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 13 Candidate Alex Wilson
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?
My top priority is increasing the reliability and frequency of transit lines in Hamilton. The Options for Travel Report, to me summarizes what our City should already accomplished. We will need to go even further in the decades ahead, especially when we look at the emissions reductions we will need. As a transit user, I am very excited about looking at expanding the HSR and considering an HSR reroute upon the completion of the B-line LRT. In my community bus service is twice an hour and the routes twist and turn ensuring as many residents are serviced as possible. These leads to few, infrequent and inefficient lines. I am not a driver so I rely on the HSR to get around and know first hand how important and overdue increasing service levels are.
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?
Recently my community has had lots of work done by the City to install bikes lanes in key transit corridors. We have not increased the availability of bikes though. After years of proving their worth and value to Hamilton residents now is the time to invest in growing our Bike Share program and ensure that every urban neighborhood has at least one docking station. Further, my priorities in any HSR re-routes would be to increase direct connections on existing lines by adding additional service. Extending existing lines to the Dundas Valley Conservation Authourity and to Aldershot GO have also been repeatedly mentioned by neighbours on the doors as important destinations impacting people’s willingness to ride the HSR. Every HSR Stop should also have posted what lines stop and their frequency so an internet connection isn’t required to navigate new lines or destinations.
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?
As a Hamilton Transit Riders Union Member I am a strong believe that transit users and transit workers should have a direct and regular say on transit issues, having regular engagement will help achieve the continuous improvement we have committed to as a City. Specific actions I support include:
– Complaint + concern tracking and reporting
– Bus Stop and SoBi station safety audits
– Neighbourhood planning and engagement around safe low carbon school commutes
– Complete and Friendly Streets Audits for all Ward 13 Neighborhoods
– Encourage neighbourhood organizing and engagement in planning process, in our community most of the unsafe or speeding drivers we may worry about are not cutting through our community they are our neighbours. Having these conversations in a local context will be essential for promoting social change that complements physical infrastructure improvements or policy enhancements.
