DFO has rejected Atlantic Roads infill application in Dartmouth Cove! @darrenfisherns.bsky.social

Thanks! :)

In Halifax free transit for kids led to 52.4% reporting using transit as one of their primary ways to get to school, & 75.8% using transit for non-school related travel at least once per week.

Over 85% said the transit pass made them feel more independent.

The PC government is cutting it anyways.

Sorry I can't keep track of whether I'm supposed to be an NDP puppet or a Waye Mason puppet. The absolute sourest of grapes.

Here's the actual Motor Vehicle Act reference on traffic lights. Note that under green arrow drivers are required to yield to pedestrians lawfully in a crosswalk. This setup is legally correct... the problem is that not everyone knows the actual rules of the road.

This came up at King's Wharf Place before. A solid green arrow doesn't mean you have the right of way. Flashing green does. So cars can turn right, but they still have to yield to pedestrians. I get that not everyone understand that. Not sure if this can be adjusted to a solid green. Will ask.

Atlantic Road is suing HRM, challenging the validity of the bylaw we passed restricting infill and arguing the trail easement is void. This is now a property dispute that will be decided in court. This is just spiteful and petty.

HRM's position is that the trail easement remains in place. We don't own the property though and the company is free to sign and restrict their lands. If they try to block the trail again though, HRM will engage with Build NS to respond.

Supplementary funding is currently being renegotiated between Province and HRM. HRM provides funding right now for fine arts, librarians, and social workers at some high needs schools. I can't get into in camera discussions, but I will say I support continuing supp funding, including librarians

A Halifax Transit Ferry in the bottom right corner of a graphic that has a blue background with banners at the top. Text reads: " March 16-21, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free Ferry for March Break. Embark on a March Break adventure in Downtown Halifax!" The respective logos for 'Downtown Halifax' and 'Halifax Transit' are in the bottom right corner of the graphic.

Exciting news! The Alderney Ferry will be FREE for March Break between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. beginning Monday, March 16, until Saturday, March 21, 2026, courtesy of @DowntownHalifax

Taking a connecting bus? Remember, children 12 & under ride for free, and transfers are valid for 90 minutes.

Why hello there! Spring!

You're welcome.

Thanks!

E-News March 2026 - Sam Austin News Student Bus Pass ProgramYou might have caught the news that, as part of Provincial budget cuts, the Province is eliminating funding for HRM’s student bus pass program. This will impact 36,000 jun...

My March E-News. Student transit pass program in jeopardy, Wyse Road bus lane, ferry maintenance woes, King's Wharf, Lancaster Roundabout, Robie Street widening, Dartmouth Cove court drama and more. Read it here samaustin.ca/e-news-march...

heh. That's why I keep posting the data :)

Raw data. It's a bike at a given spot at a given time. We don't have individual trip data. It's the same challenge withcounting vehicles and transit rides. We know that someone was at a given spot, but we have no idea who they are or where they were going or anything about the rest of their travel

Bike count for February.

Today: A bit of a quiet one after the three all day budget marathons this week. Met with planning staff to start, CBC interview re student bus passes, tour of a development on Agricola to chat about single stair buildings. Capping the day off with Dartmouth High’s Sherlock Holmes production.

Today: it’s been a busy day at City Hall with budget deliberations and we’re not done yet. Some big decisions around transit and road safety. Still lots more to go through tonight and tomorrow

Well spoken today

Today: It’s going to be a busy week at City Hall. Budget deliberations resume with the budget adjustment list. This week Council will decide on cuts, additional spending and set the tax bill. Lots of folks signed up for public participation today. Busy at security and gallery filling up

I did get a note back from staff and Jillian is correct. No bikes allowed in the bus lane since there is separate bike space. HRM did adjust the phasing so that the two-stage crossing only involves waiting for the advance green for traffic coming off the Bridge before the bike signal comes on

I'm honestly not sure. I'll have to ask. A regular arrow couldn't work here because 3 lanes are feeding into 2. Transit needed its own signal to make the new layout work. The timing is short so it's likely that cyclists in the bus lane are going to causes buses to miss their light.

Some of the small victories can turn out to be incredibly hard to do! :) Cold outside but warm inside seeing this finally work again.

Bridge Bus Lane Returns! YouTube video by Sam Austin

It's back! Signal timing should be adjusted to clear 3 buses at once and some bus drivers were still using the car lanes, but the Bridge bus lane is operational again! youtu.be/6evc0ZV6Fm8

Council Update: Budget, Woodside, Extra Floors, Micmac Mall Development - Sam Austin Agenda, February 24 Budget:Council’s budget deliberations are nearing their conclusion. This past week we finished reviewing the last department, Fiscal Services. Fiscal Services are a sort of catch-a...

My Council blog from this week's meetings. Budget deliberations, North Woodside Park Plan, Wyse Road development and M District public hearing scheduled. Read it here samaustin.ca/council-upda...

I don't think anyone has said it's life ending. That might be a touch hyperbolic. Its loss though will be felt and there will be negative repercussions. Meanwhile, the cost of $1.2 million to the Province is a rounding error and about the same as what they plan to spend on AI traffic lights.

What I don’t think is a solution is getting rid of all the teenagers. We wouldn’t use that kind of collective punishment against any other group

HRM has been building up more capacity on the transit supervisor side and we’re deploying them to the most problematic spots. There has been work on operator training too. If you note something like an operator not responding to an issue note the bus and time and call it in

Nova Scotia ends funding for Halifax student bus pass program The provincial government said it no longer support a pilot project that provided free transit passes to some students.

Good job by CTV putting voice to students that are potentially losing their bus passes www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/vid...