Who rides the bus in HRM

ROGER TAYLOR

Chronicle Herald

The transit system in Halifax is probably the best in the province but it still isn’t very good — just ask anyone who uses it regularly.

I hear complaints that the bus often doesn’t go where you want to go, and that many passengers get discouraged by waiting for the bus and by how long it takes to get anywhere.

As a result, many people opt to take their car — and then complain about not being able to find a parking spot.

All of this reflects badly on Halifax.

Progressive cities seem

to be concentrating on

providing efficient public transit and all the things

that go with it, such as dedicated bicycle routes and walking trails.

Montreal, for instance, has an expansive subway system and a well co-ordinated bus network. And it has not only created bike lanes on streets but has also put in posts or even curbs in some places to protect the bike lane from encroachment by cars.

While Halifax has some bike lanes, it seems city hall’s focus is on trying to accommodate the car. Its answer to traffic congestion is to widen streets, likely encouraging even more drivers to bring their cars into the city.

This seems to be an outmoded way of thinking.

The HRM by Design development plan for downtown Halifax encourages more pedestrian traffic and use of transit, but other divisions of the city government apparently didn’t get the message.

A street widening may have been met with a yawn at one time, but things have changed.

Most of us remember how the widening of a section of Chebucto Road, near the Armdale Rotary, in 2008 was met with vehement protests. The widening went ahead anyway.

More recently, city staff proposed narrowing a busy stretch of Herring Cove Road from four lanes to three, with a centre turning lane, and putting bicycle lanes on either side. The bike lane idea was good, but narrowing the road seemed to run counter to one of the main reasons given for widening Chebucto Road — the amount of traffic coming from Herring Cove Road.

At any rate, regional council this week authorized $1.1 million in roadwork for Herring Cove Road, without the bike lanes. Chalk up another one for motor vehicle traffic.

Now, the battleground has moved to Bayers Road, where city staff want to expand the busy roadway to accommodate even more cars. The city recently bought two homes on Bayers Road to make way for the road expansion, and the provincial government bought one on nearby Abbott Drive for the same purpose.

There is no timetable for the widening of Bayers Road, but when homes are bought to allow for the road expansion, it makes it appear to be a fait accompli, even though a consultant’s report has not even been delivered yet.

If the Bayers Road project gets the go-ahead, the street could be widened to five or six lanes between Connaught Avenue and the ramp to Highway 102.

Staff say the road widening would likely include bus-only lanes, but unless the city makes significant improvements to the transit system, that would be wasted space. And there’s no word about adding bike lanes.

What will Halifax look like in the future? Nobody knows, but short-sighted decision-making today could keep the city from reaching its full potential.