Jump to content

Halifax (metro) Transit.

Guest M. Boone

By Guest M. Boone
in ATLANTIC CANADA

 Share

Recommended Posts

general682002

general682002

Posted
Posted
You were planning a trip to Halifax just to see a handful of ex-BC fishbowls? C'mon man, there's a lot more here than just that.

Besides, Halifax is a beautiful city even just to visit!

Well, I'm just saying.

But I do plan to come visit the city next year, it's on my priority list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
calamin

calamin

Posted
Posted

Today I was reminded, why the Classics are great buses. Although the flyers are good because they are new and have great technology because of all the technology they tend to break down more often a Classic. We had more then 10 flyers break down because of the cold weather and none of the Classics went down for the count today. I hope we are able to keep a hold of the good classics for a longer period of time!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 8 months later...
AlexLy

AlexLy

Posted
Posted
Updates:

The LFS Artics are now in service. I saw tons of them yesterday, but was never able to get on one!

Another 40 ft. Nova (998) caught fire and looks slightly burnt. :unsure:

Picture and video of 998

Thanks to brandonsmith998 on the halifaxtransit board for the link.

LOL, the ad on the rear matches with the bus! :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites
calamin

calamin

Posted
Posted
Speaking of Ragged Lake, what's the split like between the garages? Also, are they planning to keep Thornhill open for the forseeable future?

They split the buses as follows 60% at ilsley 40% at Ragged lake. Link buses will be based out of ilsley along with acess a bus. Metro x will ve based out of Ragged lake. So this is what I think the fleet numbers are 966- and bellow are at Ilsley. All links, flyers 1001-1014,1016-1081 and 1083-1120 Artics 717-724. So that leaves Ragged lake with 968-1000 ( includes the older Nova lfs), Flyers 1015,1082( Fred) 1121-1159. All the classic artics, 715,716( hybrids) 725-731 and all Metro x buses. There are a few that have been moved to Ragged lake since the initial set up. I have heard most that where moved after the fact will be returned except for one to cover the loss of 988.

As for Thornhill it is no longer a transit garage. It will be converted to a maintance facility for the Fire department.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hfx_chris

hfx_chris

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the info, that all makes perfect sense. I was pretty sure the original plan was to abandon Thornhill, however some of the more recent press releases and statements regarding Ragged Lake make it sound as if Thornhill was going to remain in operation.

Interesting to know HRM Fire is going to be moving in, they just opened up their new mechanical shop in Waverley not too long ago!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jc.theriault

jc.theriault

Posted
Posted

Chris, There is a very good reason for moving the FD garage out of Waverley - the neighbours!

The FD shop and Perry Rand bus garage are prohibited from operating outside of specific hours since the residents complained to the city about noise and diesel smoke. When I worked for Perry Rand I believe the bus garage yard could only be accessed from 6am - 7pm on weekdays, 10am-7pm on weekends. Similar restrictions are in place for the HRM facility.

This is the reason that Perry Rand is parking many school buses and almost all of their local charter buses in the dirt lot behind the Link garage. A deal was made with the city to use the empty lot. I had a lady screaming at me from her patio behind the waverley shop as I fueled up after a charter with 10 minutes to spare until I had to vacate the yard. They don't wan't any noise whatsoever. Of course that meant turning on the fast idle to drown out her noise...

Now the residents will really be mad if there is a huge fire in Waverley during the no-access hours and the FD was unable to access or repair a much needed piece of equipment. It's their own fault!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hfx_chris

hfx_chris

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the insight JC. The NIMBY attitude around here never ceases to amaze me.

Still a shame they're moving again, but this is a much more appropriate and convenient location. At least every time they move it's to something better. Before this the mechanical division was based out of a couple of tight garage bays behind the West St. fire station off of Gottingen!

Also, good to see you! What have you been up to lately? I think last time we talked you were doing the airport runs in Montreal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jc.theriault

jc.theriault

Posted
Posted

Hey Chris, I did the airport runs in '07, then had the chance to drive motorcoaches in Fort McMurray from mid-'08 until the slowdown occured in early '09. Headed back east to Halifax for a bit where I drove charter runs for Perry Rand until last February and decided to head west again.

I had originally planned on staying put in Calgary but the jobs/money simply weren't there so I got in touch with Ft. Mac operators and was supposed to head there but one potential employer needed drivers for a temporary position in Dawson Creek, BC and just like in Ft. Mac was providing meals and accomodations. So on Aug. 21st I deadheaded with a school bus from Edmonton and went to work hauling workers on the North American Pipeline project. The pay is decent but its 72+ hours in 6 days per week. This job should be done by mid-December and I have the option of heading to Fort McMurray at that time to drive coaches for the same company.

$25k in 3.5 months wasn't something I could turn down! I'll need a two week break after this job is done but it's been fun so far as I watch the progress on 77kms of natural gas pipeline being installed. And the wildlife and scenery is also fantastic.

So I've been getting around but basically following any decent paying opportunities. And getting to see lots of the country while at it. Glad to see the east coast didn't get blown off the map this past weekend :P

JC

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Enviro 500

Enviro 500

Posted
Posted
So 967 is either gone for good or will be out of commission for a while. It caught fire this morning. The whole back end was melted pretty bad. I did hear that 988 was sent back to the Ilsley garage to be rebuilt.

Thank god I managed to get both buses in May, before they had the chances to be engulfed in flames!

http://www.trans-continental.ca/albums/Hal.../1999/988_B.jpg

http://www.trans-continental.ca/albums/Hal.../1995/967_B.jpg

I actually really miss Halifax! Such a gorgeous and beautiful little city, along with the fish and Newfie Fries at Freddy's Fantastic Fishhouse........good memories! :lol:

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites
calamin

calamin

Posted
Posted

I'm going to see if I can snap a picture of all three types of artics together for you. They are often parked on the same line and some times one behind the other. Quailty might not be as good as your pictures as I only have a point and shoot 10.1 mega pixel camera. But might look nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
59_Colby

59_Colby

Posted
Posted
I'm going to see if I can snap a picture of all three types of artics together for you. They are often parked on the same line and some times one behind the other. Quailty might not be as good as your pictures as I only have a point and shoot 10.1 mega pixel camera. But might look nice.

That would look awesome. I would love to see them together, especially since I don't get to see many non-Nova artics. I've only seen the classic artics on the 10 and 68 (probably the same bus, since they share the same shift). I've also never seen the hybrid artics since the August changes, so I'm wondering if they're still in regular service. Mind you, I don't get to either the Halifax Shopping Center or Downtown Halifax a lot, so I don't see routes like the 1 or 20, which seem to get a fair number of artics (with the latter getting classic artics, and the 10 these days only seeming to get Nova Artics). I'm also wondering about how the routes introduced in late August are doing in terms of usage, especially since the only one I see regularly is the 57, and it's usually empty. I've never seen the 8 and only once saw the 22 on the end of its trip to Mumford.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...