“Throw Council on the Bus” campaign revs up

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How much would you pay to see City of Hamilton councillors ride the HSR for a week?

An online campaign by Environment Hamilton launched Wednesday is encouraging council members who recently voted to remove the downtown bus lane, to use transit to get to and from work.

It’s called “Throw Council on the Bus”. The goal is to give councillors a new perspective on transit, to experience it as a regular rider.

Don McLean from Environment Hamilton says it’s a much needed eye-opener.

“We don’t think councillors have a good idea about what needs to happen with the system. They don’t understand the experience of the bus rider and without that experience they don’t make good decisions.”

One of those recent decisions was to scrap the 2 k.m. bus lane along King Street.

Ward 3 councillor Matthew Green is one of the few councillors who already takes the bus everyday…

“It gives me a chance to talk with people and have conversations around things like the LRT and public transit, certainly the bus lanes were a big debate on the bus,”

Hamiltonians can pledge donations to the campaign in the name of any councillor they choose. Once that councillor uses the HSR for 5 days that money will be used to buy bus tickets and donated to riders who need them.

The campaign, launched Wednesday morning has already raised nearly $3000.

Councillors Chad Collins and Terry Whitehead are leading the pledges right now.

Neither were available for interviews with CHCH News Wednesday, but both have said they some councillors with the most pledges say they can’t or won’t take the bus for a week.