Dartmouth Crossing's (DX) bus issues could be resolved by building a transit terminal near the Empire movie theatre - which would allow express bus service straight to DX and have collector routes routed throughout DX and Burnside. They should try to aim for 15 minute frequency in the daytime and 30 minutes at night.
If demand is low at first, they could start out with small Metrox-style buses (but with conventional Metro Transit decals), and roll on bigger buses as demand rises, unless if its already high, where large buses would be used right away.
The terminal would be designed for large buses right off the bat - to limit the need for a sudden overhaul if demand spikes.
DX might not be transit friendly, however, the transit system can be adapted to serve it well. It's just a matter of convincing the politicians to make it happen. I hope my editorial gets read can causes some change. HRM needs to face the reality that the fastest growth is in the suburbs (due to shortcomings in downtown's abilities to serve business under our current economic system), and move to acheive a balanced road-transit system to mitigate negative effects of urban sprawl whilst keeping the city liveable for everyone, regardless if they're urban, suburban, exurban, or rural.
I have recently suggested that strips of land be set aside along the 107 Burnside extension for bus lanes on both the inside and outside edges of each direction of the new highway well before the road reaches its ultimate width (inside lane for express buses, and an outside lane for more localized buses that provide service at each of the interchanges along the way).
It might make sense to build those lanes now, on top of the already planned 2general through lanes in each direction. Also, they should widen Glendale to provide two through lanes in each direction, plus a third lane on the outside edge for buses in each direction and have a median wide enough to accomodate inside-edge bus lanes whenever they may be needed, and also have all traffic signals converted to roundabouts.
The middle lane on the entire 3-lane portion of Bedford highway should be made into a reversible bus/HOV lane now, while having left turns diverted into right-hand, signalized U-turn lanes (aka New Jersey Jughandle ramps), or have roundabouts built along the way at the existing signals. Overhead signs on the reversible lane could be made to show a white diamond for the bus HOV lane, while still showing a red "X" to the opposite direction. The entire 2-lane portion of the Bedford Hwy should be widened to 3 lanes to allow for extension of the reversible bus/HOV lane. Alternatively, if it's determined that the buses need to be on the right-hand edge (chances are that they will need to be on the outside), then the white diamond would be shown over the right-most lane in the peak direction. The white diamond will be shown on the right side in the direction its going, with a green arrow over the centre lane, with a red X on the far left. During transistion periods, the white diamond will be raplaced with a green arrow, while the centre lane's green arrow would be replaced with a YELLOW downward diagonal "move right" arrow (similar to what happens on the Macdonald Bridge) for 15 minutes before showing the red X, while the centre lane would go to a green arrow in the other direction, followed by a while diamond being shown on the other outside edge.
Consideration should be given to making the centre lane on the Macdonald a bus/HOV lane, which should have been done when they 3-laned it in the last decade, along with making all of North Street a 3-lane road (centre lane for buses and HOV in the peak direction). In the AM, the centre lane on North would be eastbound, while it would be westbound in the PM, or have it set to ingress traffic toward Robie in the AM and egress away from Robie in the PM, which would allow Robie to act as a second bridge access route for buses and HOV's (I have already suggested such lanes to HRM for all of Robie between the Willow Tree and Massachusetts and the Bayers/Young corridor). That would entice more people to park in Dartmouth and board buses at the new Bridge Terminal, or pool together into HOV's during rush hour. This would fix the problem of buses not meeting their schedules.
Ultimately, HRM sould prepare to widen Bedford Highway to 5 lanes within the next 10 years, although, I would suggest setting aside an ultimate RoW for six lanes, but with reversing capability. Like it or not, even under the most sustainable scenario, this road WILL need to be widened (ultimate maximum width of 6 lanes with moveable jersey barrier, plus sidewalks), even with Larry Uteck Boulevard built. Lanes on the widened road would be reversed to favour the peak direction, and the peak direction would have at least 1 bus/HOV lane. First, a bus/HOV lane would be on the outside edge, with the second one being added on the inside edge if the peak direction needs a second bus/HOV lane. If both general and bus/HOV traffic in the peak direction jams, bus/HOV gets priority for a new lane, otherwise, the road would simply add general lanes. Less cars stuck in traffic = less pollution. The Off-peak direction could be reduced to a single lane if possible, but only if buses and HOVs can be merged in with general traffic WITHOUT getting held up, othewise the off-peak direction would have one bus/HOV lane on the outside edge with a general lane on the adjacent inner lane with all other lanes going the other way (this is in both the 5-lane and 6-lane scenarios). This coupled be done with or without a moveable median barrier. The existing 4-lane Bedford Highway south of MSVU could also be made reversible, but only up to the Fairview Overpass.
Some may cry "urban sprawl", but that is mitigated by proper land-use planning and zoning bylaws and sustainable real-estate pricing (which the is NOT the case with the current real-estate pricing system), not by jamming roads. Also, HRM's policy of trying to elevate prices in the urban core of Halifax and Dartmouth, to the point of unaffordablity, is a recipe for more mass urban sprawl out to more affordable areas like Sackville, Fall River and Eastern Passage - where many DND employees now reside as a result of expensive real-estate prices in the urban core and this is also a surefire recipe for an economic disaster - similar to how Dubai bankrupted itself 6 months ago due to overbuilding its business and residential infrastructure before it could even be paid off. It's bad enough they are allowing a developer to build King's Wharf in Dartmouth as a high-priced development, when a nearby condo that was built last year could not even fill itself yet because of its unaffordable, expensive prices. The key to getting people to live in balanced communities (transit and car friendly, whilst being walkable) is to make them EASILY affordable, NOT expensive - otherwise you WILL continue to see more DX's, Burnsides, Sackvilles, and Eastern Passages built at a high rate. Make the new urban-core developments affordable and the people will come, otherwise, forget about densifying the city. Again, I reiterate that Halifax will end up bankrupt like Dubai if it does not get a grip on this problem. This may sound extreme, but I'm already hearing indications all across the board of impending mass budget shortfalls once the stimulus spending stops next year, and the economic forecasts for Canada overall are souring pretty quickly. The prices of many of our goods and services are entering a "bubble" stage that is set to burst fairly soon (heightened prices followed by a dramatic drop once demand collapses, similar to what happened to the price of oil/barrel in July of 2008, where it peaked at $147, and then fell all the way to only $35 once demand plummeted).
Good to see that Atlantic Acres has a bus now. HRM should focus on improving transit inside of the urban and suburban areas, prior to doing the rural areas (except for the airport, which is needed).
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