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Halifax (metro) Transit.


Guest M. Boone

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16 hours ago, Halifax_Route10 said:

Halifax Transit received a good amount of money from the Federal Government's Public Transit Improvement Fund:

 

http://www.halifax.ca/council/agendasc/documents/160920ca1435.pdf

 

As as result, instead of receiving 30 new LFS buses later this year, we will be receiving 59.  That makes it the largest single order of buses in Halifax in almost 50 years.  This will allow for the retirement of all Classics, 1999-2000 LFS buses, the D30LFs, and the Glaval Titans.  Exciting times!

59 new buses by New Year's, the replacement of both Halifax III AND Woodside I in the next two years (in lieu of biennial refits), a million dollar upgrade to the Halifax Ferry Terminal, a combined million dollars in bus stop accessibility, shelter replacement, and priority measure implementation (this year alone), not to mention post-Big Lift fleet expansion, more TPMs, beginning to look at electric buses, massive security upgrades, and other goodies next year? Damn, we hit the jackpot - thanks, Mr. Trudeau!

(Still would have preferred more Xcelsiors over Novas, but that's just personal preference, yo!)

 

15 hours ago, hfx_chris said:

2017/18 Electric Bus Pilot Project

Anyone know anything about this? 

Will be interesting to see how this pans out. Will it mark the beginning of a transition to an all-electric fleet over the coming decade, or will we just end up with a couple of random electric buses in an otherwise all-diesel fleet, like we did with a certain couple hybrids (looking at you two, 715 and 716...)

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20 hours ago, hfx_chris said:

2017/18 Electric Bus Pilot Project

Anyone know anything about this? 

Here's a PDF with descriptions of all the individual funded projects:

 

http://www.halifax.ca/council/agendasc/documents/160621ca14113.pdf

 

Doesn't specify a particular manufacturer, only mentions that there are "potential partnership opportunities" related to the project.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Route, Schedule, and Rider's Guide Adjustments - Effective November 28th, 2016:

Mackay/Macdonald Bridge Shuttle: Service reduced to Sunday to Thursday only.

Route 1: Service between Bridge and Scotia Square reinstated 7pm Friday to 7pm Sunday.

Route 10: Service between Bridge and Scotia Square reinstated 7pm Friday to 7pm Sunday.

Route 14/61: Service between Bridge and Scotia Square reinstated 7pm Friday to 7pm Sunday.

Route 15: Departure Line stop # change @ Mumford Terminal (new number 8641).

Route 19: Route start/end point changed to "Greystone before Cobalt Walk" (Stop # 6798) in Rider's Guide.

Route 20: References to "Greystone (Turning Loop)" changed to "Greystone before Cobalt Walk" (Stop #6798) in Rider's Guide.

Route 21: Departure Line stop # change @ Lacewood Terminal (Lacewood/Halifax bound only - new number 9109).

Route 23: Departure Line stop # change @ Greenwood Heights (Mumford-bound only - new number 6624). Mumford-bound time point at "Hwy. 3 and Lakelands" changed to "St. Margaret's Bay & Lake Lands Park" in Rider's Guide - departs this point 2 minutes later on all trips.

Route 32: "Dentith Rd. and South Centre Mall" time point changed to "Dentith and Herring Cove" in Rider's Guide.

Routes 33/34: Departure Line stop # change @ Lacewood Terminal (Lacewood/Halifax bound only - new number 9113).

Route 35: Lacewood-bound time point @ MSVU removed from Rider's Guide.

Route 51: Time point at "Princess Margaret & Windmill" changed to "Windmill and Waddell. - Burnside-bound stop # change (new number 8511).

Route 52: Service across Macdonald Bridge reinstated 7pm Friday to 7pm Sunday.

Route 54: Route start/end point changed to "Breeze and Appian Way" - new stop # 6460.

Route 56: Departure Line stop # change @ Penhorn Mall (Dartmouth Crossing bound - new number 8941).

Route 57: Departure Line stop # change @ Penhorn Mall (Woodside bound - new number 8941).

Route 60: All weekday trips to depart Woodside Ferry Terminal 1 minute earlier (both directions).

Route 66: Departure Line stop # change at Brownlow/Eileen Stubbs (new number 6326).

Route 79: Departure Line stop # change at Portland Hills Terminal (Cole Harbour bound - new number 8957).

Route 80: Departure Line stop # change at Cobequid Terminal (Halifax bound - new number 6297).

Route 87: Departure Line stop # change at Cobequid Terminal (Bridge bound - new number 6297). Fixed typo where the 10:13 to 12:43 departures from Windmill/Wright were incorrectly listed as one hour later.

Route 88: Departure Line stop # change at Cobequid Terminal (new number 6297).

Route 89: Departure Line stop # change at Cobequid Terminal (new number 6297). Time point at "Innovation and Hammonds Plains" changed to "Innovation and Angus Morton".

Route 320: Service between Bridge and Albemarle reinstated 7pm Friday to 7pm Sunday.

Route 330: Departure Line stop # change @ Sheldrake Lake (Tantallon bound - new number 7618).

Route 370: Departure Line stop # change @ Bridge Terminal (Porters Lake bound - new number 7609).

Route 401: One-way trip times increased. Departures adjusted to compensate - some trips will now depart substantially earlier or later than usual, so check your schedules.

Route 402: "Dentith Rd. and South Centre Mall" time point changed to "Dentith and Herring Cove" in Rider's Guide.

 

Guess the all-weekend shuttle experiment didn't work...or they're preemptively pulling the shuttles so they're not running in January/February when they won't be needed anymore... Still not much for actual schedule changes, outside the timing changes to the 401, but there's still February, and they planned on re-routing the 56 to the Bridge Terminal this year, so we can start counting down to that, I guess.

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Service and Schedule Adjustments - Effective February 20th, 2017:

Route 56: Service between Micmac Terminal and Penhorn/Portland Hills Terminals discontinued. Route will now begin/end at Bridge Terminal, travel to Micmac along the routing of Route 55, then regular routing through Dartmouth Crossing. Departure times adjusted to provide equal headway with Route 72 in Dartmouth Crossing. Route to run from 6am to midnight, Monday to Saturday, and 7am to 11pm on Sundays.

 

This is the only one announced so far - will update if more are added. Also, any word on when those new Novas are scheduled to arrive? I thought the first batch was to have arrived by now - or did they get pushed back?

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There are a bunch of the new Novas in now, they are at the Ragged Lake garage. Off the top of my head there is roughly 25 that have arrived so far with more coming every day. They were supposed to be on the road this month but they have been pushed back till March at the earliest now.  They come preloaded with the new gps system but I guess there is a problem with them connecting to the system here. So until that gets fixed they will be staying off the road.

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13 hours ago, Bud8Amp88 said:

Spotted bus 1220 this afternoon on the Route 2 heading downtown. Not used to seeing bright white text on the destination sign. The new livery looks pretty snazzy on a 40 foot LFS, too.

The bright white from what I hear is the new North American standard. The visually impaired community can see them easier then the orange from what a legally blind friend of mine told me. 

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57 minutes ago, hfx_chris said:

Well, the coverings may be hard plastic, but at least they look like the same contoured seats on the other Novas, which I find much more comfortable than the more basic seats on the New Flyers and Classics. 

The seats on more "modern" buses is 4one Aries. The older seating used on NFs and Classics is Model 6468 from American Seating.

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Am new here. Using transit daily made me a fan of uh...transit buses (I'm also into aviation). I spotted two of the new LFSs on Barrington St, one running the 7 (1230) and the other on 9 (1227?). The new destination signs look snazzy. I was surprised when I saw those and realized those are the new buses.

Blurry pic of 1230.

HQYUDFJ.jpg

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Ok, Im just gonna say that im not the biggest fan of the new X paint scheme(I prefer the previous sweep scheme), but that nova looks amazing in it!! very eye catching. My only complaint is switch the "halifax" and fleet number above the front door to black.

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15 hours ago, MaT said:

Ok, Im just gonna say that im not the biggest fan of the new X paint scheme(I prefer the previous sweep scheme), but that nova looks amazing in it!! very eye catching. My only complaint is switch the "halifax" and fleet number above the front door to black.

I would say change the font to either Highway Gothic or Alright Sans. But this is Novabus, they probably use Arial Black (I would doubt they would have Helvetica/Neue Black licensed) as standard.

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19 hours ago, MaT said:

Ok, Im just gonna say that im not the biggest fan of the new X paint scheme(I prefer the previous sweep scheme), but that nova looks amazing in it!! very eye catching. My only complaint is switch the "halifax" and fleet number above the front door to black.

It could've been worse. I don't know if you saw it or not, but in the original promotional material for the HRM rebranding to "H/\LIFAX", they showed a mock up D40LF with a proposed livery, much like what they ended up on but it had a third colour in the mix, purple. 

Unless they're trying to hearken back to the original Halifax Transit purple and orange days, I don't see where purple came from! 

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23 hours ago, hfx_chris said:

It could've been worse. I don't know if you saw it or not, but in the original promotional material for the HRM rebranding to "H/\LIFAX", they showed a mock up D40LF with a proposed livery, much like what they ended up on but it had a third colour in the mix, purple. 

Unless they're trying to hearken back to the original Halifax Transit purple and orange days, I don't see where purple came from! 

It was probably meant to be a bold color choice from Revolve. Then HRM probably wanted to stick with blue and gold as that is the colors used in the municipality's flag as well as being used since the post-funky-90s-script-m days.

halifax_bus.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I was looking at the new schedules for the 56, 66 and 72. Now, I would've thought they would align the 66 and 72 with the 56 such that a person going from either Penhorn or Portland Hills could easily transfer to the 56 at Mic Mac, with a minimal wait. However, that doesn't seem to be the case... 

To Dartmouth Crossing only, all times based on mid-day schedules - not rush hour schedules.

Route 56 departs Mic Mac @ :16 and :46

Route 66 arrives at Mic Mac @ :24 and :54 - 22 minute wait

Route 72 arrives at Mic Mac @ :19 and :49 - 25 minute wait

Yes I realize the 72 also services Dartmouth Crossing, but the routing via Highfield and Ilsley means it takes an additional 16 minutes longer to reach Dartmouth Crossing than the 56 when departing from Mic Mac. I have to wonder why they wouldn't try to make transferring from the 66 and 72 to the 56 easier at Mic Mac, especially the 66 since it would be the logical option to replace service to Dartmouth Crossing from Penhorn Terminal. 

 

The other option would be to transfer at the Bridge Terminal:

Route 56 departs Bridge @ :06 and :36

Route 58 arrives at Bridge @ :50 - 16 minute wait

Route 59 arrives at Bridge @ :05 and :35 - 1 minute wait

Route 61 arrives at Bridge @ :22 and :52 - 14 minute wait

Route 68 arrives at Bridge @ :12 and :42 - 24 minute wait

Obviously the 59 is the best option, but with such little time between those time points any delay means a missed connection. The 61 and 58 would be the next best option with a 14 and 16 minute stop over respectively.

That 61 by the way leaves Penhorn at the same time as the 66, and you end up catching the same 56 heading towards Dartmouth Crossing. So if you're coming from Penhorn it doesn't matter which way you go; unless you want to gamble on the 59 making its' connection. 

 

Direct service from the Bridge Terminal to Dartmouth Crossing is definitely a welcome addition, but it seems to be coming at a significant cost for people in the Portland Valley and beyond. 

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On 3/4/2017 at 0:24 AM, OCSTOFan said:

I heard all the Classics are gone!

They were off the road as of March 5th last day for them and the 1st gen Novas was March4th. 985 was the last classic on the road and 997 the last 1st gen Nova. That makes Halifax Transit totally accessible.  Rumour is that some of the retired buses will see new life as buses for schools across the province ( for sports teams). Some of these recently retired buses were completely rebuilt less than 5 years ago. Not sure if the reused buses will be classics or novas or both.

As of now all of what was left and recently retired are still at the Ragged Lake transit centre.

16999148_452521348424547_876410514281375923_n.thumb.jpg.04beff75666cc1f3fc40be2b609aca21.jpg

17103832_452521351757880_1903060914497818442_n.jpg

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