Clark's LRT opposition a cynical ploy to divide Hamilton

Ryan McGreal is theeditor ofRaisetheHammer, a local civic affairs website. He lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant.

When former Toronto Mayor David Crombie spoke in Hamilton last November, he decried thosedivisive politicians who "drive a wedge into the city and grab the bigger piece."

With our own Mayor's job up for grabs this October, the temptation to play Hamilton's solitudes against each other must behard to resist.

It has proven irresistible to mayoral hopeful Brad Clark, who wants to turn the city's light rail transit (LRT) plan into a wedge issue he can drive between the city's urban and suburban voters.

This is a problem for Clark, who would frame the issue as a win-lose conflict. He has resorted tomaking entirely unsupported claims about LRT to try and turn voters against this transformativeopportunity.

We will be left behind again as those cities attract more investment,residents and jobs.- Ryan McGreal

The plan for an east-west LRT line between Eastgate and McMaster will bring large net benefits toHamilton. It means new private investment and economic development, higher property tax revenue,better use of our municipal infrastructure and a more affordable transit cost structure a win-win proposition for the whole city.

Clark claims the LRT and a north-south bus rapid transit system will cost $73.5 million a year tooperate. However, the City's own LRT plan, approved unanimously by Council last year, notes that theentire transit system LRT and buses combined will cost $51 million a year to operate.

Since LRT has a lower operating cost per-passenger than buses but attracts many more riders, acombined LRT and bus system will be $7 million a year cheaper to operate than a bus-only system,despite carrying 30 percent more passengers overall.

When you add LRT, the average net operating cost per transit ride drops from $2.28 to $1.51. Costsavings on LRT help pay for higher service levels on bus lines.

Clark claims the projected increase in new private investment around an LRT is "overly rosy" withoutproviding any critique of the City's analysis. The expected boost in new taxable assessment is actuallya very conservative worst-case estimate. If anything, the actual increase in private investment will bemuch higher.

Clark also insists Hamilton will have to pay "millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars" for capitalupgrades even if the Province pays 100% of the capital cost of LRT.

This is pure conjecture. The province has not made a funding commitment yet and has not specifiedwhat it will cover.

If Hamilton turns down a fully-funded LRT, we will end up paying millions of dollars more per yearfor a transit system that will carry far fewer passengers.

Even worse, we will still have to help pay for LRT in Toronto, Mississauga, Kitchener-Waterloo andother GTA municipalities. We will be left behind again as those cities attract more investment,residents and jobs.

Opposition to LRT might be a savvy political tactic but it makes absolutely no business sense and fails the most important test of leadership: the ability to see the big picture and unite the public under acommon interest.