Light Rail

Lost opportunities can tell us much

By Ryan McGreal
Published February 20, 2010

Shameless Self-Promotion Dept.

I took my essay on LRT and survivorship bias, boiled it down to its essence (editorial oversight is a Good Thing) and submitted it to the Spectator. Thanks to the rash of seasonal illnesses that have ravaged our home lately, I didn't actually get out of bed yesterday, but I'm told my essay was published.

One note of clarification - when I listed the three Metrolinx options for rapid transit on the east-west corridor, I wrote the following about Option 3:

Phased LRT from McMaster to Ottawa Street, with BRT from Ottawa to Eastgate until LRT is built in 2030.

The BRT from Ottawa Street to Eastgate would be the current BRT-like rapid bus service à la the B-Line, not the Metrolinx definition of BRT running on dedicated lanes with signal priority. Sorry for any misunderstanding this might have caused.

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Ryan wrote a city affairs column in Hamilton Magazine, and several of his articles have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. His articles have also been published in The Walrus, HuffPost and Behind the Numbers. He maintains a personal website, has been known to share passing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and posts the occasional cat photo on Instagram.

6 Comments

View Comments: Nested | Flat

Read Comments

[ - ]

By lukev (anonymous) | Posted February 21, 2010 at 12:30:58

Ryan, the Spectator credits you as one of their staff. Is there something you forgot to tell us? (or am I just out of the loop?)

Permalink | Context

[ - ]

By jason (registered) | Posted February 21, 2010 at 18:06:24

the end of the article lists him as editor of RTH and nothing more. At least on the online version.

Permalink | Context

[ - ]

By jonathan dalton (registered) | Posted February 21, 2010 at 21:54:48

I'm really glad that got printed. The quality of these 'survivor' businesses has been somewhat of an elephant in the room in the whole debate. Fact is some of them are not worth saving.

Permalink | Context

[ - ]

By lukev (anonymous) | Posted February 21, 2010 at 22:43:54

False alarm then?

I always thought when they write THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR under your name, it means you are staff, and if they write SPECIAL TO THE SPECTATOR it means you are not?

Permalink | Context

[ - ]

By TreyS (registered) | Posted February 23, 2010 at 12:11:56

The Spec wishes you wrote for the them Ryan

Permalink | Context

[ - ]

By D (anonymous) | Posted March 18, 2010 at 22:12:36

Excellent article Ryan, glad there is some movement towards positive change!
I have emailed my MP and the mayor already about support towards the LRT. Being a Hamilton house owner what other actions can the rest of us take?

Permalink | Context

View Comments: Nested | Flat

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to comment.

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds