CATCH Articles:
Suburban councillors push through bus fare hike
Mar 27, 2007
In a raucous meeting this afternoon, a slight majority composed mainly of suburban councillors, approved a fare hike this year for HSR and DARTS. A proposal for further hikes in each of the next three years was defeated. The decisions must still be ratified by city council – likely in April as part of approving all 2007 budget decisions.
If confirmed, the move will push the seniors pass up by $40 a year, the monthly adult and student passes rise by $6, while the cash fare goes up 15 cents and ticket prices climb by 10 cents. It was adopted 9-7 with the support of six of the seven suburban councillors.
The motion was moved by Margaret McCarthy and seconded by Maria Pearson. It was supported by Dave Mitchell, Lloyd Ferguson, Robert Pasuta, Brad Clark, Brian McHattie, Bob Bratina and Mayor Eisenberger. Voting against the increase were Sam Merulla, Chad Collins, Terry Whitehead, Russ Powers, Scott Duvall, Bernie Morelli and Tom Jackson.
The plan for hikes in 2008, 2009 and 2010 would have added another $100 to the seniors annual pass, $15 more to the monthly pass, and 25 cents to both tickets and cash fares. It was defeated 9-7 as McHattie and Bratina joined the rest of the councillors from the old city in opposing the multi-year increases.
The decisions were preceded by the defeat of a motion by Merulla that would have seen an increase only for cash fares, with passes and tickets remaining at current prices. When that was turned down, Merulla became disruptive – repeatedly interrupting the proceedings and mocking councillors who voted against his motion.
That led Bratina to pull out the council code of conduct.
“No person shall …a applaud participants in a debate, or engage in conversation or other behaviour which may disrupt the proceedings of council,” Bratina read. “Can I ask that if this continues, that he be removed.”
Merulla responded by demanding to be expelled “on behalf of the people with disabilities and the most powerless in our community.” Eisenberger chose instead to delay the meeting several times until Merulla stopped interrupting the meeting.
Two earlier decisions appeared to set the stage for the bitter division. In the first one, council overwhelmingly voted not to hire an alternative transportation coordinator – a position sought “to ensure timely and comprehensive cycling facility planning and implementation”.
The monies allocated each year to improve cycling facilities are regularly not spent, hence the request for a staff person to take responsibility for this. But council balked at the $85,500 a year price tag and voted down the proposal – a move opposed by only McHattie, Bratina and Eisenberger. In a related move, a decision was made to not make this year’s $300,000 annual budget for cycling because monies set aside in previous years hadn’t been used up.
The second move, bitterly opposed by McHattie, took $390,000 from the provincial gas tax fund to cover increased HSR operating expenses. McHattie argued that the gas tax monies are supposed to be used to improve the transit system, not cover inflationary costs.
As a result of the second move, McHattie switched from an earlier position against fare hikes, arguing that the key focus should be on improving HSR service.
“We need to get HSR the dollars to do that so they don’t continue to fall behind,” he argued, “I already said my piece on provincial gas tax and we watched as council spent more of that on operating costs instead of on service so this doesn’t bode well for the future.”
Staff have predicted that the fare increase will generate $1.1 million in additional revenue for the HSR, but will also mean about 550,000 fewer riders per year. That could reduce the amount of gas tax money provided by the province.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Hamilton will receive only $11.1 million in gas tax this year from the McGuinty government. That’s down from $11.4 million last year. Transit director Don Hull told councillors today the decrease was likely caused by Hamilton falling behind other Ontario municipalities in both transit ridership and population growth – the two factors used to determine the exact amount of gas tax provided to each city.