As undergraduates, we ought to hope that arriving to school punctually in the mornings doesn't require pushing our way onto public transit.

Simply put, the service of the HSR during the morning rush hour is lousy. This is on account of the fact that secondary and other students are also commuting at this time, in turn filling up buses quickly. All too often individuals are forced to choose between walking or being late to class, particularly those living on the Emerson stretch or taking the bus along King and Sterling. When we, as a body, are paying over a hundred dollars for a mandatory pass each year, and much of our academic year is situated in the harsh Canadian winter, to be complacent with this quality of service is unacceptable.

Yet, it's been going on for years.

If this problem isn't nipped in the bud, it will continue to be a concern for those living off-campus for the first time next year. I want to change that. On SRA, I will push various committees to get in talks with the city, to remedy this unquestioned issue. As a native Hamiltonian, it's something that I'm passionate about, and I hold a solution is attainable; after all, just look at the 5C Meadowlands finally running on weekends!

Voting commences next week from March 12-14. Instructions should be sent to your McMaster emails promptly. Regardless of your faculty, I encourage you all to exercise your right, to vote for students who represent -you-!

Chad Grover for SRA Social Science on Facebook

Get up earlier for an early bus? "over a hundred dollars" = $108 which only increased 2 years ago.

How exactly are you planning to solve this problem? Getting in talks with the city will do nothing if you can't propose some solutions.

Grover's name is Chad, too? Well, would ya look at that. Learn something new every day.

-Longest walk down Emerson is about 20 minutes... seriously?
-It's hard to address this because it's a very time-sensitive issue.. you'll essentially need about half a dozen extra buses (or so). Doing so means calling in extra drivers for about an hour long period... on some days...then what? Send them home?
-Are you a 1 button candidate?
-How will you offer any different solutions from the countless previous people running bringing up this exact same issue?

Honestly, I think Columbia College needs their own bus (downtown crowding issue) because those kids take up so much bus time (not moving down, everyone getting up at the last possible minute). As for off campus Medowlands bus... yeah I know the feel.

I'm just curious Chad, I'm a Hamilton native so-- are you aware of the LRT line being proposed right now?

LRT can't really be taken into consideration. Bratina is against it, much like he is against most things McMaster/that make life easier for students, so I don't really see it going forward yet. Second, it will take so long to design/construct/implement that it definitely won't be around for the use of most Mac students (other than the HSR lifers like myself haha).

To me, a far bigger issue with HSR is them not keeping to their schedule. They have a few buses scheduled to be a few minutes apart, and then all arrive together and it's not uncommon to have one or more of them skip stops entirely as they alternate which stops to pick people up at, which leads to one overcrowded bus and two empty buses, and also causes problems for people waiting at the stop who want to catch the bus that just drove past without stopping.

Also, whenever buses don't come or are late, you end up with overcrowding and then buses driving by full. For example, I was on my way to a 7pm exam last year, and I left my house at 6:25pm. It's a 20min walk to IWC where my exam was, but I decided to take the bus and get there early. There was supposed to be a bus at 6:27 and 6:29 but they both drove by at 6:27 (I watched them as I walked to Kind and Longwood, which was about 3 minutes away). There was supposed to be another bus at 6:33, then 6:36, then 6:42, and then after that I have no idea. None of those three buses came, and by that point I couldn't wait any longer because I (along with the 20 other people who were on their way to exams) had to either run or risk being late. And even if we had waited, because the last three buses didn't come, the next bus that *did* come would be packed with people anyways, and would drive by full. I was lucky enough that I could get my housemate to drive me and I made it right on time, but this sort of thing happening with the buses is not an uncommon occurrence and imo, this is a huge contributor to the problem of overcrowding.

Funny that this thread was only created AFTER Eric made his thread. Negative points for lack of originality Grover. And your solution of "having talks" with the HSR really sounds like a fully thought out solution is ready to be presented...

The biggest problem with the HSR is people who dont complain to them about their garbage service. I'm sure if the residents of Hamilton and McMaster students alike actually called and complained about the service, they would be forced to do something about it. Instead, people just accept the lousy service they provide. For example, the 1A, 5A/5C and 51 always run back-to-back-to-back, but yet no one ever complains about this. The main issue is that people accept this service and either dont care enough to complain, or they actually legitimately think thats how buses should run. The MSU should be the ones complaining to the HSR about their garbage service in any case.

solution: put ALL OF THE BUSES on student duty, to hell with other Hamiltonians. Honestly, learn to ride a bike or walk. Fixed.

Originally Posted by Afzal

Get up earlier for an early bus? "over a hundred dollars" = $108 which only increased 2 years ago.

What about those with night class until 10? What about those who work late to pay for tuition or rent? Or those who assist after hours on campus volunteering? There is no denying that young people aren't getting enough sleep these days, which has its own share of health risks. To wake up for 7:30, a person should, ideally, be asleep by 10:30.

That's cutting it close with regard to people finishing at 10. And it's $121.80, according to McMaster's website.

Originally Posted by RyanC

-Longest walk down Emerson is about 20 minutes... seriously?
-It's hard to address this because it's a very time-sensitive issue.. you'll essentially need about half a dozen extra buses (or so). Doing so means calling in extra drivers for about an hour long period... on some days...then what? Send them home?
[...]
-How will you offer any different solutions from the countless previous people running bringing up this exact same issue?

Originally Posted by chappy89

solution: put ALL OF THE BUSES on student duty

Roughly about that, yeah, from the Whitney and Emerson stop to the middle of campus. But if, for example, you aren't able to board the 8:17 bus because it's overcrowded, you arrive nearly 15 minutes late to your class, location varying. That's almost one third of the typical lecture, and that's presuming the bus drives by on schedule to boot.

McMaster already shuttles students to and from Fortinos on weeknights as part of a deal they have to ensure people are getting their groceries. If talking to the city proves to be fruitless, why not seek out a key sponsor? A Hamilton corporation such as Dofasco or the Tiger-Cats, for instance. Tiger-Cats already use Ron Joyce Stadium throughout the year for practice, so rather than charge a usage fee, why not have them contribute to a busing program? It'd be great from a PR perspective; Mac could even provide the vehicles while they cover insurance, mileage, maintenance, and drivers. Even have them run prior to night classes to avoid the HSR-every-half-an-hour trap.

Originally Posted by Chris23

Funny that this thread was only created AFTER Eric made his thread. Negative points for lack of originality Grover.

I'm sorry to hear that I lost points in your book! But as an active member of this community for over two years, I've had plans to publicize myself on here since campaigning started- I just needed to obtain permission from the elections committee first.

Originally Posted by Grover

I'm sorry to hear that I lost points in your book! But as an active member of this community for over two years, I've had plans to publicize myself on here since campaigning started- I just needed to obtain permission from the elections committee first.

Well there goes respect points now, seeing as you didnt show enough interest in my post to realize that im in eng and dont have any influence on the results of your election. come on your making this an easy decision for the Soc Scis Grover, you can do better

Great to see a MacInsiders staffer running for SRA. Good luck Grover!

Hey Chad,

I was wondering what additional or external research you have done to look into what is it that you want to accomplish and how?

The HSR project is something I've brought up in my role as SRA External Affairs Commissioner (10-12) and VP Education this year and partially in response to mine and the MSU's efforts the city announced this summer: http://www.thesil.ca/greener-buses-a...vice-increases

Given their increased investment via articulated buses and the weekend service to meadowlands, what else is it that you hope to specifically address? Have you looked at cost breakdowns of each bus route? A few of the buses that run via campus actually cost the HSR a loss but they are run to support the student population. City Politics are another factor since given the city and HSR's fiscal climate each Ward is competing for limited resources and given the transitional nature of McMaster students and their low voter turnouts they don't really have much on their bargaining plate apart from MSU's contract with HSR which again is a weird negotiation since there is no way the MSU will ever threaten to cut off the contract since it is heavily subsidized as opposed to buying regular HSR monthly passes. Any improvements definitely have to do with our political goodwill and the City's intent to retain McMaster students. Rush hours are especially worse since there is excess demand across the city all at once and a limited numbers of buses, most of my drive by's have definitely been at that morning 830-1030 period. I hope this isn't taken as me providing excuses, but rather some of the natural barriers to advocacy. On another note it is usually the relevant Board of Directors who take upon these major advocacy projects if the SRA or a number of students bring it up as a concern, however apart from sporadic passive aggressive posts on my personal social media I haven't heard of any major movement against the current HSR service, especially after their improvements this year.

But that being said I'm glad you're passionate about this issue since I definitely feel more can be done during rush hours. Feel free to email me if you are interested in hashing it out more or would like my comments on research you've done in response to my post.