BACCC asked all municipal candidates for their views on environmentally-friendly transportation options, presenting them with these three questions. Views expressed are solely those of the candidates and do not reflect the views of BACCC or its members. All responses have been reviewed to ensure appropriateness and relevance to the questions posed. We encourage you to make an informed decision by researching your local candidates.
Hamilton Ward 12 Candidate Robert Baboth
From the recommendations in BACCC’s Options for Travel report, which would be your top priority to enact to ensure safe, reliable, convenient and equitable transportation options?
Recommendation 1: City of Hamilton could benefit from improved frequency with larger fleet assigned to several routes.
Riders want buses to to arrive more frequently. Bus frequency remains a top priority. Riders usually are waiting for their bus exposed to the elements. Also, the time spent waiting also adds to their total commute time. Riders who usually use the bus for transportation are our youth, seniors and lower income households. Improved bus frequency reduces congestions in our cities. Public transportation is a cheaper than owning and operating a vehicle. Therefore, the more we can make ridership attractive the better the down stream effects on our cities and towns.
If environmentally friendly transportation options are not convenient, residents will be less likely to choose those options over driving.
What steps would you take to ensure environmentally friendly transportation options are convenient?
Recommendation 9: Cities should collect data on the number of bus stops with seating and strive to increase the percentage of bus stops with seating for users to rest, particularly pregnant women and the elderly.
Also:
Expand Bike/Car share program (Car2go, Zipcar)
“Slow Down”: We need to review our speed limits in all of our residential areas and determine what is the safe speed to protect our citizens.
Encourage more walking with in our communities. Have walking maps drawn up with popular locations, safe walking routes and approximate times to get there.
Environmentally friendly transportation needs to be perceived as safe in order to be viewed as a viable option.
What steps would you take to ensure all users feel safe when using all transportation methods?
Safer Streets: Set up a Safe Streets Initiative. This committee would be made up of representatives from the cycling community, city planning, Hamilton Police, CAA and community members. Pick a city counselor to be the Executive Sponsor who’s role will be to have collaborative discussions about traffic calming measures and the development of a road map to include: review residential street speed limits, traffic calming measures; expansion of bike lanes, street environmental improvements (much like the cities of Calgary and Vancouver have adopted).
The goals of this committee would be to make our neighborhoods a safe place for pedestrians, cyclists’ and motorists.
