1. Live off -campusLiving in campus housing can be a great way to meet new people in your first year, but after that, ditch the expensive $1,000-per-month room, overpriced meal plan and restrictive quiet hours for a spot of your own or with friends. The more roommates you have, the less expensive your rent will […]
Transit
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trips by Transit offers a free pass to outdoor adventure
As Meredith Baldwin and Cameron Edwards sit at a cafe’s corner table, the sunlight streaming in on them almost seems to echo their optimism. “We think transit is very important. We’d like to change the perception around transit,” Edwards says, hands resting on the table. “People don’t like taking the bus for the most part. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A ride-along with Driver Dave’s
“Hi, this is Singh from Driver Dave’s,” reads the introductory text. “I’m planning to pick you up at 7:10pm.” Singh has an office job but his boss is unaware of his moonlighting, so we’ve agreed to withhold his last name. He used to drive a taxi, but for the last two-and-a-half years Singh’s been behind […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Making sense of transit on Gottingen
Gottingen Street is one of Halifax’s busiest, most historic sections of road. Once stigmatized as unsafe and crime-filled, Gottingen is now in transition to a vibrant, dynamic and livable neighbourhood. A major component of that transition is how people move into, out of, and around the area. Where people can go and what places people […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Light Rail Alliance is full-steam ahead
If HRM wants to get on the right track for transit, Ben MacLeod and Steven Lee say it needs to think light. The two urban planning advocates are the brains behind the new Halifax Light Rail Alliance, which asks Halifax to rethink its transit-oriented development and build a “holistic mode of sustainable urban growth” focused […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Clinic’s move to Bayers Lake is poor planning, a waste of public funds
Last Thursday the provincial Liberal government announced the purchase of land in Bayers Lake, at the exorbitant price of $7.5 million, to accommodate clinics set to be displaced by the upcoming redevelopment of the QEII Heath Centre’s Victoria General (VG) site. The decision to move public services from a central location—highly accessible by public transit—to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Bayers Lake medical centre site called inaccessible
The retail wilderness of the Bayers Lake Industrial Park “severely lacks” the transit and accessible infrastructure needed for the province’s new outpatient centre, say planning advocates. On Thursday the provincial Liberal government announced it had purchased 15 acres of land in the BLIP as part of the redevelopment of the ageing QEII Health Science Centre. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Communications strategy needed for Halifax Transit’s Moving Forward Together plan
Think of it as a municipality-wide bus announcement system. A request for proposals sent out Friday morning by Halifax asks for a communication and marketing strategy to help Halifax Transit inform the public of upcoming service changes caused by Moving Forward Together. According to the RFP, the goal of the communication plan is to educate […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Union negotiations adding “significant” budget pressure
[Image-1] The municipality will be negotiating four of its collective employment agreements during budget season, all while trying to anticipate compensation costs for the next two fiscal years. Since compensation makes up most of HRM’s expenses, that’s going to add “significant” pressure to this year’s budget according to Bedford-Wentworth councillor Tim Outhit. “Any business plan requires […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Moving Forward Together moves forward, somewhat together
Halifax Transit’s network redesign can finally shift into high gear. On Tuesday city council accepted—for the most part—staff’s recommendations on the Moving Forward Together (MFT) plan, while asking for an exterior consultant to report back in a year’s time on further refinements to planned route changes. The full redesign was already approved by council […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Memories of Mumford Terminal
[Image-1] A concrete isthmus juts out at Mumford Terminal offering a convenient jaywalking point. Its well worn footpath proves what the city has long suspected: transit riders are criminals. There’s a terminal building at one end, which is a great place to get out of the rain or the snow unless you want to catch your […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Electric buses could be coming to Halifax
[Image-1] A staff report heading to next week’s meeting of Regional Council is recommending HRM work with Nova Scotia Power to study putting electric buses on the city’s roads. If approved, NS Power would put $10,000 towards a $50,000 feasibility study on the idea. The federal government has already promised HRM it will fund half […]