General Updates and News

[OldDartmouthMark]

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[coastalkid]

Not sure if there is a thread for this one on West Street (behind Harris East):

[mleblanc]

Originally Posted by Arrdeeharharharbour

People seem easily offended these days. I don't think it bodes well for future constructive and problem solving conversations.

I agree, why are people so offended about homeless people existing?

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by mleblanc

I agree, why are people so offended about homeless people existing?

The human condition, the space and time, and of the ebb and tides of those
circumstances present us all with the question, of there go I? Having said that, all of us I think sometimes drive or walk by folks in more dire circumstances and ask ourselves. I thought we solved this!!

[coastalkid]

Don't know if there is a thread for this one either but here is an update on 34Eleven on the corner of Joe Howe and Bayers:

[Colin May]

Will MetroTransit be affected by the increase in fuel costs ?

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Colin May

Will MetroTransit be affected by the increase in fuel costs ?

Well, they are currently mostly a hole in the earth's crust into which HRM pours tax dollars, so the increase in fuel costs simply means the hole has gotten larger.

[teddifax]

I have always been disappointed in the way Halifax Transit is run.... for a city approaching 500,000 and supposedly on the fast track to one million, there is so much that needs to be done to build it forward and to correct what currently is done. Anyone using the buses knows transfers are ineffective as the schedules aren't synced it seems. Furthermore, it seems every time they make updates/changes, it isn't for the better. We need changes, now! I am not an urban planner or whatever the person is called that will do this work, but I feel it has to come from someone outside with power to make changes. No one with Transit has been able to do anything so far. Give someone else a chance.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by teddifax

I have always been disappointed in the way Halifax Transit is run.... for a city approaching 500,000 and supposedly on the fast track to one million, there is so much that needs to be done to build it forward and to correct what currently is done. Anyone using the buses knows transfers are ineffective as the schedules aren't synced it seems. Furthermore, it seems every time they make updates/changes, it isn't for the better. We need changes, now! I am not an urban planner or whatever the person is called that will do this work, but I feel it has to come from someone outside with power to make changes. No one with Transit has been able to do anything so far. Give someone else a chance.

The electric 'fast ferry' remains in the capital budget. No supporting analysis has been provided to council but in the world of shiny ponies this is at the top, and it it is predicated on the feds and the province throwing away money on a project which has no value.

[atbw]

Originally Posted by teddifax

I have always been disappointed in the way Halifax Transit is run.... for a city approaching 500,000 and supposedly on the fast track to one million, there is so much that needs to be done to build it forward and to correct what currently is done. Anyone using the buses knows transfers are ineffective as the schedules aren't synced it seems. Furthermore, it seems every time they make updates/changes, it isn't for the better. We need changes, now! I am not an urban planner or whatever the person is called that will do this work, but I feel it has to come from someone outside with power to make changes. No one with Transit has been able to do anything so far. Give someone else a chance.

Yeah, I don't know what the issue is. I am generally OK with service on the peninsula, but there seems to be a lot more issues with routes outside of downtown. We don't even have a modern payment system! In a city of half a million, you can only buy bus tickets at a drug store. No transit terminal sells them.

As for the ferry, I think it is forward-thinking, but we really, really need BRT funded. Its the closest to a modern transit system we'll get for a while.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by atbw

Yeah, I don't know what the issue is. I am generally OK with service on the peninsula, but there seems to be a lot more issues with routes outside of downtown. We don't even have a modern payment system! In a city of half a million, you can only buy bus tickets at a drug store. No transit terminal sells them.

As for the ferry, I think it is forward-thinking, but we really, really need BRT funded. Its the closest to a modern transit system we'll get for a while.

The issue has two prongs. The first is Transit management which is, and has always been, inept. You mention the payment system, and the bus ticket idiocy, which they supposedly have been "working on" for years or perhaps decades with no real change. But it goes far beyond just that. They have never been able to get scheduling or routing correct. They have never been able to sync not just connecting bus routes but also the ferry/bus connections. They have done little to improve the ridership experience once you actually get on a bus. The list is endless.

The other prong is that Transit is in many ways run by the HTU, which is a militant union that has effectively tied the hands of Transit to react to even trivial things that in most environments would be easily handled. People have talked about a bus to certain beaches in the summer on days when the weather allows. That is impossible because the union requires several weeks advance notice to allow their members to pick their assignments, and so Transit cannot react quickly to things like this. If a driver is a jerk or has a bad day and does things that cause a bad user experience like driving recklessly or angrily, there are seldom any consequences because even if Transit tries to discipline the driver, the union typically is able to derail any punitive or corrective action.

The only way to "fix" Transit is to blow it up and put in place different types of organizations to provide the service, preferably as some kind of public/private consortium to eliminate the influence of both the HTU and the inept management currently in place.

[Half-Axed]

"Nova Scotia has designated nine areas in Halifax Regional Municipality as "special planning areas" for developments to help address the housing shortage."

"Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Lohr announced the designated areas, which will see up to 22,600 new residential units when complete, on Friday afternoon.

"The special planning areas are:

"Former Penhorn Mall lands, 950 units
Southdale/Mount Hope, 1,200 units
Bedford West 10, 1,300 units
Bedford West 1 and 12, 2,500 units
Port Wallace, up to 4,900 units
Indigo Shores, 150 building lots
Morris Lake expansion, 3,100 units
Dartmouth Crossing, 2,500 units
Sandy Lake, 6,000 units."

https://www.saltwire.com/halifax/new...eas-100710744/

[teddifax]

All these 9 new areas will help create a lot more traffic getting to and from these developments. As well as there will be more infrastructure required as these areas are, for the most part, not currently built on. This also doesn't help the people living in the downtown areas of Halifax and Dartmouth with housing. Any builds in these areas benefit form existing infrastructure as well. They want to promote walkability, you can't walk downtown from any of these 9 new areas.... AND if they don't take the horrible bus service, they will be driving to work..... Where is the thought put into this???? They had better do a better job at planning transit to and from these areas.....

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by teddifax

All these 9 new areas will help create a lot more traffic getting to and from these developments. As well as there will be more infrastructure required as these areas are, for the most part, not currently built on. This also doesn't help the people living in the downtown areas of Halifax and Dartmouth with housing. Any builds in these areas benefit form existing infrastructure as well. They want to promote walkability, you can't walk downtown from any of these 9 new areas.... AND if they don't take the horrible bus service, they will be driving to work..... Where is the thought put into this???? They had better do a better job at planning transit to and from these areas.....

More people = more traffic....that has been the case since humans walked the earth. Families cannot afford to live on the peninsula and do not want to live in tall buildings and that is what just 16% of HRM residents live on the peninsula and a large swath of them are students. Infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks,sewer,water,power are paid for by the developers.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by teddifax

All these 9 new areas will help create a lot more traffic getting to and from these developments. As well as there will be more infrastructure required as these areas are, for the most part, not currently built on. This also doesn't help the people living in the downtown areas of Halifax and Dartmouth with housing. Any builds in these areas benefit form existing infrastructure as well. They want to promote walkability, you can't walk downtown from any of these 9 new areas.... AND if they don't take the horrible bus service, they will be driving to work..... Where is the thought put into this???? They had better do a better job at planning transit to and from these areas.....

The Province stepping in is solving the most important problem for urban Nova Scotia. Affordable housing. Bike lanes, walkable neighborhoods, hipster shops and pocket parks are illusions that have been left behind by the desire of folks to fill N.S. We do not have anything defined as Ontario Traffic or congestion and we would need about a Million more folks to even approach Ontario frustrations.

I welcome the Provinces intervention as hopefully things get done. Quickly.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

The Province stepping in is solving the most important problem for urban Nova Scotia. Affordable housing. Bike lanes, walkable neighborhoods, hipster shops and pocket parks are illusions that have been left behind by the desire of folks to fill N.S. We do not have anything defined as Ontario Traffic or congestion and we would need about a Million more folks to even approach Ontario frustrations.

I welcome the Provinces intervention as hopefully things get done. Quickly.

This is not about "affordable" housing. This is simply clearing the bottlenecks created by HRM for approval of private developments and fast-tracking the ability of private contractors to build. Some may choose to build less expensive units but nothing that would rent for $700/mo.

But I agree with the rest of your comment and HRM's illusions.

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

Fingers crossed that the province will move to provide proper transit infrastructure solutions as quickly as they have moved on the housing issue.

[Summerville]

Originally Posted by Arrdeeharharharbour

Fingers crossed that the province will move to provide proper transit infrastructure solutions as quickly as they have moved on the housing issue.

Most of the 9 developments were close to approval but were dragging because of the muddling of city council and staff. This situation may highlight the reasons why we now need a transportation authority that is also not subject to the same knee jerk planning that comes when council is left to make the final decisions.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

This is not about "affordable" housing. This is simply clearing the bottlenecks created by HRM for approval of private developments and fast-tracking the ability of private contractors to build. Some may choose to build less expensive units but nothing that would rent for $700/mo.

But I agree with the rest of your comment and HRM's illusions.

Keith it will be sold in the legislature as an attempt to build affordable housing as I expect there will be direct investments in some of these pockets by the Province to accelerate utility installation and empire crushing of little fiefdoms.

[Half-Axed]

Originally Posted by Summerville

Most of the 9 developments were close to approval but were dragging because of the muddling of city council and staff. This situation may highlight the reasons why we now need a transportation authority that is also not subject to the same knee jerk planning that comes when council is left to make the final decisions.

This was my takeaway as well. The province isn't doing anything new or special - they're just cutting council's process off, and they get a few headlines about "addressing the housing crisis" for doing very little.

Although these developments will contribute to sprawl and transportation issues I highly doubt they will do much of anything about affordability.

On that note, this sort of thing is happening out in Middle Sackville near one of the designated areas:

https://www.reddit.com/r/halifax/comments/tnasfc/true/