Hamilton Mountain News
Letter to the Editor
With the calling of the Ontario Provincial election, the funding for the LRT in Hamilton remains sweet dreams. I hope that the pursuit of this white elephant is going to be abandoned.
Even if there would be 100-per-cent funding, where would the funding for maintenance come from? Ridership alone will not subsidize the costs, thus it falls upon the rest of the taxpayers.
Why did Hamilton abandon the trolleybus lines in the 1960s? Because even when it was in use, on weekends diesel buses ran due to the high cost of maintaining the lines. Available monies would be better spent on hybrid buses and more frequent runs during rush hours.
Consider the fact that if there is a collision with one of the LRT vehicles, the whole line would be tied up for a great length of time affecting the rest of the traffic movement along the route.
Before even having a functional LRT line in use, consider the construction chaos. This lesson may be learned from the current construction that has been going on for months at Barton and Nash Street corners. The local businesses are suffering and having a hard time covering their basic expenses because of the length of time this has been on going.
Dez Miklós
Hamilton Mountain