I t’s as easy as look left, look right, they say. In Halifax, not so much, and fed-up citizens are taking matters of safety on sidewalks into their own hands. Matt Spurway, Doug Carleton and Martyn Williams say Halifax’s flawed traffic design, policies and infrastructure are partly to blame for unconscionable and avoidable traumatic injuries […]
Transportation
Posted inNews + Opinion
Regional council approves changes to update taxi industry rules
Halifax Regional Council passed the first reading of by-law 1003 and administrative order 39 which moves the process for long-overdue updates to the rules and regulations in HRM’s taxi industry forward. Among the changes is making debit or credit machines mandatory, getting rid of the Halifax, Dartmouth and County zones to make one mega zone, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax should do more to make sidewalks walkable
[Image-1] Halifax is in the midst of a shift in the way that we think about our streets. In the newest round of ideas presented for the Integrated Mobility Plan, staff have made it clear that if we want to get more people out of their cars, we need to think about streets as places […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Airline emissions are flying too high
In July, Solar Impulse 2 became the first airplane to fly around the world without using fuel. At the same time, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been working on electric planes. These developments mean air travel and transport could become more environmentally friendly, with less pollution and fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and planes would […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Transit plan: not perfect, but necessary
Forget about the fast ferry to Bedford. Forget about an airport bus. Make the Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road shopping districts car-free so more buses can use those streets, but cut the already paltry bus service to Dartmouth Crossing. Increase transit use by 18 percent in five years, by spending $93 million on new […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province still dedicated to highway construction
The provincial government last week approved starting appropriation proceedings to acquire 38 hectares near Timberlea, land needed to build Highway 113, a controversial proposal to connect existing Highways 102 and 103 with a new 10-kilometre long, four-lane divided highway laid through a fragile wilderness area west of Halifax (see map above). Additionally, an environmental assessment […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dartmouth students protest Metro Transit plans
Several dozen Dartmouth High School students braved a downpour last Thursday to hold a spirited protest against Metro Transit’s plans for an expansion of the nearby Bridge Terminal. They carried signs calling for preservation of the Dartmouth Common, and chanted “Metro Transit, we need a better plan” and other slogans. The students were well received […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council approves bus fare increase
Halifax council this afternoon approved a 25 cent increase in bus fares, with similar increases through the rest of the rate structure– monthly passes, etc. The fare increase takes affect July 1. See my news story on Thursday for more information.
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Feds buy half a bus
In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t much—the $105,000 Transport Canada awarded the Halifax Regional Municipality this month through its ecoMOBILITY program, plus $140,000 from the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission and Conserve Nova Scotia, could only buy half a bus. But it’ll help. The ecoMOBILITY program gives money to cities and towns that have what […]
