Don Hull , Director of Transportation , Public Works Department, who provided the following information:
To The Hamiltonian:
Thank you for your inquiry.
Mr. Murray has asked that I respond as the Transportation Director to your inquiry related to Rapid Transit expenditures.
The City of Hamilton expenditures on LRT have accumulated to approximately $5.1million since 2008.
This includes both capital and operating expenditures.
I provide the following breakdown:
City Capital Expenditures - total $1.9 million included:
* Rapid Transit Feasibility studies for A & B-Line
* Preliminary Assessment of LRT Operations, Preliminary Design Drawings at 15%, Functional planning analysis, Economic Potential study
* Identify development opportunities related to City Lands, Preliminary Maintenance Storage Facility, Implementation & staging strategies, model development
* 3D Simulation and Photo Montage, LRT Detailed Design at 70% for specific sections of the B-Line
City Operating Expenditures - total $3.2 million
* Since 2008, operating expenditures have totaled $3.2 million.
Included in the operating expenditures is all the staffing and resources of the rapid transit office - this includes overseeing all the technical experts and works, the planning, urban design, project management, communications and finance staff and functions as well.
Total staff complement at its maximum = 12.
Yearly Rapid Transit budgets have been submitted to Council for approval, since 2008. All approved budgets are provided on the City of Hamilton website.
Thanks again for inquiry.
Don Hull
Director of Transportation
Public Works Department
City of Hamilton
Thanks to Chris and to Don for providing our readers with this information!
All show, no go. Most of us will be dead by the time an LRT vehicle clangs down any streets in Hamilton, doing a brisk 26 mph. Slower than a bike, faster than walking. Rapid transit, this is not. It's the mother of all pipe-dreams.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of seeming pedantic Mark-Alan, what's being proposed in Hamilton isn't 'rapid transit' It's 'rail transit'. This isn't splitting hairs; a high-speed system between Toronto and Montreal would be 'rapid transit'.
DeleteIf we're going to ask for precision from our elected officials (and City Staff), we should be prepared to offer the same in our discussions, don't you think? And LRT, as shown in the title of this article, does stand for 'light rail transit'.
Rapid Transit feasability studies should read Rail Transit feasability studies, I get your drift M.
ReplyDeleteEither way, this is never going to happen in this century. Our public transportation system is a net loss, and costs millions to subsidize. When ever I see one, they are half empty, or worse. At rush hour, there's never enough, people get left waiting for the next bus. People like convenience, like having a car. The HSR should be privatized, It's the only way it can be saved, made to work as a user pay system.
I use the bus twice a year for doctors appointments downtown, as parking cost four to six times the cost of the bus fare there and back, plus a chance to get a parking ticket if you don't feed the meter. Everywhere else I go, free parking, no hassles.
This is from: http://www.thehamiltonian.net/2012/10/money-tracking-light-rail-transit.html
ReplyDelete"Last October through a report and presentation to committee staff advised members of City Council that we had spent approximately $5.1m of city budgeted money on LRT work plus the $3m Metrolinx grant - totaling $8.1 Million.
In that report we also advised Council that we would be spending an additional $965,000 (funded from previous Metrolinx grant money which is now in a reserve) to complete some additional work. This money was again part of the Metrolinx grant.
Most recently, LRT staff provided members of Council a verbal update earlier this month on the status of our work and expenditures.
The new total to date is $9.1 Million ($5.1 Million City/$4 Million metrolinx)."
So, if the work that has been itemized in Mr. Hull's response above does cover the total scope of the LRT work contracted by Metrolinx -- then is one to assume that the $4 Million (less the above mentioned $965K) is in "reserve" presently? or has this all been spent too? And if so, on what?
This is from the July 19, 2011 issue of thespec.com,
at: http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/565046--city-calls-off-non-essential-lrt-work
"Davis said that as the city fulfils the obligations of the $3 million study, the staff who have been seconded to work on LRT will return to their departments. One contract employee has left the city. Jill Stephen, the city’s director of rapid transit, will be the only staff person working full-time on LRT."
I believe the original concern raised was more about the creep from $3 Mil to $5.1 Mil to $8.1 Mil to $9.1 Million -- and less about how the 'city component' of this was spent.
Mahesh P. Butani