Council to recommend 3rd party run Hamilton LRT for 10 years before transition to public model

Hamilton council is expected to recommend that the coming light rail transit (LRT) line be operated by a third party for the first 10 years of its life, before being taken over by the municipality.

The majority of councillors voted in favour of the recommendation Wednesday at the General Issues Committee, despite a push from several delegates, some councillors and other local elected officials to keep LRT operations public from the start.

The decision still has to be ratified formally by council next week. It will then be presented to provincial transit agency Metrolinx, which has the final say, since it will own the LRT.

Metrolinx's chief operating officer of rapid transit, Steve Levene, outlined "the main considerations" the province and Metrolinx will be using to make that call, in a letter submitted ahead of Wednesday's meeting.

Those considerations include potential operators' experience running an LRT system, their ability to maintain "the highest level of overall performance," risk, and Hamilton's feedback. 

On Jan. 30, the city's transit sub-committee pushed the decision on the issue to this week's meeting of the committee, on which all councillors sit, emphasizing the complexity and importance of the issue. At the time, transit committee members said they wanted more input. 

Staff previously reported four possible models for LRT operation:

A third party fully operates the LRT.

The city performs "passenger interface activities," such as fare enforcement and customer relations as in the case of the Region of Waterloo's LRT and the planned Hazel McCallion Line in Peel Region.

The city shares operations and performs passenger interface activities.

The city performs all operational activities, as is the case with the Toronto Transit Commission's forthcoming Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West lines, and the City of Ottawa's Confederation Line.

Staff recommended the second model.

On Wednesday, Abdul Shaikh, who directs Hamilton's LRT project office, said the first model risked creating passenger confusion, and staff were not aware of any other LRT systems using the third approach. 

"Model 2 appears to have many advantages," he said, including the second-lowest cost to the city, and few disadvantages that could be "easily mitigated." He also said having a third party manage more operations would reduce the city's liability.