District 5 Councillor gets first-hand look at transit troubles
Posted Dec 9, 2016 12:49:40 PM.
Last Updated Dec 9, 2016 01:22:18 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – One of the newly-minted city councillors heard some of the complaints raised by transit users in his district, and decided to take a look for himself by taking a ride with one of his constituents.
District 5’s Sam Austin told NEWS 95.7, he joined Dartmouth resident Dave Graham, on his commute to Bayers Lake. Austin said it was a real eye-opener when Graham told him he spends three hours a day on a bus.
“This is more than just an economic issue. This is a real quality of life issue. That is 3 hours of his life each day that he can’t get back,” said Austin.
Austin said the trip was an opportunity to see issues, including so-called “choke-points” that some of the Halifax Transit routes are forced to endure.
“The 52, for example, goes through several choke-points through the city as it goes from Burnside across town,” said Austin. “That bus should really be out of traffic in those places.”
He said he hopes the forthcoming Integrated Mobility Plan for the municipality will eliminate some of the “choke-points” that make a commute from Dartmouth to Bayers Lake take 90 minutes or more.
“To give the bus a lane, to give the bus priority at an intersection, to have the traffic lights stay green to let it through. Anything we can do to help buses get through choke-points would make a big difference to a lot of people.”
Any transit system will have lengthy commutes between outlying points, according to Austin, but he said he hopes that the transit plan will help make some of those runs shorter.
