Something to look forward to!
AWWWWWW YEAH
Taken from a message on Halifax Regional Transit Talk (emphases and [comments] added):
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Got the lowdown today on the route changes coming along in August and an extra route expected to start in late October!
Weekdays:
Route 18, 21, 61, 84 minor schedule adjustments, nothing much to report there.
Route 41, 42 reinstated for August 31st.
Route 63, Midday service introduced:
will provide two directional, 30 minute frequency, during the midday from 9:30am-3:30pm. This will provide service to Penhorn but only during this midday period. Peak service is the same, route will also become an ALF route.
Route 82, increased midday service to 1/2 hourly. [I rarely take this route within Sackville, but this is still nice; I can now drop vehicles off at APJ Automotive on Cobequid road without having to worry about waiting up to an hour for a bus to take me down to Cobequid Terminal to connect with the 80 or 87 or...!]
Saturdays, no changes.
Sundays:
Route 1, from 10:30am -6:00pm will now be running at a 15 minute frequency. [A lot of people will benefit from this, especially university students working and studying on weekends.]
Route 52, increasing to 1/2 hour frequency all day. [This will make getting out to Bayer's Lake at least a little easier.]
Route 26 Eliminated from Sunday service as it was used to make up for the lack of 52's service.
ROUTE 89 BEDFORD!
Service will operate from Lacewood terminal to Cobequid Terminal. Via Lacewood Dr, Parkland Dr, Kearney Lake, Bluewater Rd, Hammonds Plains Rd, Symonds Rd, Inovation Dr (service to RIM), Hammonds Plains Rd, Bedford Hwy, Cobequid Terminal.
Weekday service only, running from 6:00am to 12:00 midnight.
New route 89 is scheduled to be implemented once street networks and improvements are completed (late October).
It was also mentioned that they want to bring back the route 19 Fotherby either as the 19 or as a new route as early as the spring due to increased ridership in the Spryfield area. Also confirmed that next bus order placed will be for artics :) [These will probably be like the New Flyers that make up the entirety of our new acquisitions, except these will be 60 feet long instead of 40, and they'll bend in the middle. Another potential candidate is the Nova artic, which is a longer, bendy version of the LFS (the other, less common kind of low-floor bus - it has a curved front and a window in the back).]
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AWWW YEAH
My 25-minute walk to the bus has just been reduced to 5, and the bus I'd be catching has better connections to other routes (especially Bayer's Lake).
MAN, this is good news! I'll still have to get my butt down to Mill Cove and the 80 on weekends, but I love the idea of getting that out of my weekday commutes to classes. Damn. Also, this bus would make it feasible for me to accept a job in Bayer's Lake again (now that I'm carless). The "connection" between the 80 coming in from Bedford / Sackville and the 52 going to Bayer's Lake (and vice-versa) was a world of suck; they would approach the same point on Joseph Howe Drive at about the same time, going in opposite directions on the street. If you weren't able to cross the street right away, or if your bus was even a hairsbreadth late, you'd have to wait 30 minutes in front of Joseph Howe Superstore for the next bus!
When they introduced a new Route 88 last year, I thought that that would mean there'd be no returning to an Atlantic Acres route at any frequency (there was a short-lived 88 Atlantic Acres, but it worked like the 86: one AM trip, one PM trip), but now there will be a reasonable two-way, more-than-once-a-day route after all, just under a new number. And bonus: the route would also service the new ferry, if that ever gets going.
Man, this is sweet. Geez, I could even host small parties on Friday nights without having to worry about how people would get there! Sweet sweet sweet.
I think 89 might be my new favorite number. At least it'll help take some of the loathing away from the 80.
Update: I've created a Google Map that shows the path of the route as well as identifying connecting routes. There's a route to either the Lacewood or Cobequid end of the 89 from almost every terminal as well as the universities - click on the markers to read which buses to take.
Oh, yeah, the 89 doesn't exist quite yet... so don't hop on that 2, 4, 16, 17, 18, 42 or 52 to Lacewood just yet. =)
Taken from a message on Halifax Regional Transit Talk (emphases and [comments] added):
*********
Got the lowdown today on the route changes coming along in August and an extra route expected to start in late October!
Weekdays:
Route 18, 21, 61, 84 minor schedule adjustments, nothing much to report there.
Route 41, 42 reinstated for August 31st.
Route 63, Midday service introduced:
will provide two directional, 30 minute frequency, during the midday from 9:30am-3:30pm. This will provide service to Penhorn but only during this midday period. Peak service is the same, route will also become an ALF route.
Route 82, increased midday service to 1/2 hourly. [I rarely take this route within Sackville, but this is still nice; I can now drop vehicles off at APJ Automotive on Cobequid road without having to worry about waiting up to an hour for a bus to take me down to Cobequid Terminal to connect with the 80 or 87 or...!]
Saturdays, no changes.
Sundays:
Route 1, from 10:30am -6:00pm will now be running at a 15 minute frequency. [A lot of people will benefit from this, especially university students working and studying on weekends.]
Route 52, increasing to 1/2 hour frequency all day. [This will make getting out to Bayer's Lake at least a little easier.]
Route 26 Eliminated from Sunday service as it was used to make up for the lack of 52's service.
ROUTE 89 BEDFORD!
Service will operate from Lacewood terminal to Cobequid Terminal. Via Lacewood Dr, Parkland Dr, Kearney Lake, Bluewater Rd, Hammonds Plains Rd, Symonds Rd, Inovation Dr (service to RIM), Hammonds Plains Rd, Bedford Hwy, Cobequid Terminal.
Weekday service only, running from 6:00am to 12:00 midnight.
New route 89 is scheduled to be implemented once street networks and improvements are completed (late October).
It was also mentioned that they want to bring back the route 19 Fotherby either as the 19 or as a new route as early as the spring due to increased ridership in the Spryfield area. Also confirmed that next bus order placed will be for artics :) [These will probably be like the New Flyers that make up the entirety of our new acquisitions, except these will be 60 feet long instead of 40, and they'll bend in the middle. Another potential candidate is the Nova artic, which is a longer, bendy version of the LFS (the other, less common kind of low-floor bus - it has a curved front and a window in the back).]
*********
AWWW YEAH
My 25-minute walk to the bus has just been reduced to 5, and the bus I'd be catching has better connections to other routes (especially Bayer's Lake).
MAN, this is good news! I'll still have to get my butt down to Mill Cove and the 80 on weekends, but I love the idea of getting that out of my weekday commutes to classes. Damn. Also, this bus would make it feasible for me to accept a job in Bayer's Lake again (now that I'm carless). The "connection" between the 80 coming in from Bedford / Sackville and the 52 going to Bayer's Lake (and vice-versa) was a world of suck; they would approach the same point on Joseph Howe Drive at about the same time, going in opposite directions on the street. If you weren't able to cross the street right away, or if your bus was even a hairsbreadth late, you'd have to wait 30 minutes in front of Joseph Howe Superstore for the next bus!
When they introduced a new Route 88 last year, I thought that that would mean there'd be no returning to an Atlantic Acres route at any frequency (there was a short-lived 88 Atlantic Acres, but it worked like the 86: one AM trip, one PM trip), but now there will be a reasonable two-way, more-than-once-a-day route after all, just under a new number. And bonus: the route would also service the new ferry, if that ever gets going.
Man, this is sweet. Geez, I could even host small parties on Friday nights without having to worry about how people would get there! Sweet sweet sweet.
I think 89 might be my new favorite number. At least it'll help take some of the loathing away from the 80.
Update: I've created a Google Map that shows the path of the route as well as identifying connecting routes. There's a route to either the Lacewood or Cobequid end of the 89 from almost every terminal as well as the universities - click on the markers to read which buses to take.
Oh, yeah, the 89 doesn't exist quite yet... so don't hop on that 2, 4, 16, 17, 18, 42 or 52 to Lacewood just yet. =)