Halifax Transit

[Keith P.]

Yet another unnecessary law. I can see our ticket-happy HRM police taking advantage of this to catch unsuspecting drivers when a P.O-ed transit driver decides to jump into traffic.

[Jstaleness]

I like the law. I wonder how long the grace period will be? The buses will hopefully also have stickers stating they have the right of way. I'm usually one of those drivers that lets a bus back into traffic. I support mass transit.

[gm_scott]

Originally Posted by Jstaleness

I like the law. I wonder how long the grace period will be? The buses will hopefully also have stickers stating they have the right of way. I'm usually one of those drivers that lets a bus back into traffic. I support mass transit.

I do the same. I put it this way: It's one(me) versus 50 people in a bus. I'm usually never in that much of a rush anyways, so might as well let the bus go. Besides when it stops next, I can probably safely pass it. As a bus rider, as well as a driver, I wish everyone would do that.

[DigitalNinja]

I like this law as well.

[-Harlington-]

i bet not to many people will pay attention to this

but if they do and its effective i like the law as well

[Jstaleness]

Originally Posted by -Harlington-

i bet not to many people will pay attention to this

but if they do and its effective i like the law as well

People will only pay attention to this if people actually get fined. 340 is a lot to pay for being in a hurry. The yield signs have begun showing up on the buses.

[Wishblade]

Sigh, are we ever going to see this proceed?...

Dartmouth bus terminal plan stuck in traffic
City hears of more delays in $12-million proposal
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE City Hall Reporter
Fri, May 27 - 4:54 AM

The proposed Metro Transit bus terminal replacement in Dartmouth is a project going nowhere fast, a Halifax city hall committee heard Thursday.

In the works for years, the $12-million proposal has had anything but a smooth ride through Halifax Regional Municipality’s bureaucracy. Now, the project has been delayed by an unforeseen storm sewer situation and it may have to be retendered.

Senior staff told regional council’s transportation standing committee the term of the old tender has expired. The earliest construction can begin at the site, near the Dartmouth Sportsplex, is late July.

Municipal staff are in talks with Halifax Water about the storm drainage problem. The terminal might have to be redesigned before construction can start, the committee heard.

This is a project that should have been built by now, said angry executive members from the union representing municipal transit employees.

They told The Chronicle Herald that red tape and the lack of political will on regional council has helped prevent the planned terminal from coming to fruition.

A couple of committee members expressed their frustration, too, at the latest snafu to impede the building’s progress.

"I want the shovels in the ground tomorrow," Coun. Darren Fisher (East Dartmouth-The Lakes) told the committee.

Coun. Jennifer Watts said the proposed bus depot should be "the highest priority" when the issue goes back to Halifax council. Union officials said priority matters for council don’t usually get postponed in this manner.

"They could have done this years ago," said Ken Wilson, president of Local 508 of the Amalgamated Transit Union. "If they really want to get stuff done, you get it done."

Wilson pointed to the speed at which the outdoor skating oval at the Halifax Commons was approved by council and then transformed into a construction site.

He said union members are fed up with the delays.

"They wanted a skating rink," Wilson said of the popular Canada Games oval in the park. "The public got behind the oval (and) look how fast" that project got going, he said.

He said bus users, taxpayers, transit workers and others should collectively lobby the politicians to treat the planned terminal replacement with the same verve.

The new depot will replace one that city staff say handles more than 17,000 Metro Transit customers a day but is considered unsafe for pedestrians, terrible for disabled passengers and inadequate with respect to the occupational health and safety of bus drivers.

Wilson said bus operators need safe, sanitary washrooms to use during their shifts at work.

"They complain about our sick time, which is a legitimate complaint," he said. "Our sick time is high — absolutely. But we don’t have washroom facilities, we don’t have a place to get anything warm to eat and we deal with the public all day long."

A municipal staff update is to go to regional council in the coming weeks. Coun. Jerry Blumenthal (Halifax North End) said he’s disappointed there could be a late-hour design change in the bus depot proposal, and wondered why the city’s consultant didn’t adequately address the storm drainage situation.

"How come now we’re starting to look at the design might not be proper?" the councillor asked. "It really upsets me with the amount of money that we’re spending."

Last year, two bids for the Metro Transit project were almost $4 million each higher than the development’s estimated $9.5-million cost at that time. The price tag increased to about $12 million after council heard from the public and agreed to extra features at the site.

The committee heard Thursday the most recent delay should not drive the cost up further, but the union doesn’t believe that.

[Dmajackson]

Metro Transit's 2011-2012 Annual Service Plan

Notable Highlights by Route:
*Please note there are other adjustments, only major routes and changes listed

10 Dalhousie

- Removal of 5:53pm & 6:22pm trips from Westphal

11 Dockyard NEW!!

- New route between CFB Halifax & Bridge Terminal
- Removes Dockyard portion of Route 51
- Bridge Terminal to MacDonald Bridge to North Street to Valour Way to Upper Water Street to Cogswell Street to Gottingen Street to MacDonald Bridge to Bridge Terminal

34 Glenbourne Express

- Route adjusted to provide service along Parkland Drive from Kearney Lake Road to Farnham Gate Road, and remove service from Scotch Pine Terrace, Blue Thistle Road, and Heathside Crescent (see route map in Appendix B)

57 Russell Lake

- Routing adjustments to service Mount Hope Avenue from newly opened overpass over Highway 111.
- Will travel inbound – Mount Hope Avenue, Acadia Street, Pleasant Street to Woodside Ferry Terminal, and return (see route map in Appendix B)
- Service will be removed from Estates Road and Atlantic Street

84 Glendale, 85 Downsview, 86 Basinview

- These three peak-hour routes will be converted to limited stop Urban Express service to allow more direct service to and from downtown Halifax and improve schedule adherence.

90 Larry Uteck NEW!!

- New ALF route created to service the developing area of Larry Uteck Boulevard to the Halifax Ferry Terminal in Downtown Halifax. (See route map in Appendix B)
- This service will run every 30 minutes from 6:00am to 6:00pm, and every 60 minutes from 6:00pm to 11:00pm on weekdays and Saturdays; and every 60 minutes from 6:00am to 11:00pm on Sundays.
- This service is proposed to be implemented November 21, 2011.
- The routing is: Larry Uteck @ Starboard (starting point) downhill, right on Bedford Highway, right on Windsor, left on Quinpool, right on Robie, left on University, straight onto Morris, left onto Lower Water, left onto Duke, left onto Hollis to Hollis@Morris (end point).

330 Tantallon/Sheldrake Lake

- Will service a Park & Ride lot to be constructed near Exit 4 off Highway 103.
- Schedule adjustments to existing service may occur as a result of this change.
- This service is proposed to be implemented November 21, 2011.

[ewjonsson]

Looks like Fusion Halifax is hosting a transit forum over the summer.

It's More than Buses

[ewjonsson]

Edit: Double post

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by ewjonsson

Looks like Fusion Halifax is hosting a transit forum over the summer.

It's More than Buses

This looks good, I hope some pressure can be put on our leadership to look beyond buses (and bicycles). Halifax needs some sort of plan for rail going forward.

[halifaxboyns]

I'm going to get on my soapbox as I've been getting on this kick about regional planning lately (I don't know why, I'm a development planner, but whatever lol).

This is a great first step - Jono could probably confirm this: Is anyone from HRM staff coming? Anyone from Metro transit? I'd start there and invite staff from Planning too, if that hasn't happened yet.

HRM is in an interesting situation. It's not quite big enough to support a major rapid transit system like an LRT (usually the typical population is 550k from what I'm told), but it's developed pockets that can be station locations along certain corridors.

Regional Rail - This could be a good first step, if, the right thought goes into it. Using it much like a 'go' style system (operating during peak times or for special events) is okay, but it doesn't solve the major issues. The other issue is that most of the people coming onto the Peninsula are in areas where the density isn't high enough yet. But there appears to be desire to change that - with the Bedford West Infill plan, that could add a lot of people. The same could be done around Sunnyside Mall - designate that a major mixed use node along a regional rail line, you'd bulk up the number of people that could use the system. But don't use the BUDD cars. They may be 'upgraded' but still inefficient compared to modern vehicles.

Fast Ferry - Same issue, the density in Bedford or Purcell's Cove isn't that great, but the potential bus feeder connections could be good from all over Bedford/Sackville. Plus the Bedford West project would put thousands, right on the door step of the Ferry. But in the immediate future, Metro Transit's plan to bulk up the Woodside ferry to 7 day a week service is a good starting point. Especially if the connections from Woodside to Portland Street and the communities along there are done well.

Streetcar - I know many don't like the idea of a streetcar, it would be limited because it might not be able to go over the bridges. But I like the idea of having one or two on the Peninsula and one service Dartmouth (maybe even 2). Especially if these lines take advantage of going through under developed areas like Agricola or Gottingen Street and corresponding policy changes are made to bulk up the density and encourage mixed use high density, regardless of scale (height).

LRT - When HRM reaches the right amount of population, this is the best way to go. A subway may be involved (to get the LRT through certain tight areas like Downtown for example) and this won't be cheap. But investing in transit never is, but the value comes in the long haul. The planning work should start with the next regional plan to identify theoretical route corridors - doesn't mean they will go there, but it could identify options. This can then spawn a decision that if the 'routes' are what council wants, then policy can be changed to encourage densification around the potential station or routes to bulk up the people who could use it.

Since I'm not going to make it to any of these meetings, it might be best Jono if you and I PM, because I don't want to rant and fill up this thread. Plus I'm sure others have thoughts on this.

But the report that Metro Transit published (which DJ linked) is very interesting. I suggest everyone have a read on it...some very interesting figured and information.

But I'll end this post on one thought: I rant about Portland being a great example of doing transit versus roads, but consider this. Portland stopped investing in a major road network expansion, built an LRT and a streetcar. The have some of the shortest vehicle trip durations in the US and the amount of time being used by cars for trips is going down. Transit and biking/walking are moving up the scale quite quickly as the dominant modes of transit in the City not because people were forced. They made the choice to live that way. Plus, if you consider that their streetcar cost somewhere in the realm of $60 million to build and it created $3 billion in private investment from zoning and policy changes to encourage redevelopment - imagine what that would do in HRM.

[someone123]

It's possible to run light rail cars in mixed traffic, and that might be a good place to start in Halifax.

I think a good approach would be to create a basic system with a couple of advantages at bottlenecks. Over time it could be improved so that more and more of the city is served by relatively high-speed, dedicated ROW rail.

It might also be worthwhile to spend more upfront for a completely separated system so that it can be automated. An automated system with small trains running at high frequencies would offer great service.

[Jonovision]

Yah, this is my event. I've been working with a team on it now for a few months. I hope you guys can come out! There is also a facebook group for discussion and an event page for the first session. We have some great panelists coming in.

It is a totally grassroots, independent and objective session. Metro Transit has been invited to join the conversation but they will not be on the panel. At least not for the first session.

[ewjonsson]

I was there last night and I was fairly impressed with the turnout. I would have liked to have heard more from the third speaker though, he seemed to have some very interesting things to say. All around good event though.

[Jonovision]

Thanks! We were pleased with the turnout and the speakers. It is a shame we only had 2 hours. Both Jarrett and Steven had lots of very interesting things to say. And Jarrett Walker did have a number of good quick ideas that could be easily implemented within the next few years.

[beyeas]

Hey Jonovision... I wish I could have gone.
For those of us who couldn't attend, is there any site that I can go to get a summary of what was said/proposed?

Barring that... can you give us a quick summary of some of the more interesting ideas etc?

[Jonovision]

If you check out the It's More Than Buses facebook page there should be some updates from the evening. Be sure to come out for our second session on July 19th when we look at Designing the Network.

There were some very interesting short term solutions to creating a better public transportation network proposed by some of the panelists. One thing that I found really interesting was the idea of rebranding a section of the network. For instance taking the stretch of Barrington from Scotia Square up SG to Robie and branding it as the Green Line. Then taking all buses, no matter what number and what their final destination is and branding them as the green line. This could create some very fast frequency along that stretch and would encourage people to use it more effectively.
There was a lot of talk from the panelists regarding frequency. Pairing down some of the existing lines, but improving the frequency on those that are used most. The conversation from the panelists also concentrated on improving the core of the system before trying to reach every little outlying area.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

There were some very interesting short term solutions to creating a better public transportation network proposed by some of the panelists. One thing that I found really interesting was the idea of rebranding a section of the network. For instance taking the stretch of Barrington from Scotia Square up SG to Robie and branding it as the Green Line. Then taking all buses, no matter what number and what their final destination is and branding them as the green line. This could create some very fast frequency along that stretch and would encourage people to use it more effectively.

I don't see the advantage of that. Every bus heading from SGR and Robie inbound goes to Scotia Square I believe and I think people already know that. Outbound from SS I think the only one that does not go to SGR and Robie is the #10. The problem is not getting from SS to SGR & Robie or vice-versa. The problem is getting from either of those 2 points to your ultimate destination. Not much benefit to getting to SS quickly if the only bus to take you home doesn't come for another hour.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I don't see the advantage of that. Every bus heading from SGR and Robie inbound goes to Scotia Square I believe and I think people already know that.

Visitors to the city and newcomers don't. It's also not something that is handled by tools like Google Transit.