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File:Metrotransit logo.svg
Founded1981
Headquarters200 Ilsley Avenue, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Service areaHalifax Regional Municipality
Service typebus service, paratransit and ferry
Routes62 total
StopsOver 2,500
Fleet268 vehicles
Daily ridership47,100 (2005/2006)[1]
Fuel typeB20 Biodiesel
OperatorHalifax Regional Municipality
WebsiteOfficial website

Metro Transit is a Canadian public transport agency operating buses and ferries in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).

Owned by the HRM, Metro Transit's operations area is the urban core in the western part of the municipality, namely the Halifax and Dartmouth Metropolitan Areas, along with adjacent outlying neighbourhoods and communities. Metro Transit is the largest transit agency in Atlantic Canada, carrying 17 million passengers in fiscal year 2005/2006.[2]

History

The agency's roots trace back to its 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, taking its name from the Metropolitan Commission. Metro Transit Centre, the agency's headquarters and bus maintenance facility, is located on Ilsley Avenue in Burnside Park, with a satellite garage known as the Rapid Transit Garage also in Burnside Park on Thornhill Drive.

Bus service

Metro Transit articulated bus

Currently there are 266 buses in the fleet, 160 of them low-floor vehicles, operating on 56 routes, including three Community Transit routes and three express routes operating as MetroLink, which began service in August 2005.

Regular service

Metro Transit currently operates 50 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, the 10's and the 20's are all primarily Halifax-based routes, routes in the 30's are rush-hour only routes serving Halifax, routes in the 40's are university routes serving the Dalhousie University campus operating during the academic calendar only, routes in the 50's, the 60's and 70's are Dartmouth-based routes, routes in the 80's are Sackville and Bedford routes, and routes in the 100's are the MetroLink routes (see below).

Fare structure

CategoryCash FareMetroPass20 tickets
Adult$2.00$60.00$32
Senior/Child$1.40$42.00$23
Student$2.00$54.00$32

In addition, a University student bus pass (U-pass)[3] is available for Saint Mary's, University of King's College and Dalhousie University students, and the cost is included in tuition fees. The current Metro Transit fare structure can be found on the the Metro Transit website.[4]

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. Transfers are good for two hours after they have been issued. Holders of a valid transit pass do not require transfers.

Transit routes

Metro Transit bus

Disabled access Wheelchair - Accessible Low Floor (ALF) route.

Rush Hour Service Only.

File:MetroLink-small.jpg MetroLink Service (see MetroLink section below).

Routes 41 and 42 are university routes, and only operate during the academic calendar.

Express service Disabled access

File:MetroLink-Halifax.jpg
Main article: MetroLink (Halifax)

MetroLink is Metro Transit's BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) express bus service. The system consists of three limited-stop fully accessible express routes, connecting downtown Halifax's Scotia Square bus terminal, with the Portland Hills terminal in Cole Harbour on the Dartmouth side, and the Sackville Terminal in Lower Sackville. The third route links the Portland Hills Terminal to the Woodside ferry terminal in Dartmouth.

Rural express

Metro Transit is in the process of introducing Metro Express, or MetroX for short. These routes will service the rural commutershed of HRM. All routes are planned to terminate at Scotia Square in downtown Halifax. Three corridors are planned as of 2007-2008:[5]

Community transit

Metro Transit supervisors car on the waterfront in Dartmouth, with the Dartmouth ferry in the background

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

Currently there are 2 Community Transit routes:[6]

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

Cash fare on both routes is $3.00. Tickets and transfers from other routes are accepted, but require an additional $1.00 be deposited. Monthly bus passes and U-Passes are accepted and do not require any additional payment.

Access-A-Bus Disabled access

Metro Transit also provides Access-A-Bus service which is a dial-a-ride service for elderly and handicapped residents in the region. This service was created in 1981, the same year Metro Transit was formed.[7] There are approximately 20 Access-A-Bus vehicles [citation needed].

GoTime

New bus stop sign on Alderney Drive

GoTime is the name of Metro Transit's automated vehicle locater (AVL) system. The current generation system (unveiled over the winter of 2007/2008) uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track buses throughout the system, providing information on location and schedule adherence to the transit control centre. This information is also used to update Metro Transit's real time bus departure system available to the general public.

Each bus stop sign has a blue 4-digit GoTime number on it. A passenger can dial 480- plus the 4-digit number to hear an automated message telling them exactly when the next bus on each route servicing that stop will depart, based on the information calculated above. Also, GoTime monitors are placed at every transit terminal, and a few major stops, listing each of the routes that service that stop and when the next two buses on those routes will arrive at that stop. This information is continually updated as the central GoTime system recalculates bus departure times, using the data collected from the buses. In addition to this, each bus is equipped with an on board computer which continually updates the driver on exactly how many minutes ahead of or behind schedule they are, to ensure schedule adherence. A web-based component is also planned to be introduced, but no details on exactly what this will do have been released by Metro Transit.

The new GPS-based system replaces an older system originally designed by the former City of Halifax between 1984 and 1987, one the earliest real-time passenger information and transit management systems in North America.[8] The previous generation system used wheel rotation sensors to calculate the distance traveled from the start of the route, which was then transmitted back to the transit control centre. This data allowed the system to calculate the buses position along its route, as well as exact departure times for each bus stop ahead of it. In addition to wheel sensors, door sensors were used to determine when the bus was at a stop, and a series of electronic transmitters mounted to power poles along each route allowed the system to further calculate the buses position along its route. As with the current-generation system, the previous system also had a a call-in system where a user could call the 4-digit GoTime number on each bus stop and hear an automated message telling them when the next two buses on each route servicing that stop would depart, monitors at all terminals displaying real-time departure information, and on board computers displaying information to drivers on how far ahead or behind schedule they are.

The hardware to support the previous-generation GoTime system has been steadily deteriorating over time, as the last major overhaul to the system was completed in 1996. There is reference to funds being allocated in 1998 for a GoTime upgrade[9], however, it is believed that the companies that were contracted to perform the upgrade, failed to do so when they each went bankrupt. Due to the instability of the system, it is believed that sometime between 2004 and 2005, the "real-time" functionality of the GoTime system was disabled, as phoning the system seemed only to tell the scheduled departure times, not actual departure times; the phone-in component used the words "scheduled to depart in" when real-time data was unavailable, and "will depart in" when the data was available.

Fleet

Current

Manufacturer Model Model Years Fleet Numbers No. Purchased No. Remaining in Service Notes
GMDD T6H-5307N New Look 1981/1982 510 - 515 6 6 510 - 515 are used buses purchased from BC Transit in 2003.
GMDD TC40-102N Classic 1983
1985
1986
1987		 870 - 881
882 - 895
896 - 910
911 - 920		 12
14
15
10		 5
4
6
3		 The 1983 buses originally had rollsigns, although some have since been converted to electronic destination signs.
MCI TC40-102N Classic 1987
1988
1989
1990		 921 - 928
929 - 940
941 - 947
948 - 952		 8
12
7
5		 6
11
6
5		  
MCI / NovaBus TC60-102N Articulated Classic 1992
1993		 701 - 707
708 - 714 		7
7		 7
7		 In 1993, MCI was taken over by NovaBus in the middle of the 1993 order; as a result, 708-710 bear the MCI logo, while 711-714 bear the NovaBus logo. NovaBus discontinued the articulated Classic immediately following the fulfillment of this order.
NovaBus TC40-102N Classic 1994
1995
1996		 953 - 966
967 - 974
975 - 985		 14
8
11		 13
8
11		 975 & 976 were test buses running on propane. The fuel provided less power than expected, and the engines were converted to diesel.
New Flyer Industries D30LF Disabled access 1999 505 - 507 3 3 These buses operate on the Community Transit service.
NovaBus Nova LFS Disabled access 1999
2000		 986 - 996
997 - 1000		 11
4		 11
4		  
New Flyer Industries D40LF Disabled access 2002
2004
2005
2005
2006
2007
2008
 1001 - 1032
1033 - 1060
1061 - 1082
600 - 619
1083 - 1107
1108 - 1130
1131-1143 		32
28
22
20
25
23
13		 32
28
22
20
25
23
13		 600 - 619 operate on the MetroLink service only.
1083 - 1142 have air conditioning
1131-1143 Are at the Metro Transit garage on Ilsley but have not been placed into service as of yet.

Past

Manufacturer Model Model Years Fleet Numbers No. Purchased Notes/History
GMDD T6H-5305 New Look 1969
1971		 801 - 819
820 - 823		 19
4		 Prior to 1981, these buses were owned by Halifax Transit Corporation
GMDD T6H-4521 New Look 1969
1971		 401 - 455
133 - 135		 55
3		 Prior to 1981, 401 - 455 were owned by Halifax Transit Corp; 133 - 135 were owned by Dartmouth Transit Service
GMDD TDH-3301 New Look 1971 130 - 131 2 Prior to 1981, these buses were owned by Dartmouth Transit Service
GMDD TDH-3302N New Look 1973 137 1 Prior to 1981, this bus was owned by Dartmouth Transit Service
GMDD T6H-4523N New Look 1973
1975
1976
1977		 138 - 139
143 - 144
145 - 147
148 - 150		 2
2
3
3		 Prior to 1981, these buses were owned by Dartmouth Transit Service
GMDD T6H-5307N New Look 1975
1978
1982		 824 - 835
836 - 856
857 - 869 		12
21
13		 Prior to 1981, 824 - 856 were owned by Halifax Transit Corp; 857 - 869 were bought after HTC and DTS merged into Metro Transit
Orion Bus Industries 01.501 (Orion I) 1981 501 - 504 4 Purchased from the Toronto Transit Commission in 1990.
501, 502 & 504 were sold to Kings Transit, Nova Scotia
Orion Bus Industries 01.506 (Orion I) 1985 308 1 Purchased from the Pictou County Regional Transit Authority in 1996.
Sold to Kings Transit, Nova Scotia
Saab-Scania CN112A 1984 201 - 212 12 Assembled from 'completely-knocked-down' kits by Tri-Star Industries of Yarmouth, NS; purchase subsidised by NS government in an attempt to create a provincial bus-building industry

FerriesDisabled access

Halifax III
Close-up of HRM ferry
Dartmouth III
A map of Metro Transit ferry routes, both existing and possible new ones. (Note: Possible route to Eastern Passage is not included)

Current service

Metro Transit also provides two passenger ferry routes, one connecting downtown Halifax with Alderney Landing in Dartmouth (which operates daily using 2 vessels) and the other connecting downtown Halifax with Woodside (Monday through Friday only using 1 vessel). The ferry services are integrated with the bus services; the fares are identical, and transfers are accepted between the two systems. The harbour ferries are utilised by over 3,000 commuters daily [10] Each ferry carries up to 398 passengers.

Proposed high speed service

In recent years, following unfulfilled plans to implement commuter rail, the municipality has begun to plan several new high speed ferry routes on Halifax Harbour, including service to Purcell's Cove, Bedford, Eastern Passage and Shannon Park. These routes would be served by wave piercing catamarans capable of speeds of approximately 40 knots. Details have not been finalized, however it is likely that the downtown Halifax terminal would act as a hub, with all routes radiating outward. Studies and trials have been undertaken for a Bedford-Halifax route, which will likely be the first high speed service.

Fleet

Current

There are three ferris in operation:

All three ferries are double-ended side-loading, and use two 230 hp Caterpillar model 3306 engines, each driving a model 12E/75 Voith-Schneider propeller.

Past

The Dartmouth to Halifax ferry service dates from 1752.[11] Following is a list of earlier ferries as far as is known.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.halifax.ca/metrotransit/news/documents/GoTimes07-newfinalfile.pdf Metro Transit winter 2007 GoTimes newsletter
  2. ^ Metro Transit, GoTimes
  3. ^ Metro Transit, U-Pass
  4. ^ Metro Transit, Tickets and Passes
  5. ^ Metro Transit, Metro Express page (with planning documents)
  6. ^ Metro Transit, Community Transit
  7. ^ Metro Transit, Access-a-bus
  8. ^ Transport Canada,"GoTime: Real-time passenger information and transit management" Case study, July, 2007
  9. ^ HRM, Halifax Regional Council Minutes, June 30, 1998
  10. ^ Metro Transit, Dartmouth-Halifax Harbour Ferries
  11. ^ Metro Transit, [http://www.halifax.ca/metrotransit/ferries.html Harbour Ferries
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Payzant, J. & Lewis, J (1979): Like A Weaver's Shuttle: A History of the Halifax-Dartmouth Ferries. Nimbus Publishing.


44°41′34″N 63°35′4.4″W / 44.69278°N 63.584556°W / 44.69278; -63.584556

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