Hamilton city council’s long-awaited decision on the public versus private operation of the LRT has finally been determined.

After years of discussion and delay, this polarizing issue came down to a nine to six vote.

City council voted in favour of Hamilton’s LRT to be privately operated for its first decade before it’s handed over to the city, with transition work beginning no later than year five.

That’s despite passionate testimonies from transit riders and advocates hoping to sway the city’s vote towards an HSR-run model from the get go.

READ MORE: Hamilton city council discusses report suggesting private operator to run LRT

“When light rail breaks down, it is far more important for the city to have the ability to directly intervene and fix operational problems than to have someone else to blame,” Ian Borsuk from Environment Hamilton said.

“The McMaster students’ union would likely have to renegotiate for a different pass with Metrolinx, or pay some of this past fees to Metrolinx likely increasing the cost,” McMaster Student Declan Withers said.

“Why would Hamilton want anyone else but the HSR and ATU workers to continue delivering us safely into the future on the LRT?” Tracey Langille from CUPE Local 548 asked.

Last week, the Keep Transit Public Coalition released a survey which found that the majority of Hamiltonians would prefer to see the HSR operate the city’s LRT.

READ MORE: Majority of Hamiltonians would prefer LRT be run by HSR: study

Hamilton’s local transit union has threatened to take the city to court, saying if the HSR isn’t tapped to run the LRT line, that violates their collective agreement, a position reaffirmed on Wednesday.

“For the city council to pass a motion that is in complete contrary to what they’ve agreed to in that collective agreement leaves us no alternative but to go through the court or arbitration process,” ATU Local 108 President Eric Tuck said.

The price tag on the LRT is around $3.4 billion, but is expected to balloon.

Several operational models were on the table, but city council voted in favour of two.

The first, includes performing passenger-related activities, like customer service and fare enforcement, while a third party controls vehicle and B-line operations.

But that will only happen for the first ten years, after that, the city would take on everything.

Metrolinx owns LRT assets and infrastructure, meaning the organization has the final say on who operates the line.