Outcry over staff recommendation that Hamilton LRT be run privately pushes discussion to March
CBC
Hamilton's light rail transit (LRT) subcommittee voted to defer a decision on the city's role in future LRT operations after receiving an earful from members of the public Monday.
Staff had recommended the city's role be limited to customer interactions, such as customer service and fare enforcement, but people opposed to that recommendation packed council chambers and pushed for greater public involvement.
"There's never been a more crucial crossroad for transit in Hamilton," Eric Tuck, president of Amalgamated Transit Unit Local 107, told the committee in a delegation.
Emphasizing the complexity and importance of the issue, subcommittee members voted to refer the topic to the General Issues Committee — the committee to which the subcommittee reports — for more discussion on March 21.
Any decision would still be presented to Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, which has the final say.
On Monday, the LRT subcommittee, whose membership includes councillors and non-voting citizen advisors, heard and received submissions from delegates with local environmental, anti-poverty, labour and urban planning organizations, as well as unions.
ATU Canada, the national body of the Amalgamated Transit Union, has been leading a coalition called Keep Transit Public, which advocates for public ownership of transit in Ontario.
Tuck said the staffing model recommended by city staff is "the worst choice for Hamilton," and would lock the city into a bad situation. He recommended instead that the Hamilton Street Railway — whose workers Tuck represents — run the LRT.
The question of who should run the LRT has been much debated, coming before council several years ago before the project was cancelled and revived.
Ahead of Monday's meeting, city staff recommended a model in which the city would handle customer service and fare enforcement, with a contractor handling operations and maintenance. The recommendation gives the option for Hamilton to revisit the arrangement after a decade and take more public control if desired.
Staff presented four possible models:
A third party fully operates the LRT.
The city performs "passenger interface activities," such as fare enforcement and customer relations as in the case of the Region of Waterloo's LRT and the planned Hazel McCallion Line in Peel Region.
The city shares operations and performs passenger interface activities.
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