Bus talk dominates ‘More than Buses’ transit forum
Posted Jul 20, 2011 05:30:49 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
About 100 people took on the task of trying to build a better public transportation system in HRM at the second “More than Buses” public forum.
The session, hosted by Fusion Halifax, featured a presentation by Dr. Ahsan Habib, a transportation planner and professor at Dalhousie University, who says improving public transit will require examination of several different aspects.
“What will be our transit network in the future, what kind of buses should we use, what kind of other technology can we explore – for example commuter rail or a fast ferry,” he said. “So we’re looking at this in a very comprehensive way.”
The session was called “More than Buses,” but buses were on the mind of most participants.
“Many buses are not frequent enough, so if you miss your transfer, you’re waiting a half hour or an hour sometimes,” said one woman.
“We don’t have very attractive, or well-used waiting areas, with public washrooms,” noted another.
Participants put their heads together in small workgroups to discuss their concerns and come up with recommendations for an optimal public transit network.
Suggestions included using existing resources more effectively by overhauling some bus routes – but that wasn’t the only idea to come from the workgroups.
“We should have one major bus route that’s closed to car traffic and used just for buses during rush hour,” suggested one participant.
Another group suggested eliminating meandering, circuitous bus routes and replacing them with a grid system of buses leaving every 10 minutes.
“It means north and south would be more frequent routes, and east and west would make a transition,” said the leader. “You might be forced to make a transfer, but everyone would get there faster.”
Habib says this session – the second of three – is key in forming a final presentation that Fusion Halifax hopes will be forwarded to regional council in the fall.
The final session takes place September 7.
