The Spec has a good article on a report McMaster researches wrote on LRT and Hamilton, complete with some mayor Bob Bratina negative positions on LRT.
In the article there's some comparison with other cities and their LRT experiences (including Buffalo's rather sad experience). One thing that needs to be emphasized is that ridership on the existing route is already quite high, both between downtown and Mac and between the East end and downtown. Good and fast LRT service could not help but increase ridership along the route.
Another factor in LRT's favour is the increased comfort of the ride over the low floor buses the HSR uses. Two weeks ago I took an Upper James bus from the MacNab terminal around 5 pm on a weekday and it was a miserable experience. The bus was clogged with the very large baby carriages that are now popular and the remaining seating on those buses is quite limited compared to buses of the past. The carriages meant getting from the front to farther back was difficult and one had to stand anyways. LRT's have plenty of room for carriages by design and many more seats than a regular low floor bus. When in Europe on business I never mind riding an LRT.
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