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TRISTAN CLEVELAND

and HOUSSAM ELOKDA

Commuter rail is dead.

Last month, CN Rail told Halifax Regional Council that to allow commuter rail on its tracks, they wanted more money and control over its schedule. Council said no, hammering a final rail spike into the proposal.

It is sad to see an idea for transit investment fail. It could have kick-started development around its stations in key places, like the Bedford Waterfront and the Mumford Terminal. Perhaps one day commuter rail could have been upgraded into a high-frequency transit spine through the centre of the city.

However, the death of commuter rail is also an opportunity. There are other ways Halifax can improve transit that can do much more to improve the lives of today’s residents, while also encouraging development in the places we need it most.

One study found commuter rail would cost between $116 and $142 million to build and operate for the first 10 years. Halifax estimates it could build a complete set of bus lanes in the urban core and inner suburbs for roughly the same amount: $132 million.

Successful transit systems offer riders a similar level of freedom as offered by the car. To compare commuter rail and bus lanes, we should ask, “Which allows residents to go anywhere they want, whenever they want?”

Halifax’s commuter rail proposal would have provided only two or three trips in the morning and again in the afternoon. That's similar to owning a car that can only turn on briefly twice a day. It would be useless for going to meetings, the dentist, the mall, bars, and many other trips. Few people would buy that car.

The train would have most benefited residents of Clayton Park and Bedford who work downtown, but even for this specific group, bus lanes will deliver most people to work faster.

Bedford’s highest density area is along Larry Uteck Boulevard, and a resident of this neighbourhood would need to walk 15-20 minutes down a steep hill to the proposed rail station near the bottom of Southgate Drive. Whether they walk, drive or take a bus, getting to the station would require extra time.

The train would take at least 15 minutes to get to its downtown station near Cornwallis Park. Since this is at the edge of downtown, riders would likely need to walk for 15-20 minutes more, or take another bus, to get to their final destination. Altogether, the whole trip would take at least 45 minutes. That’s about the same as taking the 90 and the five bus routes to Scotia Square during rush hour today.

In contrast, high-speed bus lanes can pass through the heart of the highest-density neighbourhoods of Bedford, Sackville and Clayton Park. For Larry Uteck, the 90 could zoom past traffic on the Bedford Highway. And bus lanes would take more people directly to where they need to go. Routes on Young and Robie streets pass straight through the urban core, unlike the train tracks, which pass around the edge of the peninsula.

While commuter rail would have served residents of only a handful of communities, the proposed bus-lane network would serve Dartmouth, Fairview, Spryfield, Cole Harbour, plus thousands of people who work in Bayers Lake and Burnside, and at all times of day. It would improve transit speed for anyone travelling into or through the urban core.

There is plenty of underused land in these communities where bus lanes can help spur development. Lacewood Drive could one day become the bustling central main street that Clayton Park needs. Bus lanes could also encourage more people-friendly development along Spryfield’s Herring Cove Road.

Saying yes to bus lanes does not mean saying no to trains. As these bus lanes became more successful over time, it would likely one day make sense to upgrade them into on-street trams, to handle the extra passengers. Building bus lanes is a responsible strategy for making trains viable in the future.

Some said commuter rail could turn Halifax into a world-class city. But we will only become a world-class city when all Haligonians, no matter if they are rich or poor, young or old, able-bodied or living with a disability, can rely on transit to get wherever they want, whenever they want.

Residents will be surprised at the kind of freedom buses can offer if we get them out of traffic. The death of commuter rail is an opportunity to focus on cost-effective, city-wide transit solutions that will do far more to improve our lives.

Tristan Cleveland is junior fellow, MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance, Dalhousie University, and a student research scholar at the Healthy Populations Institute. @lurbaniste

Houssam Elokda is an urban planner with Happy City and It's More Than Buses.