Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
The problem is that you are hitching the wagon of success or failure of this multi-billion dollar venture to the fast ferry. Even if it were to work as promised, it only satisfies the needs of a small subset of potential users, those going to DT Halifax. Transit cannot be counted upon to deliver those other users reliably to the universities, hospitals, BLIP, or wherever else they may want to go.
OTOH the capacity limits of the fast ferry may well be reached just with those DT people. That says more about the lack of utility of the ferry than the land-based feeder service.
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I'll take the fast ferry because it's better than anything else they are offering, which is basically buses sharing roads with other traffic with a few dedicated lanes here and there. Sure, there will be limitations, but at the same time it seems kind of silly to not take advantage of this natural right of way that doesn't take capacity from any other form of transportation in the city.
Really, what needs to happen to properly serve Dartmouth/Halifax is a dedicated transit crossing (preferably LRT-based, connected to an elevated LRT system that is completely independent of road issues). Given that the plan is to replace the MacKay bridge in the relatively near future, this would be the time to invest in such a crossing.
I don't see any way around it but to spend big money to build for the future - they're talking about doubling the population, so now is the time to kick start this thing and get it going. It's going to be very expensive up front because this need has been largely neglected by past forms of government, but I don't see any way around just biting the bullet and doing it at this point.