Prior to the announcement on March 26 of a $100,000, two-year project in collaboration with researchers at McMaster, the HSR posted a photo on their Twitter featuring their management team. This photo had the group of seven people, not including the photographer, at the back of a bus stating they were headed to the university.
The question remains how they managed to find a significant amount of space at the back of a bus heading to McMaster in the middle of the day. It appears to be a brand new bus that is not in service yet, and was specifically used for the team to stage a photo op.
During a live stream with CBC Hamilton about eight hours later, the leaders of the HSR were asked, “When’s the last time you took the HSR?” Dan McKinnon, the general manager of public works, replied, “As a matter of fact, we took the bus to the announcement today.”
It is unsurprising and disappointing that management is unwilling to take the service they provide, but the disingenuous and tone-deaf PR is a new and unfortunate development.
CBC Hamilton’s article on the announcement contained, “The HSR management team travelled to and from the university campus by bus.” While this is all technically true, it does not reveal everything the public should know or question.
On March 21, Graeme MacKay, an editorial cartoonist for the Hamilton Spectator, posted a comic that would appear in the March 22 issue. The topic was about Service Canada and their policy for employees to use gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language. Critics on social media immediately began to criticize the comic for being tone-deaf, shameful and transphobic.
MacKay then doubled down with comments such as advising people to write a letter to the editor demanding it while adding, “Don’t forget to call it hate, as you’ve already declared it is and in the process belittling real hate where it actually exists,” and “I guess I hit a nerve under a very very thin layer of skin.”
The Hamilton Spectator has made no major comment at the time of writing. However, they have published opinion pieces in response to the comic such as, “Tone-deaf cartoon made a mockery of LGBTQI2S+ community struggles,” and multiple letters to the editor under, “Editorial cartoon draws fire, counter hate with reason and other letters to the editor.”
We had our own ethics consideration for this Silhouette issue, and a good portion of this was to help answer any questions about how McMaster students may perceive it.
We raised a fairly significant red flag after receiving the image that now appears on the back cover. After a bit of coordination and back-and-forth about the source, the clarification came about that this is from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
This is a legitimate avenue as part of their guidelines for the MPP to communicate with the constituents in the riding to inform them of government news, policies, programs and any initiatives that impact the immediate community. It is not paid for with funds from a political organization. It is not classified as political advertisement.
We also reached out and double-checked ethics standards with the National NewsMedia Council. This is a self-regulatory ethics body for English-language news in Canada that we joined earlier this academic year, which includes other organizations such as the National Post, the Globe and Mail and the Canadian Press.
In addition, we also discussed guidelines and recommendations for standard political advertisements to better prepare us for the provincial and municipal elections that take place within the next few months.
With all of these examples, there should be expectations of how organizations conduct themselves. These are instances of where the foundation of your values and ethics are tested and may be put on display for the public to judge and criticize.
These cases and examples throughout the year do occur from time to time whether it entails biases and spin, a lack of clarity in reporting, an alternative way to deal with controversy, varying levels of transparency or a multitude of other factors that could influence the situation.
While I cannot speak in depth about the mindset or processes of other organizations, I can safely say that we have covered our bases. You should expect your sources of information to do their homework when it comes to things like this, to hold themselves accountable and to keep the interests and potential questions their readership has in mind.
Efforts and explanations like this, previous editorials about the Silhouette and the reopening of reader feedback have all in an effort for transparency and eliminating any confusion possible between you and us. For now, I can safely say that any considerations or questions about media ethics on our end have already happened, either in bursts like this or periodically throughout the year at regular meetings with other stakeholders on campus, and will continue to happen as we transition into the staff for the next academic year.
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Following a month marked by hundreds of missed hours of Hamilton Street Railway service, Environment Hamilton, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for environmental protection, held a meeting at Hamilton City Hall.
Environment Hamilton’s Emergency HSR Riders Meeting, which took place on Nov. 14, called for HSR users to voice their concerns about the transit system.
The meeting included presentations from a number of relevant speakers and a question and answer period.
Sara Mayo, a social planner from the Social Planning Research Council of Hamilton, spoke about the need for increased HSR funding in Hamilton.
While she noted that, between 2013 and 2016, there was a 15.1 per cent increase in municipal HSR funding, Mayo acknowledged that there are still areas to improve.
Ryan Deshpande, McMaster Students Union vice president (Education) and Stephanie Bertolo, MSU associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), spoke about McMaster students’ persisting problems with the HSR.
“For many of us — low-income students, international students, working students — the HSR is our only option for transportation.”
Stephanie Bertolo
MSU associate vice president
(Municipal Affairs)
“A commute from the mountain to McMaster can be anywhere from 40 minutes to over 1.5 hours.… Our students on the mountain and amalgamated parts of Hamilton are not properly served by the HSR,” said Bertolo. “For many of us — low-income students, international students, working students — the HSR is our only option for transportation.”
Deshpande proposed that Hamilton City Council make substantial investments into transit, arguing that the hiring of 58 additional bus drivers is only a short-term solution with the lack of funding being the core problem.
“We would like our contribution to the HSR system to be valued. More than that, we want every rider to get the HSR service they deserve from every part of this city,” said Deshpande.
Two other speakers included Don McLean, co-founder of Environment Hamilton, and Dennis Guy, the Manager of Customer Experience and Innovation at the HSR.
McLean talked about the nuances and expressed concerns of the HSR funding system and how residents who live in suburbs pay increasingly less compared to residents who live in the City of Hamilton.
Guy spoke about the 10-year local transit strategy and where the HSR sits under the status quo.
During the question and answer period, HSR users voiced a number of concerns with Hamilton transit.
One commonly highlighted issue was the inconsistency of wheelchair accessibility on the HSR.
Another critique concerned the HSR’s lack of accountability when it comes to racism and islamophobia within the HSR, particularly against Syrian and Somali newcomers.
Most of the complaints, however, stemmed from the fact that HSR drivers continue to be overworked.
During the question and answer period, Sheldon Albricht from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107 stated that it is not uncommon for HSR drivers to work 10 hours without leaving their seat.
In addition to criticizing the HSR on a number of grounds, many attendees proposed ways to improve it.
One attendee, for instance, encouraged all councillors and HSR employees ride the HSR to and from work for a month.
Another attendee emphasized the need for drivers to receive more robust accessibility training.
Others suggested that the HSR schedule more breaks for drivers and encourage drivers to ensure that all seats are occupied before deeming their buses full.
The HSR’s most pressing problems won’t evaporate anytime soon. Nevertheless, users and MSU representatives are voicing their concerns and working to improve the transit system.
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By: Joey Coleman
Hamilton city council isn’t anti-student, it’s pro-vote. Since students don’t vote, city council doesn’t care about your issues, and the result is they make decisions against your interests.
In the 2006 municipal election, only 10 students voted at the on-campus polling. The city did not repeat the experiment of on-campus voting in 2010 or 2014, citing the high cost for so few votes.
Considering the damage this low turnout did to student power at city hall, this was probably a good thing.
Since 2006, for the past decade, whenever the HSR lacked drivers, buses were pulled from the 51-University. Five seniors on a grocery shuttle charter take priority over hundreds of McMaster students left waiting on the university line.
Why? Because that grocery charter had five more voters than the university line.
Writing for this newspaper from 2006 to 2009, I regularly opined on anti-student sentiment in the community. I was especially critical of over-policing and targeting of the student community by mayor Fred Eisenberger and councillor Brian McHattie.
I thought as an undergraduate that council was anti-student and it wasn’t until a 2009 discussion on Parliament Hill with a McMaster professor that I realized they were not anti-student, they were pro-vote. The very small anti-student minority in Ainslie Wood and Westdale vote, and they put more ballots in the box than students.
Traditionally, McMaster Students Union presidents have shown up at city hall to declare their position as the “Chief Executive Officer of a multi-million dollar corporation and major employer in our community”, bought tickets to civic events and participate in photo ops.
In the 2006 municipal election, only 10 students voted at the on-campus polling. The city did not repeat the experiment of on-campus voting in 2010 or 2014, citing the high cost for so few votes.
This spring, that changed. This year’s MSU president is regularly at city hall challenging the status quo, representing students and acting on students’ material interests.
Wisely, he empowers the vice president (Education) and associate vice president (Municipal Affairs) to challenge city hall’s targeted bylaw enforcement of students, lack of consideration of student housing issues at the rental housing committee, and starting to plan to mobilize student voters.
The combination of Silhouette coverage and MSU action is already seeing results. The HSR stopped removing the 51-University bus from service as city hall legitimately fears this year’s MSU will take actions and not merely use words to protect student interests.
On Oct. 26, the Silhouette published an editorial suggesting that it is time for students to reconsider the UPass in light of the city failing to live up to its obligations.
The day prior, Oct. 25, the MSU president, Chukky Ibe, stood in front of the Ontario Municipal Board to testify against a city attempt to split Ainslie Wood into two wards and remove the ability of students to effectively influence Council races.
Ibe told the board that students are “often scapegoated for political gain”. He provided an excellent statement on behalf of MSU members, one that I expect will be cited in the pending ruling if the OMB rules against the split.
The MSU standing up to city council in a quasi-judicial hearing is unprecedented — it made the MSU a legitimate force at city hall.
Students are a significant source of revenue for the HSR, and the only new revenue this year. All HSR fare categories, except post-secondary students, were frozen this year. The HSR cannot afford to lose your money.
Both the Silhouette and the MSU have started planning for the October 2018 municipal election. city hall is hedging their earlier bet that students don’t vote.
It is no coincidence that the HSR reversed its decade-old practice of always cutting buses to McMaster first when buses weren’t available — effective student journalism, MSU representation, and the possibility of students voting next year combined to create his reversal.
The city doesn’t care if thousands of students are not getting bus service, but it does care if those students become voters.
The question now is: are you going to vote next year, or will you leave the next decade of McMaster students standing at the curb waiting for buses that won’t come?
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By: Emile Shen
The Hamilton Railway Service missed the mark in Oct. To be precise, there were 1,400 to 1,600 hours of missed bus service in October leaving students, McMaster staff and faculty and Hamilton community members late for work, class and appointments. Across campus, students stood in mass crowds waiting for the 5, 51 and 1A.
There was an average of 23 cancelled buses per day in Oct. This problem cannot be blamed on the negligence of the Hamilton Railway Service alone but is symptomatic of more substantial labour relations and workplace burnout complications.
The cancelled bus problem is troubling for both the occupational safety for bus drivers who have to step up and continuously work overtime as well the failure of contract fulfilment between the McMaster Students Union and the HSR.
The issue arose from the high rate of employee absenteeism, 19 per cent, among drivers. In turn, other employees were asked to work up to 68 hours per week voluntarily. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107, which represents all the bus drivers for the HSR says that this short-term solution is only leading to more burnout and illness amongst employees.
The director of transit for the HSR, Debbie Dalle Vedove, explained that the HSR’s troubles did not come to fruition overnight.
“The result of multiple issues that have been building over a long period of time,” she said.
The long-term issue is most accurately highlighted in the statistic that showed overtime costs due to employee absenteeism have doubled since 2012.
It is not surprising that poor service may lead much of the student body to believe that our ever-increasing bus fees are not being efficiently put to use with the HSR. Students voted overwhelmingly in favour of maintaining this level of bus service provision during the January referenda. As of the 2017-2018 academic year, each undergraduate student pays $187.67.
The bus agreement was only $138.65 per student two years ago. But within the next two years, MSU members can expect to pay $255.55 per student.
“It will take some time to address the root causes of the problem, but in the meantime we are implementing short-term actions to address the problem and provide reliable service,” said Dalle Vedove. “Service throughout the main corridor [serving McMaster] is expected to be improved as service hours are approved by council.”
It should be noted that the bus drivers’ union has previously called for Dalle Vedove to be fired.
On the advocacy side of the McMaster Students Union, vice president (Finance) Daniel “Tuba” D’Souza stated that, “We are currently completing our new agreement with the HSR and will be sure to reinforce that students expect reliable, efficient transit.”
The way forward must be sustainable for hard-working bus drivers, with the sizeable budgetary contribution of MSU students, and have a contingency plan if mass amounts of busses are cancelled again.
Given the large budgetary contribution MSU members make every year to the HSR, some of the key issues include creating more sustainable working conditions for drivers and a contingency plan if mass amounts of buses are cancelled again.
“[I would] like to apologize for the recent route cancellations that McMaster students have experienced. This is unacceptable,” said Dalle Vedove.
Hamilton city council voted on Nov. 8 to hire up to 58 more drivers.
HSR users may also attend the Emergency HSR Meeting on Nov. 14, held by Environment Hamilton, to talk about ways to improve the service.
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On Jan. 16, the students of McMaster voted in overwhelming support in favour of continuing the relationship with the HSR when it comes to the bus pass contract. The first round of voting had only 574 votes out of 7,231, not including abstentions, against any form of bus pass in the McMaster Students Union referenda. The Graduate Students Association had a similar result with only 18.3 per cent of students against their HSR referendum.
The result was the most expensive option available with the fall-winter and summer passes and expanded service of route 51 for increased frequency and later service. This was specified to be until 3 a.m. This is also what the level of service was prior to this new contract.
While the card used to cost $138.65 per student in 2015-2016 and $150.80 per student in 2016-2017, this continues to increase with the MSU agreement to $187.67 this year, $206.17 next year and $225.55 in the final year of the contract despite no additions being made to the level of service.
The card used to cost $182.70 in 2015-2016 and $198.66 in 2016-2017 for the GSA, and continues to increase to $232.70, $257.39 and $284.40 over the next three years respectively with the Presto integration included.
These costs might be justifiable if the service ever lived up to its potential. It does not take a trained eye to note the near daily outrage on Twitter or the lack of response about topics such as the operator shortage, busses, including the 51, skipping stops due to being over packed and inconsistent arrival times.
Students respect individual drivers, the GoFundMe campaign for “Friendly Frank” being the best example of this, but it is difficult to advocate in favour of the bus service as the level of service appears to be decreasing. This will only continue to be an increasing negative as the number of students increases at McMaster in addition to the costs.
It is difficult to put a positive spin on prices increasing $86.90 per MSU student and $101.70 per GSA student from 2015-2016 to 2019-2020. It is even more difficult to place pressure on the service with the hard commitment of a binding contract. This is a city-wide issue that has a great deal of influence on how McMaster students commute from any distance from the university, and one that will likely continue without external intervention or pressure. It would be a poor bet to hope for anywhere close to the same amount of student support in the future.
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Recently, I boarded the HSR on a regular Friday morning, I sat down, called my mom, and braced myself for my daily hour commute.
When the bus gets packed, priority seating is given to parents with strollers, people with disabilities and if your mother taught you as mine did, senior citizens. So, when an elderly woman in a hijab got on with a walker, I offered her my seat and assisted her in moving her walker aside. That was my first mistake.
While still on the phone reassuring my mom that I was okay to take the bus without my brother and that Google maps had my back, I started to feel a nudge against my shoulder from an older woman, yelling back to her friend – Suzy – behind her.
It took me a bit to realize that what sounded like one of the many American rally videos on white supremacy, was actually a reality. “These damn Muslims thinking they can take my seat,” the nudging woman said to her friend, though she was clearly talking about me. She brandished her cane at me and screamed towards her friend: “I’ll whack her head off with my cane if she ever tries to get in my way… this is my country! Send them back to where they came from!” I later learned that this old lady’s name was Adeline from her friend Suzy, who was encouraging her.
At this point, I had gotten off the phone with my mom and stood between these two women. I said nothing. I did nothing. I simply stood there, being nudged.
Though we all reside in Canada, not all of us call this country our home. I do. My siblings do. But this is not the case for everyone, and we must consciously avoid opposing assumptions.
On this extremely packed bus, no one seemed to notice what had just happened until my head hit one of the poles and my bag hit the ground.
The operator abruptly slammed the brakes on the bus and came to intervene. Thankful, I stood and looked at him with hope. The operator rushed to the woman and in an barely audible whisper, he said “You better stop what you’re doing otherwise you’re going to get us both in trouble,” walked the woman back to her seat and went back to the wheel. I stood there in astonishment, silent and invisible.
As a new hijabi who has been a Canadian citizen since I was six years old, and a Hamilton resident since I was two, this experience was a shock to me. Though experiencing discrimination was not something new to me, this experience was the only one to bring me tears. Not because I was aggressively pushed on an operating bus, but because I knew that if it wasn’t me, it might have been the elderly woman with the walker.
Though we all reside in Canada, not all of us call this country our home. I do. My siblings do. But this is not the case for everyone, and we must consciously avoid opposing assumptions.
With over 100 different languages, cultures and faiths shared by over 200,000 Canadian immigrants, culturally identifying an individual can be a challenge.
Canada is reputably a country that takes pride in being progressively multicultural and diverse. As students who attend institutions that welcome students internationally to share in our university experiences, it is important to respect understand the backgrounds we each come from.
We are all immigrants. Whether we were born and raised here, or moved here with our parents, or are on a student visa, we each come from different cultural backgrounds that are attached to cultural stereotypes and generalizations. But just like all diverse groups, whether it be gender, race, religion, ethnicity or culture, we all reserve the right to define ourselves the way we choose to. We should all respect each other’s individual backgrounds, and understand that though someone may look like a foreigner, does not mean that they are.
I am clearly Muslim, but when it comes to my race, culture and ethnicity, some may consciously see my physical identity and subconsciously assume my story. But if I have the right to determine my own gender, I should have the right to tell my own story. I should not be left in silence.
As a visible hijab-wearing Muslim, my identity remains what I choose it to be. I am Canadian, and I am Muslim, not one or the other.
In my “back of the bus” experience, I was invisible. And no one should ever have their individual stories silenced by presumption. After all, you know what they say about those who assume.
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By: Saad Ejaz
If you are a McMaster University student or a resident in Hamilton, you have likely passed a dock of dark blue bikes appearing on city corners.
A new program by Sobi Hamilton rolled out last week which introduces new functionality that enables users to use their Presto pass on all the bikes in the fleet.
This comes after the introduction of the new Hamilton Street Railway U-Pass, a free Presto card for all McMaster Students Union members that does not charge users to access the HSR. The U-Pass is the new iteration of the university’s prior bus passes.
Chelsea Cox, the General Manager at Sobi Hamilton states that the program will help create greater ease in using the Bike Share program.
“It’s now easier than ever… it’s mostly just creating convenience for anyone who wants to carry one less card and tap in with their presto — it makes transit integration easier for the future,” said Cox.
Now with Presto integration, users can link their Presto card with their Bike Share account, and can skip the step of entering account numbers to unlock a bike at the dock. Account and payment setups follow the same format as before.
Now you can tap onto a SoBi using your Presto card! More on this in our latest newsletter: https://t.co/tFxakqQQ62 #HamOnt #bikeshare pic.twitter.com/4woDTlq9Ad
— Hamilton Bike Share (@SoBiHamilton) September 23, 2017
This comes a few months after the failure of the McMaster Students Union referendum to include a discounted Sobi Hamilton membership in every undergraduate’s tuition fees last Nov. The projected cost was a flat fee of $16.95 for 90 minutes of daily access.
According to SoBi’s website, one of the main concerns students raised about a universal SoBi pass was the accessibility of it, as some students may not have been able to use the bikes. SoBi is now in the works of addressing these concerns and asks those interested in contributing to reach out.
SoBi maintains that a more developed bike share program on campus would benefit all students whether they use it or not by alleviating congestion in buses and promote a healthier, more active community.
SoBi Hamilton is now offering several new opportunities for students which include discounted monthly rates and a Facebook platform to foster a cycling culture and more connections within the Hamilton community.
The Facebook platform will offer promotions and specialized content, opportunity for feedback and an avenue to discuss arrangements for big events and festivals in the city. There will also be a new model called “Priority Hub” that will be incentivizing rebound tasks that help reduce the need to bring Sobi vehicles to campus and parking at certain hubs. For instance, this could include parking bikes at particular sites for either ease of access for other or collecting of bikes by SoBi.
The program has seen a steady increase since its introduction in the Winter of 2015.
“We have been seeing a growth in McMaster students, faculty and staff joining the program,” said Cox.
“Any opportunity we have to get more people riding bikes and trying out a healthier and environmentally sustainable mode of transportation is really big positive for us and a part of our goal and mission, and McMaster is a really big part of that,” she added.
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Something green comes this way, as the McMaster Students Union rolls out their new Hamilton Transit Railway bus pass for the 2017-2018 school year. Starting this year, the new bus pass will be a Metrolinx Presto card, a green card that gives users access to multiple public transit systems scattered throughout Ontario.
The new Presto card comes with free usage of the HSR and comes pre-loaded with the other student discounts Presto offers. As of Sept.1 , students may use use their Presto card to tap onto any HSR bus, free of charge.
Presto cards work in Brampton, Burlington, the Durham region, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Toronto and the York region. They may also be used on GO transit and the Union Pearson express.
To use a Presto card, users must add money to their card’s balance, and each time they ‘tap’ their card onto a Presto card machine on a bus, their balance will be deducted the price of a Presto ticket.
Users may add money to their card either in person and instantly have it added to their card, or online which will be added within the next 24 hours.
The new Presto card comes with free usage of the HSR and comes pre-loaded with the other student discounts Presto offers.
To use the Presto card as an HSR bus pass, tap the card onto the Presto machine and flash your student card to the bus driver.
The exact charge depends on the transit system, but generally speaking the Presto charge will be lower than the price of an individual ticket. Presto cards automatically discount all GO transit rides by 11.5 per cent.
In the last major MSU election period, students voted to maintain the extended levels of service of past years despite the pay increase this would entail.Students now pay $187.67 for their HSR bus pass, an increase from last year’s $150.80. The HSR bus pass will also increase next year to $206.16 and then $225.55.
While an increase, the bus pass is still below the Ontario average of $230 for university bus passes. The HSR bus pass must be negotiated and voted on every three years as per the contract between the MSU and the HSR.
If a student loses their bus pass and have registered their Presto card on their website, they may buy another one for $6 from any GO transit centre and can add the card to their account online, assuring they have access to the HSR discounts. This is a significant decrease in cost from last year’s replacement fee, which was $25.
If a student loses their bus pass they may buy another one for $6 This is a significant decrease in cost from last year’s replacement fee, which was $25
Otherwise, students who lose their passes and have not registered it must go to the MSU Compass centre in the McMaster University Student Centre, where they will receive the correct information to register the lost card. After registering the lost card, a new card will be issued and the student will have to pay $25.
If a student already owns a Presto card, they can transfer the funds from their old card to the new one by visiting a GO transit centre. Students may also visit the MSU Compass centre and receive a refund form, and receive a cheque in the mail within two to four weeks.
The introduction of the Presto card as a bus pass marks a new age in the continually changing negotiations between the MSU and HSR, and any questions about the process should be directed to either Metrolinx or the MSU Compass Centre.
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Teddy Saull is the MSU president-elect.
After 8,364 votes were cast and counted, Saull narrowly beat out Jacob Brodka by 102 votes. In the third-round tally, Brodka and Saull were separated by just 11 votes.
“My housemates are now surrounding me but I was alone when David [Campbell] called me,” Saull told the Silhouette minutes after finding out he won the election.
“It’s interesting – he called me when I was writing a Facebook post about losing. That’s how I was going to break it to my team. So I did not expect to win."
Jyssika Russell came in third, followed by Israa Ali. Russell had just 48 votes more than Ali in the first round. Jason Wolwowicz was eliminated in the first round with 396 first-preference votes.
Voter turnout for this year's election was one of the highest in MSU history, with 40.5 percent turnout.
Saull ran a campaign on building community. He proposed a participatory budget program with a $100K fund and has plans to freeze the MSU fee. Saull said he would establish a bigger frost week, a peer tutoring network, a 'Clubza' website and exam period upgrades.
“I wasn’t sure where we stood and I was preparing for that reality [of losing], but here we are," Saull said.
Saull will start his term as MSU president on May 1.
In addition to voting for the next MSU president, students also voted on a MSU healthcare coverage referendum and HSR bus pass referendum.
All three healthcare options failed, so the current MSU health plan will stay the same and cost $57.50 per student. The 12-month bus pass and expanded service option passed, which means students will pay $12.50 more per year to add those features to the HSR bus pass, starting in the 2014-15 year.
