A recent survey found that the majority of Hamiltonians would prefer to see the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) operate the city’s future light-rail transit system rather than a private contractor.
The survey, conducted by the Keep Transit Public campaign, was published last week, and over a thousand Hamilton residents were asked for their thoughts on the matter.
The group is made up of labour organizers, social groups and environmental activist who are against privatizing the future transit system.
One of the biggest takeaways from the survey was its finding that the LRT project would become more popular among Hamiltonians if it were to remain in public hands.
According to the figures, 67 per cent of Hamiltonians want to see the LRT system be run and maintained by the HSR.
Additionally, the survey found that the entire project would be much more palatable if kept public, with 73.3 per cent of respondents saying that they would be “more likely to support the project if it was publicly run by HSR.”
The move to have a private contractor operate the LRT system stems from an earlier research study conducted in January on the behalf of city council.
It suggested that a private operator running the light-rail transit system during its first 10 years would create to the least amount of “risk” to the city and keep overall costs low.
READ MORE: Hamilton city council discusses report suggesting private operator to run LRT
“That a majority of the respondents, with a preference, indicated the HSR as their choice to operate the LRT, City Councillors had better listen to their constituents,” said Anthony Marco, Hamilton and District Labour Council president.
“It would seem that even among people who may not have supported the concept of an LRT to begin with, now that it’s coming, would rather have the HSR operate it than some unknown private corporation.”
City staff is scheduled to present several operating models for the LRT system at Wednesday’s General Issues Committee meeting.
The group plans to hold a press conference at city hall on Monday.
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