1. History

2. Operations
    Conventional bus service  Express services  Halifax–Dartmouth Ferry Service  Access-A-Bus 

3. Services
    Fares  Schedules and route information  Departures  Accessibility 

4. Transit routes
    Route number structure  Current Routes  Future Routes  Withdrawn 

5. Moving Forward Together Plan
     Criticism  

6. Environmental Controversy

7. In popular culture

8. See also

9. References

10. External links

Halifax Transit is a Canadian public transport service operating buses and ferries in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded as Metro Transit in March 1982, Halifax Transit provides service in the urban service and adjacent area of the regional municipality utilizing 2 ferry routes, 57 conventional bus routes, two limited stop express routes, and three limited stop rural express routes. Halifax Transit also operates Accessabus, a door-to-door paratransit service for seniors and the disabled.

In 2nd quarter 2017 conventional bus ridership was 3.99 million, ferry ridership 644,600, and Accessabus ridership was 38,800.^[4] According to the 2011 census, Halifax has the 7th highest proportion of workers taking transit to work in a city in Canada.^[5]

History

The municipality's first transit service came with establishment of the Dartmouth ferry service, first chartered in 1752. In 1816 the sail powered ferry was replaced by a horse powered boat, and in 1830 with a steam ferry. While private omnibus services are known to have begun in the city at least as early as 1854, the roots of Halifax Transit date back to June 11, 1866.

The Halifax City Railroad Company (HCR) began operations with five horse-drawn trams on rails that stretched from the corner of Barrington Street and Inglis Street in the south end to the city’s first railway station near the corner of Duffus Street and Campbell Road (now Barrington Street) in the north end.^[7]

Notwithstanding a ten-year hiatus, horse-drawn street railway services continued in Halifax until April 1896 when the system, now operated by the Halifax Electric Tramway Company, completed the conversion to electric-powered operation. The street railway served Halifax until March 1949, when the war-worn trams were replaced by "trackless" electric trolley coaches.^[8]

The bright yellow trolleys, operated by utility Nova Scotia Light and Power, plied city streets exclusively until 1963, when they were supplemented by diesel buses for the first time. The system became all-diesel on January 1, 1970, the same day the City of Halifax took over the operation.^[9] Some of Halifax's T-44 trolleybuses were sold to the Toronto Transit Commission for parts for their Western Flyer E-700A.

Metro Transit, a single transit agency serving all of the greater metropolitan area of Halifax-Dartmouth, began operations in March 1981. The system was created by the Metropolitan Authority, a common-services agency representing the former cities of Halifax and Dartmouth as well as suburban Halifax County,^[10] to consolidate the transit operations of the Halifax Transit Corporation in Halifax and Dartmouth Transit.

Metro Transit expanded in 1994 with the absorption of the Dartmouth ferry services formerly operated by the city of Dartmouth. Ownership of the transit service was transferred to the newly created Halifax Regional Municipality at amalgamation in 1996. Since that time the service has been operated directly by the municipal government and since October 2010 Transit has reported though the Transportation Standing Committee of Halifax Regional Council. The municipality announced on July 15, 2014 that it was changing the services name to Halifax Transit in reflection of the city's new brand.^[11][12]

In January 2014, Halifax regional council approved a study to look at a major re-design of the city's transit system.^[13] The "Moving Forward Together Plan" was adopted in principal by Halifax Regional Council in April 2016. Proposed amendments to the plan were defeated in November 2016, with the exception of a change to the route of the Porters Lake Metro X (soon to be Rural Express) and a short reprieve to attempt to increase ridership to save the #15 bus to York Redoubt. A review will be undertaken involving an outside consultant in 12–18 months to evaluate the results and suggest possible route optimization.^[14]

Operations

Conventional bus service

There are 322 conventional buses in the fleet^[15], all of which are low floor and wheelchair accessible.

Halifax Transit operates 57 conventional transit routes within the Urban Transit Service Area, broadly similar to the metropolitan region of Halifax Regional Municipality (Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and Sackville), including the areas of Eastern Passage, North Preston/Cherry Brook, Tantallon and Herring Cove. Routes are numbered according to the region or type of service provided.

Express services

Express routes, originally established as Metro Link express bus service operates Monday to Friday. The two express routes began service in August 2005. The system consists of two limited-stop fully accessible express routes, connecting downtown Halifax's Scotia Square bus terminal, with the Portland Hills terminal in Cole Harbour on the Dartmouth side, and the Sackville Terminal in Lower Sackville.

Rural routes provide some suburban and rural communities access to the regular and express bus system operated by Halifax Transit. There are three rural routes provide service between the Sackville Terminal and Beaverbank; Portland Hills to East Preston, Lake Echo, Grand Desert, and; South Centre Mall and Ketch Harbour via the Old Sambro Road and Highway 349.

Halifax–Dartmouth Ferry Service

Halifax Transit also provides two passenger ferry routes, one connecting downtown Halifax with Alderney Landing in Dartmouth, and the other connecting with Woodside. Each route is serviced by a pair of vessels. The ferry services are integrated with the bus services; the fares are identical, and transfers are accepted between the two systems. The harbour ferries board 1.4 million passengers each year^[18] Each ferry carries up to 398 passengers. All routes are handicap accessible and have provision to carry bicycles.

Access-A-Bus

Halifax Transit also provides Access-A-Bus service which is a dial-a-ride paratransit service for elderly and handicapped residents in the region. This service was created in 1981, the same year Halifax Transit was formed.^[19]

Services

Fares

Halifax Transit offers four main fare categories: Adult (16 years & up), Senior (65+ years), Child (5 – 15 years), and Student (Full Time Student with valid photo student ID). Anyone with a ticket, pass or transfer for the regular or Metrolink service can pay the difference in cash fare to use a more expensive Metrolink or MetroX service.

A Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Identification card can be used to obtain free travel on Halifax Transit's conventional buses, MetroX buses, MetroLink buses and harbour ferry service. A university student bus pass (U-pass)^[20] is available for Saint Mary's, Mount Saint Vincent, King's College, Dalhousie, Nova Scotia Community College (Halifax Campuses only) and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design students, and the cost is included in tuition fees. Halifax Transit is also piloting a low income bus pass at 50% off regular price.^[21]

Transfers are issued upon request on all Halifax Transit buses and ferries. A transfer allows the user to transfer between multiple conventional route buses and ferries traveling in any direction without having to pay an additional fare. A transfer also allows users to transfer to MetroLink and MetroExpress buses at a reduced fare. Transfers are valid for 90 minutes after the last scheduled stop on the current run of the route where it was issued. Holders of a valid MetroPass or MetroLink Pass do not require transfers.^[22]

Schedules and route information

Route information can be accessed through the Halifax Transit Departures number 902 480 8000. Individual route schedules are available online at halifax.ca/transit. Most terminals have TV screens that display anticipated arrival times of buses that service the terminal.

Departures

In early 2016, Halifax Transit publicly released their next-generation AVL-based system called Departures. The system was first launched on May 15, 2016, with the introduction of the Departures Line, and as of July 2016 the rollout of the updated Departures Board that replaces the older GoTime departure displays found at terminals across the system. The Departures Board works similar to the previous GoTime-based departures display, with the exception that instead of showing the next two bus arrival times, will display the bay number and the next bus departure time, either showing the next hour and minute or the number of minutes before the bus departs, or "delayed" if the bus is behind by a certain number of minutes. It will also only show buses set to arrive in the next while, versus the older display which would show "(not scheduled)" for any route not running at that point in time.

The Departures Line works similarly to the previous GoTime IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system. Instead of dialling (902) 480- plus the 4-digit number found on bus stop signage, one dials (902)-480-8000 and following the voice responses, one would input the bus stop number to access route departure times. The system gives the estimated departure time if available, scheduled times if the bus is not reporting real-time data or is delayed by a number of minutes, adjusted time to depart when schedule adjustments are made, and will announce when a bus is arriving within the minute.

Accessibility

On December 16, 2016 Halifax Transit began piloting an automated stop announcement system on several bus routes, providing both auditory and visual notice of approaching bus stops, as well as announcing the route of each bus on arrival at a bus stop.^[23] By January 30, 2017, all conventional buses provided the automated stop announcement.^[24]. As of June 8, 2017, all conventional buses in the Halifax Transit fleet were low floor and accessible to wheelchairs.

Transit routes

Route number structure

As the Moving Forward Together Plan takes effect the following number structure will be in effect. Routes 1-10 are Corridor routes. Routes 20-99 are Local routes. Routes 100-199 are Express routes. Routes 300-399 are Regional Express routes. And routes 400-499 are Rural routes. Corridor routes provide high frequency during most of the day and travel long routes connecting different parts of the Halifax Regional Municipality to Downtown Halifax. Local routes provide less frequent service across various parts of the HRM connecting communities to corridor routes. Express routes are limited stop, peak service only routes that provide direct transport from downtown to local communities. Regional Express and Rural routes provide varied levels of service to areas outside of the HRM.

Currently, routes such as 80 Sackville, are considered corridor routes. They will be partially replaced by 2022 to match the new numbering system. The 80 Sackville will be replaced by the 8 Sackville or the 60 Eastern Passage will be replaced by the 6 Eastern Passage for example.

MetroLink routes 159 and 185 are not considered Express Routes, and will eventually be discontinued and replaced by new Express routes.

Current Routes

 ''MetroLink Service (see MetroLink section above)''
 ''MetroX Service (see MetroX section above)''
 ''University routes that only operate during the university academic calendar year (September – April).''

Future Routes

Withdrawn

 ''MetroLink Service (see MetroLink section above)''
 ''MetroX Service (see MetroX section above)''
 ''University routes that only operate during the university academic calendar year (September – April).''

Moving Forward Together Plan

The Moving Forward Together Plan is Halifax Transit's 5 year improvement plan that outlines planned changes to the transit network from late 2016 to 2020^[26].

Criticism

Halifax Transit has been criticized as inefficient and unreliable.^[27][28] Some transit advocates have called Halifax Transit's "Moving Forward Together Plan" inadequate, identifying four major concerns:

1. The lack of a connective network which will result in dramatically less travel choice for transit users
2. Inefficient and redundant route design that will cause ridership to remain low
3. Missing data and analysis making it difficult to have good, evidence-based discussion
4. A five-year implementation, which will cause unpredictability for riders as routes continuously change

In addition, the "Moving Forward Together Plan" is characterised as a plan that disregards the key principles that Halifax Transit identified through years of public engagement and consultation.^[29] Business groups have also noted both the current lack of service, and lack of proposed future service, along key corridors of the region.^[30]

Environmental Controversy

In 2014, a massive fuel leak spilling close to 200,000 litres of fuel at Halifax Transit's Burnside bus depot went undetected for almost four months.^[31] In addition to the cost of lost fuel, cleanup from local environmental damage and groundwater contamination as far as 1 km away cost Halifax Regional Municipality approximately $2.5 million.^[32] Before the discovery of the leak, Halifax Transit initially claimed that the excess fuel consumption was caused by higher usage during winter.^[33]

In popular culture

• The characters of Phillip and Phillmore the ferry twins from the children's TV show Theodore Tugboat are modelled after the Halifax-Dartmouth ferries.

See also

• Transportation in the Halifax Regional Municipality
• Halifax Regional Municipality

References

External links

• {{Commons category-inline|Metro Transit (Halifax, Nova Scotia)}}
• Halifax Transit's official website
• Complete route map for Halifax-Dartmouth area.
• Complete route map for Bedford-Sackville area.
• Schedules, maps for individual routes, riders guide.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090830062335/http://hbus.ca/ hbus.ca] Community-based trip-planning service for Halifax

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