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Metro Transit (Halifax)

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Metro Transit is a publicly-owned public transport agency operating buses and ferries in the greater Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia (also known as HRM), including the outlying areas. The system, which is a department of the HRM, is also the largest transit agency in Atlantic Canada.

Contents

History

The agency's roots trace back to their four predecessors: Nova Scotia Light & Power Company (March 1928-December 1969) and Halifax Transit Corporation (January 1970-February 1981) in Halifax, and Dartmouth Transit Service Buses Ltd. (April 1957-February 1978) and Dartmouth Transit (February 1978-February 1981) in Dartmouth. In March 1981, both Halifax and Dartmouth transit agencies merged their services to become Metro Transit. Metro Transit Centre, the agency's headquarters, is located in Burnside Park.

Bus Service

Currently there are 208 buses in the fleet, 96 of them low-floor vehicles, operating on 48 routes, including three Community Transit routes and three express routes operating as MetroLink, which began service in August 2005.

Regular service

Metro Transit Bus
Metro Transit Bus

Metro Transit currently operates 46 conventional transit routes within 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:

Routes in the 00's (1-9), the 10's (10-18) and the 20's (20 & 21) are all primarily Halifax-based routes, routes in the 30's (31-35) are rush-hour only routes serving Halifax, routes in the 40's (40-42) are university routes serving the Dalhousie University campus operating during the academic calendar only, routes in the 50's (51-59), the 60's (60-68) and 70's (72) are Dartmouth-based routes, routes in the 80's are Sackville and Bedford routes, and routes in the 100's (159 & 165) are the MetroLink routes (see below). Schedule information and route maps can be found on the [Schedules and Route Maps] section of the Metro Transit website.

Current Metro Transit cash fare is $2.00 for adult or student ($1.40 for senior or child), book of 20 adult/student tickets for $32 ($23 for child/senior), or a monthly bus pass (MetroPass) for $60 adult, $42 child/senior or $54 student. A [U-Pass] (University bus pass) is also available for Saint Mary's and Dalhousie University students. The current Metro Transit fare structure can be found on the [Tickets and Passes] page of the Metro Transit website.

Transfers are issued on all Metro Transit buses and ferries (excluding Community Transit, see below). A transfer allows the user to transfer between one bus and another, without having to pay a second fare.

MetroLink

right MetroLink is Halifax Regional Municipality's new BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) limited-stop express bus service, offering passengers a quick and comfortable ride into the downtown core of Halifax, for just 50 cents more ($2.50 cash fare, ticket + $0.50, transfer + $0.50, MetroPass + $0.50).

Phase I of the service was launched on August 21, 2005 at the newly constructed Portland Hills Terminal on Portland St. in east Dartmouth. This phase introduced the first two MetroLink routes:

- The route 159 Portland Hills Link provides a quick, 13-minute ride to Scotia Square in downtown Halifax. The route follows the Portland St./Alderney Drive corridor, crossing the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, stopping only at Portland Hills Terminal, Penhorn Terminal, Alderney Gate, the Bridge Terminal (adjacent to the Dartmouth Sportsplex) and finally at Scotia Square. The route 159 operates every 10 minutes during peak times, and every half-hour during off-peak time and on Saturdays. There is no service on Sunday.

- The route 165 Woodside Link provides half-hour service during peak times between the Portland Hills Terminal and the Woodside Ferry Terminal. There are no other stops on this route. The route 165 only operates during peak times Monday-Friday.

Phase II, the opening of the Sackville MetroLink route running between the new Sackville Terminal and Scotia Square in downtown Halifax, began operation on February 20, 2006.

The route 185 Sackville Link provides service to Scotia Square via Highway 101 and the Magazine Hill, the Burnside Industrial Park and the A. Murray MacKay Bridge in just 24 minutes. Aside from the Sackville Terminal and Scotia Square, the route 185 only stops on Windmill Road in Burnside at the corner of Wright Ave. The route operates every ten minutes during morning and evening peak times, and every half hour during off-peak times.

The route 185 will be a major benefit to the residents of Lower Sackville, as it makes the trip into Halifax significantly shorter than using conventional transit. During off-peak times, the route 185 takes only 24 minutes to reach downtown Halifax. Compare this to the only other alternatives during off-peak: taking the route 87 from Sackville to Dartmouth and transferring to a route 1 to take you to Halifax takes approx. 43 minutes. Taking the route 80 from Sackville into Halifax via the Bedford Highway takes approx. 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Routes serving Cobequid Terminal in Lower Sackville, Clayton Park and Spryfield are expected to be introduced within the next few years.

The main benefits of the MetroLink service are:

- Limited stops, meaning you get from point A to point B quicker.

- Bus-only lanes and transit priority signals (bus-only traffic lights) bring the MetroLink bus to the front of the queue at an intersection.

- Sensors on the buses alert the traffic signal monitoring system, triggering transit priority signals, holding green lights, and shortening red lights.

- Comfortable interior features carpeted walls and ceilings to reduce noise and vibrations, high-back reclining seats with head and foot rests, air-conditioning in the summer, and an advertisement-free zone.

More information on the MetroLink service can be found on Metro Transit's [MetroLink] web page.

Community Transit

Metro Transit runs a Community Transit service, allowing residents in some suburban and rural communities access to the conventional Metro Transit bus system.

Currently there are 3 Community Transit routes:

- Porters Lake, offering service between Penhorn Mall and Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth and the communities of East Preston, Lake Echo, Porters Lake and Grand Desert via Portland St, Cole Harbour Rd, Forest Hills Pkwy and Highway #7.

- Beaver Bank, offering service between the new Sackville Terminal and Beaver Bank Villa via the Beaver Bank Road.

- Fall River, offering service between the new Sackville Terminal and the Sobeys in Fall River via the Fall River Rd. and Windsor Junction Cross Rd.

Cash fares are as follows: $1.50 adult and $1.25 senior/children for Fall River and Beaver Bank; $2.50 adult and $1.25 senior/child for Porter's Lake. Regular transit tickets are accepted on Community Transit, however monthly bus passes are not, and transfers are neither accepted or given out.

More information on Community Transit can be found on Metro Transit's [Community Transit] web page.

Access-A-Bus In addition to bus and ferry service Metro Transit also provides Access-A-Bus, a dial-a-ride service for elderly and handicapped residents in the region. [link]

Fleet

Current

Past

Ferry service

A map of Metro Transit ferry routes, existing and planned.
Enlarge
A map of Metro Transit ferry routes, existing and planned.

Metro Transit also provide two ferry routes, one connecting downtown Halifax with Alderney Landing in Dartmouth (which operates daily) and the other connecting downtown Halifax with Woodside (Monday through Friday only). The ticket prices are the same as they are for regular bus service, and transfers with the bus service are accepted. The harbour ferries are utilised by over 3000 commuters daily [link]. In recent years, the municipality has begun to plan several new ferry routes, including ones to Purcell's Cove, Bedford, and Shannon Park. These routes would be served by catamarans capable of higher speeds than Halifax's distinctive round ferries, and while no details have been finalized, it is likely that the downtown terminal would act as a hub, with all routes passing through.

Fleet

Current

Past

See also

External links

 

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