Way Forward for Transit in Nova Scotia

Ever try to book a bus trip to Annapolis Royal? Or maybe you wanted to go to Isle Madam…or maybe you simply wanted to go…

Figuring out how to get place to place in Nova Scotia without using a private vehicle is tricky. There is no central website for service providers where people wishing to travel can look. Word of mouth is the best way to get information-that is not very helpful for someone new to the province or someone who doesn’t have “the right” contacts. In today’s world, we deserve better.

The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) in conjunction with Community Transit-Nova Scotia wants to change this. Through the funding assistance of the Nova Scotia Transit Research Incentive Program administered by Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, the EAC began a mission to map the transit services currently available in the province. The resulting map is now available here:

Which way forward? A public transit map of Nova Scotia (November 2010)

• Which way forward? A public transit map of Nova Scotia, 2010, by Dr Wayne Groszko [pdf, 2.7 MB]
• Nova Scotia Transit Map, 2010 [pdf, .75 MB]

Part of the EACs work involved a report that  “encourages” the provincial government to maintain a website that would provide up-to-date information about what public transit and other shared transportation services exist in Nova Scotia. The map that researcher Wayne Groszko crafted is GIS compatible and easy to update with additional services, as well as, details of the service provided.

The report identifies a series of gaps in Nova Scotia’s transit network. The service gaps fall into the following five categories: geographic coverage, local accessibility, scheduling, physical accessibility and information. We continue to refine our knowledge of what the problem is and continue to work on solutions. The province of Nova Scotia committed to developing a sustainable transportation strategy in the Climate Change Action Plan. The strategy was to be complete in 2010. We continue to be hopeful about what the contents will entail.