Council continues transit study

The Municipality of East Hants recently received a $22,500 provincial grant to continue their study on public transit in the Corridor area.
The Nova Scotia Transit Research Incentive Program offered the $350,000 worth in grants to nine projects across the province in late January. As an unserviced municipality, East Hants was one of these projects, and they will be using the money to complete the second phase of their transit study.
“Public transit is important to people throughout the province,” said John MacDonell, Hants East NDP MLA and Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations in a press release. “This funding will help communities in rural Nova Scotia enhance the service of its public transit organizations.”

East Hants has been looking into public transit in a collection of studies in the past, which included a study for the Corridor area and in Mount Uniacke. According to Connie Nolan, East Hants’ chief administrative officer, said the Mount Uniacke study wasn’t supported and financially feasible without making the taxpayers pay for it. However, East Hants is still looking into public transit options for the Corridor.

“We’re just looking at any and all odds,” said Nolan. “That’s really the purpose of this study.”

Nolan said the provincial funding would be used to further their study for the Corridor.This study began when Metro Transit stated that they would be offering their service out to the Halifax Stanfield International Airport this year. Nolan said that East Hants was trying to see how they could connect into that.

“This report will be looking at our options and what are the costs associated with those options, plus the pros and cons, and the risks,” said Nolan.

One of the options that Nolan listed was the possibility of having a depot in Elmsdale where people could park their cars and be picked up by a bus that would head to the airport. Other options included having transit run through part of Highway 2, as well as an idea of having a bus come from the airport, get off at the Enfield exit on Highway 102 and loop around to the Elmsdale exit.

All of these options come with challenges, such as feasibility issues and costs, which is what the study will truly assess.

“People who are in the know, who understand transit systems, and all the risks and opportunities and costs will come in and tell us what is possible and what we can do,” said Nolan.

Nolan said the study is in the early stages, so it’s difficult to tell what is actually possible. She said there has been interest from the public, as reflected in the surveys they have conducted, but said it is tricky to determine if people would actually use the service or not.

“There certainly was interest, but there are a lot of challenges in offering transit service,” said Nolan.

timvanderkooi@enfieldweeklypress.com