If there were an express bus from the McMaster hospital to Lime Ridge Mall, in what situations (if any) would you use the service.

Things to keep in mind:

Getting to Lime Ridge is a ~15 minute drive along the highway, 40-50 minute bus ride with 1 transfer downtown. Assume an express bus would also take ~15 minutes.

Connecting routes at Lime Ridge Mall include the 43(Mohawk), 41(Stone Church), 26(Wellington), and 25(Wentworth).

Allowing for a 10 minute layover at Lime Ridge, I estimate based on current travel times that communities South of the Lincoln Parkway, and East of Garth would be reached on average of about 15 minutes faster. For the areas North and South of Mohawk Rd. it could be anywhere from 0-15 minutes faster depending on proximity to Mohawk and North/South street bus stops.

Limeridge mall also serves as a convenient pick-up/drop-off location for families on the mountain.

When thinking about how long the route would take you, add 15 for the time it takes from McMaster to Lime Ridge, add and estimated 10 minutes for connecting routes, add the time it takes from Lime Ridge to your destination. Compare that to your current travel time.

I know I wouldn't have any use for this, but this would definitely lighten the load on morning buses; there could be a drop off spot for those columbia college kids, westdale ss, or for whatever other schools are in the general area. Maybe the bus could stop at jackson on the way back, or is that not along the express route (up longwood, to highway, etc)

I have been advocating a direct bus to McMaster from the mountain for as long as I've been at McMaster.
As a commuter living on the Mountain, instead of the 40 (50-1hr during rush hour) minutes it takes me to get home, having the commute time cut down to 15-20 minutes without needing to transfer to another bus would be incredibly helpful. Limeridge mall is also pretty centred (generally) for most people who live on the mountain, so as you mentioned, it'd be way easier to connect from there instead of going all the way downtown.

Originally Posted by RyanC

Maybe the bus could stop at jackson on the way back, or is that not along the express route (up longwood, to highway, etc)

edit: I think by express route it's referring to the highway route that google maps gives for cars, so the bus likely wouldn't go through the downtown at all.
http://goo.gl/maps/lMcsw

I'm talking about an express bus that goes along the highway completely bypassing downtown so I think intermediate stops would only hinder the effectiveness of the route. One stop at Columbia college though would be right along the route and would be very useful for people living around Westdale.

wow good responses so far, I was thinking this would significantly ease the load on the buses between campus and westdale while giving people who need to get to the mountain an option to avoid such congestion both on the roads and one buses.

Have you emailed anyone at HSR about it ooburii?

Originally Posted by julianface

Have you emailed anyone at HSR about it ooburii?

Nope. I assumed that for any action to be taken, the MSU would have to be the one making a request based on the needs of the students. And since the number of students commuting from Hamilton mountain to McMaster is fairly small, I didn't know if it was worth bringing it up to them.
I didn't consider being able to go directly to limeridge for shopping as a possible option for mac students, though. that's a good point.

the one thing I'm not sure about is that it would probably need to run almost as frequently as the b-lines in order to be a viable option (instead of just taking 2 busses instead).

I live on stoney creek mountain and I usually take the 44 (Rymal) and the bline to get to mac and it takes me about an hour to get there (longer to get home). So a bus to limeridge and catching the 43 would probably save me 20ish minutes. Not a lot, but it would be much easier


woops, just saw the poll after I made this post...oh well

I live up on Rymal and this is a good idea but I still have to take a bus from my house to Limeridge and then take this express bus. Either way it would be about the same traveling time as I am doing now. Of course if this ever to exist, I have to recalculate my traveling time.

That would cut off at least 30 minutes to my commute from up the mountain , and be a beautiful thing :p

I think I'll shoot an email to hsr and see what they saye what they think about it.

Originally Posted by julianface

I think I'll shoot an email to hsr and see what they saye what they think about it.

I feel like they wouldn't be so inclined to do it. It's one thing to prove that it would be used a lot, but when it will be used a lot without increasing their revenue, then it's just going to cost them money. A lot of McMaster students would use it but they're already paying for bus passes which allow them unlimited access to buses during Sept-Apr.
You should definitely still email them to see what they say, but I feel like from a straight-up money perspective it's not worth it for them, unless other people (not people who already have monthly passes) would pay to use it.