How much public money went into the bloody new parking garage at the airport, just so we can feel like we live in a big city? How about taking some of that cash and creating an express bus line that can take you there from downtown, so we wouldn’t have to drive our cars there at all? Now that’s big-city stuff.
—Bus me to the moon
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.
Don’t they have these already? Isn’t that what the Airpoter is?
The Airporter is a shuttle that costs $18 (I think) one way. A bus, even with a fare of $4.00 or $5.00, would do well in Halifax, and would do the citizens well, too.
You’re comparing city buses with a parking garage? And assuming that the parking garage was built to make us feel like a “big city”? I think you’re a tad bit confused.
Clearly the garage was built to satisfy a growing demand for long-term parking. And guess who’s parking? People who aren’t taking the bus. These people can afford vehicles and parking rates, don’t use public transportation, and clearly don’t mind spending a lot of money for convenience. They are also the same people who fly most often. Based on the relatively small goup of frequent flyers/bus-goers, buses to the airport would be non-feasible.
Anyway, 18 bucks isn’t that bad, considering it’s a good 35 minute drive out there from downtown.
The issue with a bus from HRM to the airport is that while it may be successful demand-wise, it wouldn’t fit enough people to justify its costs — think about it: if I take a trip to visit family in TO, I’m taking two pieces of luggage, at least. If I’m going for an extended stay, I’m taking two pieces of luggage and a carry on. That’s just me — what about the others who are traveling with luggage?
In the end, I doubt you’d be able to fill it with half the bodies you could because of the luggage issue.
Unless it was a bus like an acadian lines bus that was run by MT with luggage containers on the bottom, but I doubt MT would purchase such a bus when some areas in this city are under served with regular bus service as it is.
The airport is just too far out to put a cheaper option transport-wise. More busses would have to be purchased because during some periods all busses are in use (fall for example when school goes back in), and MT doesn’t have the space to store extra busses. And what about paying the driver of said bus? It just isn’t economically feasible. They’d have to charge so much that it’s just easier for them to let the airporter to do the job and save them (MT) the frustrations of running another route.
And this begs the question: if you can afford to fly, why can’t you afford another 18 bucks for the airporter?
AirTran in NYC (@JFK)… that’s what every city should have! Those who have ridden on it, know how wicked it is! And for $5 that connects to every other train on the continent, a real steal to boot.
NYC population in the multimillions, HRM 450,000 tops. Do the math.
Cities like Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal all have regular transit serving the airport. (I am aware in the differences in size and population) Yes, the airporter is only $18r/t compared to the $50 you would pay for a taxi, but trust me…there is a demand for regular transit to service the airport. Halifax is the 7th busiest airport in the country. I work there, many passengers (and staff) complain about the lack of transit. I think something like the Link, which serves Sackville and Dartmouth would be more than sufficient. No need for a fancy bus. Bring it on!!!
I’m just glad they didn’t tear it down halfway through like that Keddy’s they were supposed to put in.
Totally travelling Fly Girl… either that or we could all move to NYC 😉 Except for Bro Tim. He’s not invited.
Most airports in other Canadian cities are smack dab in the middle of the city. Our airport is at least 20 minutes outside of suburbia. It doesn’t make practical sense to have transit service to the airport.
It wouldn’t be that hard for the city (or the Airport Authority) to buy a Link bus and have it run from the Airport to the Dartmouth Bridge Terminal and the Barrington Terminal, both current Metro Link stops. Make it $15 one way and have it run once an hour. If it is successful they could buy another one and make it run every half hour. Is that really that unpractical? If it serves a need, and there is a need, it may even make money.
What is so unpractical about that?
The airport authority would have to apply to the Utility and Review Board if they wanted to run their own buses and serve those terminals. But guess what, they’d never get the license since Metro Transit has full rights to operating the municipal system without fear of competition.
The airport, just like the current Airporter operation, would have to stick to a fixed schedule with restricted stops and no inner-city drop offs except for those permitted by the URB. Even the rates would be fixed by the Board to ensure no competition towards Metro Transit. The bus business in NS is one of the heaviest regulated industries around, including financial, scheduling and operational details of every non-publicly owned operation.
An example – Acadian Lines cannot change fare rates or routing without a hearing by the Board, Metro Transit however is exempt from those same rules. However the URB is responsable for the twice yearly safety inspections of all buses in the province so they have their hands in all bus companies.
And for Pretty Kitty: Many transit run airport routes use conventional city buses modified to have overheard luggage racks and a couple of specially made shelving units that only remove 6 to 8 passenger seats. So there is no need to run an expensive motorcoach that would be an obvious oddball in the transit fleet when it comes to maintenance and purchasing of parts.
The Airport authority and Metro Transit, as well as the Bridge Commission, should all be playing for the same team – within a broader Metro Transit Authority. That would make too much sense though haha. There is no reason Metro Transit couldn’t operate a route like that itself though.
What in this lovely province isn’t heavily (over)regulated? 🙂
It’s a great idea dartmouthy and I suggested the same in another bitch reply last week. It would have to charge the same as conventional transit, the Link or MetroX routes because the union would see this as a potential cash cow and we’d have a strike when negotiations don’t yield an instant 50 – 100% wage increase based on one high-priced bus route.
Wow, aren’t unions wonderful… And all of this started BEFORE the NDP, yikes! haha. It’s only going to get better from here, right? 🙂
Dartmouthy, the airport is a federal jurisdiction, the bridge a provincial one, and Metro Transit a municipal jurisdiction. Hell various departments in the same jurisdictions have a hard time cooperating let alone crossing lines.
Flygirl: you can’t compare those cities to Hfx, given the fact that Hfx’s airport is in the middle of nowhere…Ottawa’s airport, for example is a 10 minute drive TOPS from the parliament buildings…I’m pretty sure the 95 or 99 runs there as part of its regular route and it’s not even out of the way. There are regular routes that go a lot farther from the DT core than the airport.
Also, Pearson is relatively close to the DT core…last time I went from the Royal York to Pearson on the airporter it took about 20 minutes tops, if that. So…
And the parking garage doesn’t even give a 5-10 grace period, charges for the full hour, RIPOFF.
JOEBLOW – WHAAAAT?
did they change that? I parked there for like 10 mins ( was picking someone up ) just after they opened a few months ago and got out without any charges to my CC. I was wondering how long before they put the kybosh on that and started being dicks about it.
Also OP – we didn’t do it to “feel like a big city” we did it because the parking situation at the airport was a complete disaster.
FYI the airporter is now $21 one-way. Lame.
Lovinglife – yes, they did change that, I picked someone up last week totally thinking I would have 30 minutes for free (as I had in the past) but was charged $4 instead. Sigh.
I understand the airport is federal, bridge provincial and Metro Transit municipal… but if that is a problem why do _successful_ cities all around the world have a setup that marries all of their civic infrastructure together with an authority that, regardless of which levels of government have ownership, work like one great big greased wheel?
Wow Stephen Harper was right after all… culture of defeat indeed!
I have no problem with the garage. And if I do not like the payments at the garage I can use the park n fly for free. ut what I find ridiculous are their RATES at the garage!! I travel alot and I can tell you that the Halifax Airport parking rates are ridiculous. It is like they ar etrying to pay for the whole thing at once.
Metro Transit actually started the planning for an airport bus– the idea was to buy new buses with luggage racks and have an express bus to downtown.
But as planning was going along, the plan got morphed into a regular bus route, shared with Hants County, no luggage racks, that would wind its way from Burnside to the airport, out to Enfield and points further. In other words, it became a bus for the poorest and down-and-outest of the people working at the airport, not travellers, and the route would take two hours or whatever. That bus will start running, in a few years, I think.
Why the change? No one’s saying in public, but it’s clear that the competition with The Airporter and with cabs is at the heart of it. The airport simply makes too much in licensing fees from those private outfits, and has no desire to undercut that.
Also, consider that the airport services more than just HRM. It services pretty much the entire province, where there is no other option than to drive to the airport and park your car. Unless you can convince a buddy to drive the 2hrs or more there and back to drop you off. The airport needed more long term parking. A bus serving the city is still a good idea, but the parking, in my opinion is a separate issue.
Pretty Kitty…..last time I checked, the airport is about 30 mins to DT. (taking the 118/Bridge) I think I remember being on the Ottawa bus for a very long time…definitely more than 10 minutes!
It is fair to compare Halifax to Ottawa. We’re airports of comparable size. Trust me, I’ve been to both more times than I care to have been! This airport is constantly expanding and part of expansion is progress, a proper transit link would be wonderful progress. As I said in my previous post, a Link bus, charging the same rate as currently charged would be welcomed and much used. (no need for anything fancy, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and other cities use regular buses and it works just fine) Many of my coworkers would make good use of it, as well as other airport staff. People at the hotels would use it as well. I’ve heard enough bitching about the lack of transit to/from the terminal.
I always thought they should have an HRM Airport Bus. And I always thought they should have a Beach Bus in the summer that runs up to Lawerencetown Beach on the weekends. But good ideas like that never happen in Halifax though. The only thing that changes in Halifax are the Lightbulbs
Flygirl: where were you coming from that it took you that long to get to the ottawa airport? I lived 5 minutes from the parliament buildings just off of bank (in the glebe — 2 minute walk from the canal) and it took me 5 minutes to drive to the airport. No word of lie.
The bus would take like not even 10-15 from Billings (and that wasn’t even going on a transitway route) so….I don’t know what you’ve been smoking 😛
Man, I just spent $100 on cabs to and from the airport….I would have LOVED to take a bus instead (could have spent the $$ on more fake Coach bags in NYC). None of my family/friends were willing to drive me to the airport at 4:30 in the morning though….
My sister was willing. She was also kind enough to turn around in Bedford to get the envelope of money I left sitting on my desk.
was it burrito money? :O
The airporter is a-ok in my books. I just don’t like how they insist on turning on the lights at every stop when its 4am.
Kitty- thats a regulation of the URB’s Motor Carrier division that states all public passenger vehicles must turn on adequate interior lighting when people are boarding or disembarking, this also includes the driver moving around if passengers are aboard. It’s also a liability issue with any bus company’s insurer.