonnews.com/news-story/9587623-hamilton-to-study-opting-out-of-metrolinx-s-transit-procurement-program/

[Wayside Observer]

I was talking with a friend about a ride we took on the Kitchener LRT a couple of weeks ago and it made me wonder what the status on the other southern Ontario LRTs is.  I haven't heard much about the Mississauga line but today there was an article in the Hamilton Spectator regarding where the political parties in the federal election stand with respect to public transportation and the Hamilton LRT was mentioned:

Federal Public Transporation Promises

That article had a link to this one from earlier in the year:

Hamilton LRT to Exceed $1 Billion Budget

My question is this, if the province agreed to pick up the full capital cost of getting the Hamilton LRT built but it goes over $1 Billion, can the province allocate some of the money that was going to go towards the Brampton section of the Hurontario LRT line until Brampton opted out and it supposedly went back into the transit pot?  As far as I know, that money got returned to the rapid transit pot and was never re-allocated by either Wynne or Ford.  That to my mind is the most straightforward way to make sure the Hamilton line gets built while the province gets to do the "promise made, promise kept" routine about picking up 100% of its capital costs, without having to ask whoever forms the next federal government to come to the table to bail it out.