Local councillor says changes will greatly help business community. Photo credit: HSR
Starting Sunday, September 3, 2023, Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) bus service will be extending eastward to Winona for the very first time.
The Route 55 bus that runs along Highway 8 currently ends its route at the Stoney Creek Municipal Service Centre at Jones Road.
The route will be extended all the way to the Winona Crossing retail plaza at Fifty Road in a matter of weeks.
Local Councillor Jeff Beattie (Ward 10 – Stoney Creek-Fruitland-Winona) told The Hamilton Independent that he heard “a lot of support” during the municipal election campaign for transit service to Winona.
He says he heard from seniors, newcomers, students, and local businesses in particular.
“Businesses are struggling to attract employees – everyone from the retailers and restaurants at Winona Crossing to the steel fabricators on Arvin Ave, and everyone in between. [The expanded service] is going to help them increase productivity and make them more competitive while unlocking job opportunities at the same time,” Beattie stated.
According to the HSR website, buses will continue to stop at Jones Road but then continue east on Highway 8 before turning up Glover Road and then heading further east on Barton Street.
Buses will then head north on Winona Road and enter the Winona Crossing plaza via Vince Mazza Way before heading back to Jones Road via the North Service Road, Fifty Road, Barton Street, Glover Road, and Highway 8.
Service will be daily every 30 minutes between the hours of 5am and 1am.
The new route means that a number of key destinations will be that much more accessible to Hamiltonians, including Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary, St. Gabriel Elementary, the Amazon facility at Glover Road, Hamilton Builders’ Supply, E.D. Smith, Orchard Terrace Nursing Home, Winona Park, and the long list of businesses at the Winona Crossing retail plaza such as the Winona Costco and Winona Metro.
Most of the Winona area is currently only served by Trans-Cab service which connects residents to their nearest bus stop and home again via taxi for 50 cents.
Residents have long noted that the Trans-Cab service can be spotty, particularly when being picked up, with users often having to book hours in advance.
Even when booking, users have reported that taxis sometimes simply do not show up.
Buses will pass Greenbelt land slated for development
Interestingly, the new bus route extension means that buses will pass by two properties on Fifty Road in Winona that the Ford government is planning on removing from the Greenbelt and opening to development.
The removal of the lands from the Greenbelt is part of a land swap meant to allow for more residential construction to combat sky-high housing prices.
The new bus route will inevitably be used to market those properties at 331 and 339 Fifty Road when they are developed.
While Beattie opposes what he calls the “slow erosion of the Greenbelt,” he notes that the Fifty Road Greenbelt lands are tiny, surrounded by existing development, have water, sewer, and other utilities nearby, and have not been farmed in 30 years, so “the writing was already on the wall” that the lands were likely to be developed.
“The province has decided to make it happen, so it’s going to happen,” he added.
More advanced service in the works
Beattie also says that there are additional concepts in the works to increase transit service even further throughout his ward.
He pointed to three concepts that “are all very early in the process” but that he will be helping to push forward.
Those are:
- MyRide on-demand HSR bus service
- A fixed-route extension to Frances Avenue
- Integration of Stoney Creek routes with GO Transit at both ends (connecting Confederation GO Station in Stoney Creek to Casablanca GO Terminal in Grimsby)
MyRide service was newly introduced to Hamilton in 2021, serving a specific area of Waterdown.
The system is similar to an Uber or taxi ride only within a fixed area and with a city bus. Users call a number or use the HSR MyRide app to request pick-up and the bus drives around picking people up and dropping them up at their desired destination.
Frances Avenue is considered a high priority to link to HSR service due to the high number of new residential units that have been approved in the area.
New approvals include three new towers that will be coming to 310 Frances Avenue near Green Road and North Service Road. Those buildings will be 34, 37, and 44 storeys and have 1,390 residential units.
Other HSR changes
A number of other changes are also being made to the HSR system starting September 3, including the introduction of Sunday service for the Route 10 B-line.
Those changes can all be viewed on the HSR website.
HSR fares will also be increasing by $0.10 for those using PRESTO and $0.25 for those using cash starting Friday, September 1, 2023.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
