Hamilton Street Railway

Hamilton Street Railway

New Flyer C40LF #510213 on the 5C route in Downtown Hamilton
Founded	1874
Headquarters	2200 Upper James Street, Hamilton, Ontario
Locale	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Service area	Hamilton and Burlington
Service type	Public transport
Routes	34 + 2 seasonal
Stops	2,253
Fleet	278 buses[1]
Daily ridership	Over 21 million passengers per year.
Fuel type	ULSD, CNG, , RNG
Operator	City of Hamilton
Website	www.hamilton.ca/HSR/

The Hamilton Street Railway commonly known as the HSR is a public transport agency in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name is a legacy of the company's early period, when public transit in Hamilton was primarily served by streetcars. Although streetcars are no longer used in the city today, the HSR operates bus and paratransit services, with a ridership of 21 million passengers a year. The HSR uses the Presto card as its method of fare payment, allowing for connections with GO Transit and other transit systems in the Greater Toronto area.^[1]

History[]

A Hamilton Radial Electric Railway vehicle crosses the Hamilton Harbour swing bridge in 1907.

From 1873 to 1889, the HSR was owned by Lyman Moore and operated as a private business. In 1889 HSR was sold to Hamilton Cataract Interests, later known as Dominion Power and Transmission Company. The HSR was later acquired by Ontario Hydro.

Provincial ownership ended in 1946 when HSR was bought by Canada Coach Lines. CCL was purchased by the city of Hamilton in 1960. Hamilton-Wentworth Region began ownership of CCL and HSR in 1977, and in 2001 regional amalgamation placed its ownership back to the city of Hamilton.

Other streetcar systems[]

• 1873–1923: Hamilton & Dundas Street Railway
• 1891–1931: Hamilton, Grimsby & Beamsville Electric Railway
• 1893–1925: Hamilton Radial Electric Railway
• 1896–1931: Brantford & Hamilton Electric Railway
• 1907–1930s: Hamilton Terminal Company

Services[]

Bus routes[]

Route histories[]

In the early 1990s the HSR eliminated many routes by expanding current routes. The following is a list of replaced and withdrawn routes:

Streetcar routes[]

Streetcars of the Hamilton Street Railway rode a funicular across the Niagara Escarpment.

The HSR operated horsecars from 1874 to 1892 and electric streetcars from 1892 to 1951. Trolley buses replaced streetcars in Hamilton in December 1950 and 1951.

Trolley bus routes[]

A trolley bus on Wilson Street in 1987

Trolley buses were used by the HSR from 1950 to 1992 on the routes listed in the table below. Hamilton's trolley bus system opened on 10 December 1950, and the last day of trolley bus service was 30 December 1992.^[6]

Trans-Cab[]

Introduced in 1998 as a two-year pilot project, Trans-Cab is a shared-ride taxi service between HSR and specific local taxi providers, currently offered in portions of Glanbrook and Stoney Creek.

Accessible transportation[]

Accessible Transportation Services (ATS) is the section that administers a variety of accessible services on behalf of the City

• Accessible low-floor (ALF) buses provide level entry and exit to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. It is anticipated that the entire HSR fleet will be accessible by 2009.
• Disabled and Aged Regional Transportation System (DARTS) is a non profit charitable organization that is the paratransit service provider.
• Taxi Scrip program provides discounted taxi coupons for ATS registered persons who are unable to access regular transit buses.

Mountain Climber[]

A mountain climber stop at the top of the mountain, on Garth Road.

In 2017, HSR launched a program called "Mountain Climber," that allows cyclists ride on the bus to get up and down Hamilton Mountain for free.^[7] This program was made permanent in 2018 and has since been expanded to include more stops.^[8]

Participating bus stops are located along major roads at the base and crest of the escarpment. People with bicycles load them onto the bus' front rack,^[9] and when boarding, tell the bus operator they are riding under Mountain Climber for free.^[10] The routes are very limited in length, and provide a safe way for cyclists to ascend or descend the mountain, in order to encourage active transportation.^[11]

Rapid transit[]

In 1981, during Bill Davis's Progressive Conservative administration, the Province of Ontario offered to finance the construction of a light rail line in Hamilton, from Lloyd D. Jackson Square to the Lime Ridge Mall.^[12] The line would have used the same technology as the Scarborough RT in Toronto. The plans triggered a lot of grass-roots opposition, and Hamilton-Wentworth Council turned the proposal down. The plan called for an elevated track—one of the elements that triggered opposition, with residents being concerned commuters would be invading their privacy, by looking down on their back-yards and in their second floor windows.

When the CBC News compared the rejected 1981 plan with the 21st Century rapid transit plan, they quoted the individual who had been the planning and development manager for Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Government, Doug Lychak, who pointed out that Vancouver's introduction of the same elevated light rail technology, just four years later, is widely acknowledged to have been very successful.^[12]

The 1980s light rail plans were to use the UTDC ICTS technology, but the project was scrapped and no lines were created for the HSR.

Banner logo for the proposed Hamilton rapid transit system.

Hamilton and Metrolinx will build a provincially-funded LRT line (Hamilton LRT) in the early 2020s.^[13] Land acquisition and building demolition for a 14 kilometre line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square will proceed in 2019.^[14] No vehicles have been chosen, but the trains may be similar to the Flexity Freedom to be used in Waterloo Region's Ion rapid transit and Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

The planned BLAST network routes may eventually include:^[15][16]

• B-Line – Main/King corridor from McMaster University to Eastgate Square
• L-Line – Downtown to Waterdown
• A-Line – James/Upper James corridor from Downtown to John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport
• S-Line – Confederation GO Station to Ancaster Business Park
• T-Line – Mohawk to Meadowlands

In December 2019, the Government of Ontario cancelled the B-line LRT project in favour of providing investment in existing transit services.^[17]

Facilities[]

Barns/garages[]

• 1875 first horsebarn opens
• 1887 second horsebarn opens
• 1889 Sanford Avenue carhouse opens
• 1927–1990 Wentworth Street North carbarn/garage opens (machine shops, etc.)
• 1984–1996, 1998–present Mountain Regional Transit Centre on Upper James Street
• 1990–1998 Wentworth Street Transit Centre

Loops[]

Terminals and connections[]

HSR routes from downtown to the Mountain (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, and 35) currently use MacNab Transit Terminal, while several lower city routes (4, 6, 7, 8 and 9) have an on-street terminal layover at the intersection of Main and James Streets. Route 34 has a layover location on Main at MacNab.

Bus exiting the GO centre via underpass

HSR connects with GO Transit at Hamilton GO Centre, which serves as the terminus for four HSR routes (1, 2, 3, and 51). The station, located at 36 Hunter Street East, a few blocks south of King and James, is the terminus of the Lakeshore West railway line and express Highway 407 and Queen Elizabeth Way GO Buses. It is also the former home of the main Greyhound Lines bus stop, prior to Greyhound Canada's Canada-wide closure in 2021.^[18] It is also the former Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (TH&B) passenger station, and there is a small museum above the public concourse. HSR routes 2 and 4 also connect with GO at Barton Street & Nash Road in East Hamilton, where a GO bus travels between there and the Burlington GO Station.

At the Mountain Transit Centre transfer point (served by route 27) and a contract with Blue Line Taxi, the HSR also connects with other areas in the northwest portion of the former Glanbrook.

In addition, the HSR is connected with Burlington Transit, as one route (11 Parkdale) travels into Burlington via Burlington Beach, 18 Waterdown connects with BT at Aldershot GO Station, and BT Route 1 enters downtown Hamilton from Plains Road West. Also '9 Rock Gardens' travels into Burlington going into the Royal Botanical Gardens during the summer months.

Other terminals and loops[]

Fares[]

Metrolinx and HSR have partnered to operate the Presto electronic fare card. The project aims to standardize fare collection systems across transit agencies in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The system is currently operational.^[21]

Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Bus Trial[]

Sometime in 2021, the HSR started testing a Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) bus. The bus is #1821, a 2019 New Flyer XN60. The RNG is made from landfill gases and is provided by Enbridge Gas. Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) emits significantly less emissions than CNG does. There are a few articles about this bus trial. The bus has a special RNG bus wrap to advertise that this bus runs on 100% RNG fuel. It is unknown whether the HSR will continue running this bus on RNG or start fuelling their other CNG buses with RNG. The L9N, B6.7N, and ISX12N engines are compatible with CNG, LNG, and RNG.

Gallery[]

• 

  Two of the Hamilton Street Railway's former Flyer E800 trolley buses are preserved at the Halton County Radial Railway museum.

• 

  Hamilton Street Railway Orion V 8907 on the 34A route at the intersection of King and James Streets in downtown Hamilton.

• 

  New Flyer D40LFs like this one seen at McMaster University form much of the HSR's recent bus fleet.

• 

  In 2007, the HSR introduced articulated hybrid buses for the route 10 Beeline Express.

• 

  Route 99 – Waterfront Shuttle (2008).

• 

  An RNG bus stopped at the Hamilton GO Centre.

Staff[]

Most staff at HSR are members (bus operators, mechanics and other transit workers) of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107. The local was formed in 1899 and also represents transit workers at Mississauga Transit. The local does not represent those working on city's paratransit service, Disabled and Aged Regional Transportation System (DARTS).^{[citation needed]}

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hamilton Street Railway.

15. Enbridge Gas RNG Bus Trial: http://enbridgegas.mediaroom.com/2021-03-04-Enbridge-Gas-Partners-with-City-of-Hamilton-to-Fuel-Ontarios-First-Carbon-Negative-Bus

• Mills, John M. (1971). Cataract Traction:The Railways of Hamilton. Canadian Traction Series. Volume 2. Toronto: Upper Canada Railway Society & Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association. p. 116. |volume= has extra text (help)

External links[]

• Official website
• HSR history
• Bus News Spring 2010