Hamilton councillors vote on future of King St bus lanes

(Updated)

Hamilton could be hitting the brakes on its controversial bus lane pilot project. Next week, council is expected to vote on a motion calling for an end to the year-long project. The traffic experiment has been a source of both promise and frustration for commuters in the city.

The year-long pilot project involved restricting one lane of traffic, in Hamilton’s busy downtown core, to city buses alone. It was a controversial experiment that fueled a divisive debate between advocates of public transit, drivers and business owners.

(Do you use Transit?) “Yes I do often.” (Does it help?) “For me it does it it gets me there quicker so it’s a positive for the people that ride the bus.”

(Does it make it more difficult for you to navigate through the city?)

“Definitely. Buses always make it more difficult for drivers and bigger vehicles. They just always have the right of way all the time and they kind of use that to their advantage anyway.”

“Absolutely, there’s a bottle neck back down at King Street and Wellington all the time and it’s because of the bus lanes.”

Next week the pilot project will be back in the spotlight when council is asked to vote on a motion calling for it to come to an end.

Terry Whitehead, city councillor: “Councillor Collins has suggested that perhaps next Wednesday at council he will introduce a motion to have non-enforcement on those bus lanes meaning then that people will be able to use the bus lanes for their vehicles.”

Data collected by public works during the year long pilot project will be outlined in a detailed report and presented to council in the new year.