Students group wants late-night buses

From Today's Herald: 

Expanded transit service would make downtown safer, letter to council says
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter 
Mon. Mar 2 - 4:46 AM

A students group in metro wants Halifax city hall to consider providing late-night bus service downtown for post-secondary students, according to a submission to regional council.

The proposal from the Halifax Student Alliance says the plan is in line with two of council’s policy focus areas for this year: public safety and transportation.

Late-night transit would allow for safer and more convenient access to students’ destinations, the submission says, and "provide more transportation options for (the) entire community."

The pilot project would include popular Metro Transit routes such as those to Saint Mary’s and Dalhousie universities and those along Barrington Street, Spring Garden Road and Oxford Street.

Mark Coffin, chairman of the alliance, said in a letter to councillors the project is directly linked to results of the mayor’s roundtable on violence. He said about 1,540 students were surveyed for the study, and 45 per cent of respondents reported being crime victims while studying in metro.

"Alarmingly, 12 per cent of respondents disclosed that they had been victims of sexual assault downtown," Mr. Coffin said in his letter. He noted the city’s anti-violence report recommends a late-night transit service for Halifax’s central core.

The submission to council says the advocacy group represents more than 25,000 university and community college students in Halifax Regional Municipality. Many students rely on Metro Transit’s bus service, which stops at 1 a.m., and the alliance feels "an investment in late-night transit will reduce the frequency" of violent events involving young people.

The group wants the city to look at bus service ending at 3 a.m., a spokesman told The Chronicle Herald on Saturday.

Alliance members also pitched the economics of students riding city buses. They told the politicians in their letter that post-secondary students dish out at least $6.7 million annually to the municipality’s transit system through such things as bus fares and passes.

"The student contribution to Metro Transit’s operating budget is considerable," Mr. Coffin said in his letter. "The (alliance) will continue to encourage Metro Transit to provide better service to the universities and colleges, which are cornerstones of the local economy."

Transit funding is to be discussed at council’s committee of the whole session Tuesday afternoon; the alliance’s proposal is on the agenda for Tuesday night’s regional council meeting.

Dal graduate student Zach Dayler, the alliance’s executive director, said his organization is aware that late-night transit would mean bus drivers dealing with some passengers who are intoxicated. He said that scenario can be mitigated.

"I’d point to the investment in security cameras that they do want to put on buses," said Mr. Dayler.

"So that, I think, will alleviate some concern there about drunk people on the buses potentially causing incidents."

Mr. Dayler said should the municipality give the pilot project the green light, his group would like to see it running as soon as possible.

Whether there is political will on regional council for the alliance’s proposal remains to be seen. A couple of councillors have expressed their support, but others are against it. Mayor Peter Kelly hasn’t ruled out such a plan, but his is only one vote on a 24-member council.

Regardless of how councillors may feel about the issue, transit officials are not exactly hopping on the late-night-bus bandwagon.

"That’s on the back burner," Eddie Robar, Metro Transit’s planning manager, told the Coast last year.

( mlightstone@herald.ca)