The Pros And Cons Of Light Rail Transit

Light Rail Transit is the most recent innovation in public transport technology and is regarded by many major municipalities across Canada as the next step in the evolution of their public transit systems. Many municipalities have begun plans to implement LRT within the near future, and Hamilton is one of them (“Ten Year Local Transit Strategy”). Light Rail Transit has many benefits: it is relatively inexpensive to produce, and the cars themselves are high capacity (about 280 people in a vehicle) and can be linked together if necessary. Due to the nature of Light Rail Transit, LRT interferes less with other vehicles than buses do because they have their own designated tracks where they have right of way. In this regard they are similar to street cars, but faster and more ordered as they don’t run all over the middle of the road. …show more content…
The city of Hamilton’s proposed LRT project will cost a projected 1.2 billion dollars and include GO Rail services as well as the LRT (Van Dongen,“Wynne promises $1-billion for Hamilton LRT, GO transit”). This sounds very expensive but this actually far less than it would cost to implement subways in Hamilton, which is the other alternative to buses (Kalinowski).The Light Rail Transit route will include the B-line consisting of Main Street West from McMaster University to Highway 403, King Street from the 403 to the Delta, as well as Main Street East from the Delta to the Queenston traffic circle. The next proposed phase will be on Queenston Road originating from the traffic circle to Eastgate Mall. Part of it will also be on the A-Line and provide a direct connection to the West Harbour GO Station (“Light Rail Transit -