Originally Posted by dvy88

You gotta check bus times before hand... it saves alot of time. On good days you can make it up there in 25-40 minutes. Oh, and another tip, take the 25 Wentworth and not the 26 Upper Wellington to get there. Both say they are going to Limeridge, but the 26 takes a lot longer because it takes a backdoor indirect route.

So true. Don't take the 26 if you're trying to get to Limeridge quickly. Also, if you're already on the mountain, see if you can take the 41 or 43 as those will get you to the mall as well, meaning you can skip that trip downtown.

Beware during peak traffic times though. When there's a huuuge influx coming up/going down the mountain, your perfectly planned trip to reduce waiting time may go down the drain.

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of creating a policy statement to guide the MSU's lobbying efforts concerning city transit (aka the HSR). I hope to have it past the SRA by our first meeting in March at the very latest.

To this end I'm looking for student input on transit concerns such as

- Fee increases
- LRT/BRT (Light Rapid Transit/Bus Rapid Transit) systems
- Re-Routing of bus lines around campus to better accommodate student needs
- Anything else you can imagine, but for now the policy is limited to city transit only, we can address Go Transit once the basics of this policy are laid out.

You can email me at the following email address with your thoughts and ideas

[email protected]

Thanks everyone and I hope to hear from you!

Andrew Richardson

SRA Humanities/MSU Executive Board

The frequency of 1As, 5Cs, and 51s needs to increase. They are jammed packed day in and day out.　At times, it takes longer to take the bus than a 20-25 minute walk.

Originally Posted by dvy88

The frequency of 1As, 5Cs, and 51s needs to increase. They are jammed packed day in and day out.　At times, it takes longer to take the bus than a 20-25 minute walk.

That was one of the first things I have written down on me notepad

Oh, and I think this has been mentioned already, but weekend service is pretty abysmal. I remember having my first year psych exam (a billion people were writing at the same time!) on a saturday last semester, and buses were running one every half hour. =/

Also, I believe the 5 doesn't have service to Ancaster Meadowlands on the weekends, just up to West Hamilton loop.

But I suppose these just secondary concerns, and really depend on if the HSR will profit out of it.

Making the buses more reliable, especially at night, would be great. Sometimes buses just don't show up at all. There's been times when I've walked instead of taking the bus, and seen 5 or more buses go by me in the other direction, and none in the direction I was going.

Originally Posted by Maegs

There's been times when I've walked instead of taking the bus, and seen 5 or more buses go by me in the other direction, and none in the direction I was going.

That is one of the worst feelings in the world.

Originally Posted by dvy88

That is one of the worst feelings in the world.

One night in first year I just jumped on a 51 going into Dundas instead of the one going downtown as I needed on purpose cos I knew I was gonna grab that one anyway.

The driver was kinda short with me at the end of the line in Dundas "You guys still don't know which way to take the bus?" lol

Originally Posted by dvy88

That is one of the worst feelings in the world.

Or when one eventually does go by, and you're waaay too far away from the next stop to make it in time.

Originally Posted by Maegs

Or when one eventually does go by, and you're waaay too far away from the next stop to make it in time.

Or when a bus is "full" and passes by you, but you can see inside that there is SOOO much room, it's just that the *******s inside are too lazy to move back.

Originally Posted by dvy88

Oh, and I think this has been mentioned already, but weekend service is pretty abysmal. I remember having my first year psych exam (a billion people were writing at the same time!) on a saturday last semester, and buses were running one every half hour. =/

That was you too?
Yeah, I absolutely hated how I had to leave at 6:30 for a 9:30 exam...it was ridiculous waiting for the 5C in the freezing cold for a half-hour once I got downtown.

Oh, and 1A doesn't run on weekends, so choices are even more limited than during the week.

RE: 1A/51/5C frequency:
My friend who goes to school in Toronto has streetcars or buses that come every 5 minutes instead of just every 15. For university students in a hurry to get to campus, increasing frequency even by just 10 minutes definitely makes a world of difference.

Originally Posted by Moo!io

That was you too?
Yeah, I absolutely hated how I had to leave at 6:30 for a 9:30 exam...it was ridiculous waiting for the 5C in the freezing cold for a half-hour once I got downtown.

Oh, and 1A doesn't run on weekends, so choices are even more limited than during the week.

RE: 1A/51/5C frequency:
My friend who goes to school in Toronto has streetcars or buses that come every 5 minutes instead of just every 15. For university students in a hurry to get to campus, increasing frequency even by just 10 minutes definitely makes a world of difference.

Yeah, and the 51 doesn't run on Sundays. What's a girl to do when she's gotta do her groceries, I mean jeeze.

Also, it can be horrible in Toronto too. Buses that I used to take were either really frequent, like 2-5 minutes apart, or 15-20 minutes apart. It depends on the bus itself, and what time of day it is. And thank goodness for the train system, that badboy is never slow.

Originally Posted by Moo!io

RE: 1A/51/5C frequency:
My friend who goes to school in Toronto has streetcars or buses that come every 5 minutes instead of just every 15. For university students in a hurry to get to campus, increasing frequency even by just 10 minutes definitely makes a world of difference.

Don't forget, Hamilton's population is approximately 500 000, while Toronto is 2.8 million, and 5.5 million in the GTA. Unless Hamilton grows by more than five times its size public transportation here won't be at the same efficiency as in Toronto; it would cost far too much.

Originally Posted by lorend

Don't forget, Hamilton's population is approximately 500 000, while Toronto is 2.8 million, and 5.5 million in the GTA. Unless Hamilton grows by more than five times its size public transportation here won't be at the same efficiency as in Toronto; it would cost far too much.

It's true that Toronto has a lot more people, but I think as someone mentioned before, things in Hamilton are pretty spread out and you need either a car or public transit to get around semi-easily. Since parking rates at Mac are so high, that only leaves the option of using public transit. And trust me, even if you start your day as early as 8:00 am, the hours quickly erode away when you have to continually wait for buses to do your errands.