Hamilton Street Railway

The Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) is the public transport agency for Hamilton, Ontario. 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.

Ownership


On March 29, 1873, the HSR was established after Ontario passed An Act to incorporate "The Hamilton Street Railway Company." It was owned by Lyman Moore and operated as a private business under a city franchise. In 1899, HSR was bought out by the Hamilton Cataract, Power, Light and Traction Company, later known as Dominion Power and Transmission Company. In April 1930, HSR was acquired by Ontario Hydro. Provincial ownership ended in 1946 when HSR became a subsidiary of Canada Coach Lines. Through a corporate reorganization in 1954, CCL became a subsidiary of HSR. HSR and CCL were purchased by the city of Hamilton in 1960. CCL was sold to Trentway-Wagar in 1993. In 1977, the Hamilton-Wentworth Region assumed ownership of HSR. In 2001, regional amalgamation placed ownership back with the city of Hamilton.

Former streetcar system
The HSR operated horsecars from 1874 to 1892. In May 1874, the first horsecar ran south on James Street, then east on King Street to Wellington Street, a distance of 3 mi. At the end of horsecar operation, there were 5 horsecar routes, 12 mi of track, 45 horsecars, 9 sleighs and 160 horses. Fifteen of the horsecars would be converted into electric streetcars. The horsecar system had three barns: North Barn at Stuart and Bay Streets, East Barn at Sanford Avenue and King Street (built 1890) and South Barn at Herkimer and Locke Streets (built 1891). These three locations would continue to be used after electrification. On June 29, 1892, the first electric streetcars went into operation.

In 1895, York Street was mostly double-tracked. In 1896, the first streetcar loop was constructed at Guise Street at the north end of James Street. In 1904, HSR provided rush-hour service north from Barton Street over the tracks of the Hamilton Radial Electric Railway (HRER) along Birch Avenue. In 1907, the 1.4 mi, single-track, side-of-road Bartonville line was built east from Sherman Avenue along King Street East to Strongman Road. Barton Street was double-tracked in 1911. Tracks were extended east along Burlington Street from James Street (1910 and 1913), linking to the double-track HRER line at Birch Avenue. By 1916, tracks had been extended east on Barton Street, north and south on Kennilworth Avenue and west on Main Street; an enlarged Belt Line was created in October 1916 using the new double track and became the city's busiest streetcar line. By 1923, the tracks had been extended west along King Street to Cline Avenue in Westdale. After the Hamilton and Dundas Street Railway ceased operation in 1923, HSR took over a portion of its line along Aberdeen Avenue to Longwood Road.

In 1908, the South Barn was destroyed by fire after which the site continued to be used streetcar storage. In 1910, the Sanford Barn was opened near north-west corner of King and Sanford Streets, across the street from the East Barn. In 1928, new shops were opened near the East Barn to maintain streetcars and interurban cars. In 1929, the North Barn closed.

The HSR had a mixed fleet of single-end and double-end streetcars. Single-end streetcars were used on the Belt Line where no loops were required. In 1927, turning loops were added at the outer ends of the Aberdeen and Westdale lines.

Bus service was introduced in 1926 along Cannon Street. The first contraction of the streetcar system was the closure of the single-track line to Bartonville, replaced by buses in 1929. The first major streetcar abandonment was along York Street on 1939.

By 1940, the HSR operated the following seven routes:

After Canada Coach Lines purchased HSR in 1946, it announced the abandonment of streetcar service. Consequently, service was abandoned on Aberdeen Avenue in 1947, to Westdale in 1949 and on Burlington Street in 1950. The final abandonment was the Belt Line with April 5, 1951 being its last day of service, but with a ceremonial last run on the following day.

Former interurban lines
Hamilton had four interurban lines originating from downtown Hamilton. These lines were not part of the HSR but for many of their years of operation had the same parent company, Dominion Power and Transmission Company. In order to access downtown Hamilton, the interurbans shared some trackage with the HSR.

From 1907, interurban cars ran out of a Hamilton Terminal Station located between Main and King Streets East at Catherine Street. The passenger terminal with several tracks was east of Catherine Street and a two-track interurban freight station was on that street's west side. In 1924, buses of Dominion Power subsidiaries started using the terminal, but loaded on Main Street. After interurbans were abandoned, the passenger station was made over for buses. The station closed in 1955, and was later demolished. Today, its site is occupied by Terminal Towers.

Former trolley bus system
Trolley buses were used by the HSR from 1950 to 1992. The trolley bus system opened on December 10, 1950, and the last day of trolley bus service was December 30, 1992.

On December 10, 1950, the first Hamilton trolley buses went into service on the 4.1 mi Cannon route, replacing a busy bus route. In October 1951, several months after the termination of streetcar service, a second trolley bus route went into service as the 8.6 mi King-Barton route. In 1956, the city introduced one-way streets in downtown Hamilton; as a result, the King-Barton route was split into the separate King and Barton routes. Trolley bus operation was eventually extended as far east as Donn Avenue in Stoney Creek. Trolley buses operated out of the Sanford facility which used to handle streetcars. Originally designated only by names, as in streetcar days, the three routes were later given numbers, 1 for the King route, 2 for Barton, and 3 for the Cannon route. The fleet originally consisted of 50 Canadian Car–Brill vehicles, which by 1973 were replaced by 40 Flyer E700 trolley buses built in 1972–73. Sixteen Flyer E800A vehicles were added in 1978–79. All 56 Flyer trolley buses used some electrical components, such as motors, from retired Brill trolley buses, but that in the E800s came not from HSR Brills but from Brills of the Thunder Bay trolley bus system (closed in 1972 ), purchased by HSR for the parts.

In the mid-1980s, the older Flyer trolley buses were nearing the end of their useful life, given that their electrical equipment had been recycled from 1950 trolley buses. HSR noted that new diesel buses were cheaper to buy than new trolley buses. However, in November 1986, the city council and Hamilton–Wentworth Regional Council both voted in favour of retaining trolley bus operation and endorsing buying new trolley buses, and small investments in new infrastructure were still being made, such as the construction of a new turnaround loop for trolley buses at Eastgate Square mall, which came into use in September 1986. However, temporary substitutions of diesel buses for trolley buses became increasingly common in the late 1980s. Diesel buses temporarily replaced trolley buses on routes 1–King and 3-Cannon in May 1989 because of road construction projects, with trolley buses returning to both routes in November 1989. However, both routes were again dieselized in early January 1990 for what would ultimately be the last time. Only route 2–Barton then remained in operation with trolley buses.

At the time the King and Cannon routes were dieselized, the city moved trolley bus operations to a new bus garage at 330 Wentworth Street North which did not have trolley wires. This was possible because all but one of HSR's 16 newer trolley buses (model E800A) had been retrofitted in 1989–90 with a small auxiliary diesel engine for off-wire movements. The last day for trolley bus operation on the Barton route was December 30, 1992, when only a single trolley bus (No. 7815) was in service. At the time, the regional council was still planning to purchase new trolleybuses for routes 1 and 2, and HSR issued a draft specification for new trolley buses in April 1993, and subsequently, considered purchasing or leasing 40 trolley buses from the Edmonton trolley bus system that had been on loan to the Toronto Transit Commission since 1989–90 and were in storage in Toronto after the 1993 closure of the trolley bus system there. However, after HSR concluded that the Edmonton vehicles would require costly modifications for Hamilton, the regional council voted on March 1, 1994 to make the system's closure permanent.

Barns/garages
HSR is proposing to build a new garage at the site of the former Wentworth Street Transit Centre. The garage would hold 200 natural-gas buses and have 30 repair bays, a bus wash facility and offices. In January 2023, HSR posted bid documents; it hopes to open the new facility in 2024 to supplement the overcrowded Mountain Transit Centre.

Bus routes
Most bus routes in Hamilton operate all of the week, from early morning to late at a night, or past midnight. Headways mostly range from between 6 and 30 minutes, and most routes being 20 minutes or better on weekdays, usually between 12 and 20 minutes frequencies, depending on time of day.

On weekends, frequencies are reduced, and services are usually altered or unavailable on holidays.

There are some special bus routes that only operate during certains times of year, enter Burlington, or otherwise operate in different ways from the majority of routes.

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
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. This program was made permanent in 2018 and has since been expanded to include more stops.

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, and when boarding, tell the bus operator they are riding under Mountain Climber for free. 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.

Rapid transit
Metrolinx, the provincial public transit agency, is planning a 14 km light rail line along the Main/King corridor from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. The line will have 17 stops. Previously known as the B-Line, it is one of five BRT/LRT lines originating from the BLAST network proposal, and the only one in active planning. , the operator of the future line is unknown and might not be HSR. For example, Keolis will operate and maintain the Hurontario LRT, another Metrolinx project, even though the local public transit operator in Mississauga is MiWay.

(Re)envision the HSR
In 2023, a concept plan to prepare the bus routes in the city for the addition of the Hamilton LRT project was presented. This plan was intended to feed LRT ridership, and the HSR will use this operations plan when the LRT is operational.

Terminals and connections
HSR routes from downtown to the Mountain (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, and 35) currently use the Frank A. Cooke Transit Terminal (former 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.

On September 4, 2022, the City of Hamilton renamed the MacNab Transit Terminal to Frank A. Cooke Transit Terminal to honour an employee of the HSR that retired as a general manager and died at the age of 100. The terminal is located at 1 MacNab Street South and was opened in 2011. It serves 10 bus routes with 7,250 weekly arrivals and departures in 2022. The wheelchair accessible terminal has heated platforms, bus shelters, public washrooms and a green roof.

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. 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.

Fares
HSR fares can be paid with exact cash (no change given), Presto card or the mobile Presto e-tickets app. Starting in 2023, riders could tap their credit or debit card on the Presto reader to pay the cash fare amount.

A single-ride fare provides a 2 hour transfer window which allows customers to get on and off HSR buses as many times as they want on a single fare.

Children ages 0 to 5 years old can ride fare-free when travelling with an accompanying paying adult. Children ages 6 to 12 and Hamilton senior residents aged 80 and over can ride fare-free only when travelling with a valid Presto card, for those who do not have a Presto card, they are required to pay a regular fare.

Staff
HSR bus drivers and mechanics (800 employees as of 2019) are members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107. The local does not represent those working on city's paratransit service, Disabled and Aged Regional Transportation System (DARTS), which is a separate, non-profit charitable organization that contracts with HSR.

2023 strike
After regular collective bargaining talks broke down, ATU Local 107 workers went on strike at 12 am on November 9, 2023. The union cited wage increases that did not keep up with the rate of inflation in a handout given to passengers in the days proceeding the job action. The strike came as the city was preparing and hosting festivities for the 110th Grey Cup, for which HSR had been planning to run a shuttle service for fans. The transit union said that any shuttle service would be considered as using scab labour and would be targeted by picket lines. In the early hours of November 16, Mayor Andrea Horwath announced that a deal had been made and that there would be a return to regular service on November 17, 2023. The new 4-year contract was ratified by Local 107 members on November 23 with 81% voting in favour of the deal that in lieu of a changed wage offer, gave transit workers a one-time payment as well as benefit increases.