Ridership is up on Halifax Transit — and so is overcrowding
CBC
The number of boardings on Halifax Transit buses were up this spring while overcrowding remains a major issue on the busiest routes.
Staff presented numbers from April to June of this year to the city's transportation standing committee on Thursday showing that overall boardings were up 27 per cent compared to the same time last year.
That brings ridership in Halifax up to 97 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Overload incidents — where a full bus bypasses people waiting at a stop — jumped to 212 compared to 52 last year. The vast majority of them happened on key corridors which are routes 1 through 10.
"The impact this has on residents who rely on transit is really significant," said Coun. Patty Cuttell, who said she constantly hears from her residents about crowding on buses along Herring Cove Road.
Cuttell said she hears from nurses missing the start of their shift when a bus goes by, or parents being late to pick up kids from daycare. It's especially critical for Spryfield where many residents have lower incomes, she said.
"Transit is their only choice — it's critical, not a nice-to-have," Cuttell said.
Patricia Hughes, director of planning with Halifax Transit, said it's clear the busy corridors are where the need is. Ridership numbers for those routes were up 30 per cent in September compared to the same month in 2019.
The report said 75 per cent of buses were on time during the spring, falling below the target of 85 per cent.
Coun. Shawn Cleary said it's important to build a reliable service to get more people out of their cars.
"Climate change is not going anywhere, in fact it's accelerating," Cleary said.
Hughes said recruitment for bus drivers is up, but there are still not enough people to drive all the available buses.
Cuttell and others asked about what actions could be taken now to ease the overcrowding while the city looks for more drivers, such as moving under-used services to the busy routes.
Dave Reage, executive director of Halifax Transit, said they are always adjusting where possible and can bring suggestions of routes to cut or move during budget deliberations this winter. But, he said, overcrowding is not new, and is "an unfortunate reality of a transit system"
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.