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I was pleased to read Scott Edgar’s “The route of the problem,” published last week in The Coast. He appeals to mayor Mike Savage and city council to not vote on Halifax Transit’s Moving Forward Together proposal until more detailed information can be gathered on the impact of the proposed changes. Speaking on behalf of It’s More Than Buses, Edgar advocates for a transfer-based network that would improve connectivity for non-central neighbourhoods within HRM, reduce congestion on key corridor routes and increase the efficiency of passenger travel.
Purcell’s Cove is one community that could potentially benefit from a transfer-based network, rather than the “peak service only” being offered on the proposed 415 express route. If Transit’s proposal is accepted, the new 415 would replace the existing route 15, effectively reducing service to Boulderwood, Purcell’s Cove and Ferguson’s Cove by 60 percent overall.
As a resident of Purcell’s Cove and a member of the Purcell’s Cove Neighbourhood Committee (PCNC), I live only 10 kilometres from downtown Halifax—the same distance from City Hall as Clayton Park. My community has no essential services and access to only one bus; the 15. That bus suffered a reduction in service several years ago and currently operates daily, once per hour, until 8pm.
At present, the connections for this route are so poor that it takes me an hour and a half to get from Purcell’s Cove to Quinpool Road for a 1pm appointment. The driving time by car is only 12 minutes. So, I drive, as do many of my bus-loving neighbours. We drive because we have no other viable option.
Transit has cited low ridership as the key reason for the proposed changes, yet poor service has promoted low ridership and created car-dependent communities along this route.
At an event hosted by the PCNC last December in support of the number 15 bus, guest speaker Andy Fillmore summed it up well when he said, “an empty bus isn’t the failure of a community to ride the bus, it’s the failure of the service provider to provide a service that is needed by, or is useful to, the community it is serving.”
The residents of Purcell’s Cove have met Transit’s ridership criteria as a challenge, and have increased ridership by 25 percent over the last two years. That according to Transit’s own numbers.
Moreover, the endangered portion of the route more than pays for itself. In fact, it generates a surplus of $36,810 annually, subsidizing other Transit services.
Beyond the fiscal, route 15 is a lifeline for many low-income residents for whom car ownership is not an option. The residential demographic is diverse, and simply not a bedroom community of nine-to-fivers.
For greater HRM, the bus provides access to York Redoubt National Historic Site, freshwater swimming at William’s Lake, the Purcell’s Cove Conservation Lands and the bustling Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, enabling the RNSYS’s celebrated para-sailing program. Weekday “peak service only” will drastically limit the accessibility of this region.
We want the bus. Moreover, we want a bus that is a viable alternative to driving. A transfer-based system of shorter, more connected routes may be the answer. Until Transit puts forward a proposal that can be shown to improve service for this unique demographic, I join Edgar’s plea to mayor Savage and city council to vote “no” on this proposal.
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The route of the problem
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2016.
It’s kinda’ like choosing to live in Dartmouth. Sure, the rent is cheaper but you have to put up with the crazies. Similarly, if you choose to live outside of the city, there are downfalls. The key here is choice. You make a choice and should learn to live with the consequences. No, the bus service sucks but you don’t live where the services are because you choose to. No complaints!
I had contacted Halifax Transit to discuss some well needed improvements to their services. I was met with no response. I even signed up for their planning Halifax news letter to receive invites to meetings to discuss future proposals only to be excluded from their mailings about bus route changes and discussions. I don’t know why the people in charge of this service are so closed to the idea of real discussion and implement real change. I also don’t understand the massive redundancies in their current schedule of operations. I have lived in a few different countries in my life including Europe for the better part of two years. I have seen what works and what doesn’t. I’ll be frank. Halifax Transit isn’t working. I know I don’t have any fancy degrees in public transit planning but it doesn’t take a genius to see the problem.
Halifax is unique among Canadian cities in that it has fundamentally rural areas, with extremely low population densities, within city limits. No other city faces is the expectation that it will deliver (at extreme expense) transit to rural areas. And frankly, if you choose to live in such an area, you should not expect much in the way of transit. I’m at not like Cole Harbour or Clayton Park, relatively high population areas.
For many years I have said Halifax Tranist planners should take some hints from the transit at Disney World. Mickey knows how to run an efficient, pleasant to use system!
There has been a lot of new development growth on the Spryfield-Sambro loop (that Purcell’s Cove is a part of). And transit on the loop is so poorly organized. The 14 and 20 always came too close together, in the areas where they overlap. Then you’re waiting 30 or 60 minutes for the next pair of buses headed in town.
The far more aggravating issue, though, is the bizarre fetish for running all of our busses to Mumford. We are SO close to Bayer’s Lake, but we have to go through the rotary and onto the penninsula. And take 2 or 3 buses to spend an hour or more getting to Bayer’s Lake. It’s only a 5 minute drive by car!!!
There should be one bus doing the loop, one doing express from the Spryfield mall to Mumford, and one that somehow includes Cowie Hill and goes out the Dunbrack to Bayer’s Lake.
The same problem existed when I lived in Bedford. You can drive from the Bedford mall to Dartmouth (Burnside) quickly via Dartmouth Road. But Metro Transit could never imagine a world anyone would be going anywhere but downtown Halifax. A 5 minute car drive became a 2 or 3 hour bus trek. Had to take the 80 all the way in to Scotia Square, then cross the bridge on a different bus, THEN get a Dartmouth bus. It was such a joke.
Our transit planners seemed to make the penninsula a mandatory destination. With overlapping buses all needing to go through the same shitty traffic choke points. (Bayer’s Rd, Spring Garden, Barrington, etc.)
Nope. No crazies in Halifax. SGR is a paradise.
This city has been and always will be a joke. Any idea conceived of after 1950 is not welcome by the establishment in Halifax. As soon as I can afford it I’m moving and good riddance to this backwards town.