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  #261  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2010, 11:18 PM
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Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
The fast ferry should have gone into service in 2003 or so. By now there could have been a major development centred around a terminal.
I agree completely. Besides the other pluses to the ferry, the cost calculations on the fast ferry have seemed to miss that it's a lever that will allow more development (at least I haven't seen mention of it). The city will recoup a large part of the investment through taxes. It's like a small scale of what happens in Toronto when the subway lines get extended. When the subway arrives land values increase and condos sprout like mushrooms. Same with the C-Train in Calgary. When I was out there, I saw development everywhere, but especially around stations like Heritage and Victoria Park. Some of the condos they're building out there are massive!
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  #262  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2010, 12:21 AM
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I will maintain until proven otherwise that the so-called fast ferry will prove to be a giant boondoggle and be effective only at sucking money out of the wallets of taxpayers. It will make minimal difference to commuters and will be largely ignored as both impractical and uncomfortable.
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  #263  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2010, 12:36 AM
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I will maintain until proven otherwise that the so-called fast ferry will prove to be a giant boondoggle and be effective only at sucking money out of the wallets of taxpayers. It will make minimal difference to commuters and will be largely ignored as both impractical and uncomfortable.
Can't be anymore impractical and uncomfortable than spending an hour and a half on a bus or an hour in a car to get in town in the mornings ...

One question I have for you Keith P. is why do you have a grudge against Bedford? You've come out as against the Fast Ferry, and the 4plex. I'm also sure you've been against the LRT at times and improved bus service in Bedford. There's 20'000 residents in Bedford that have the same rights as whereever you live to have access to municipal funds in a manner that we know will make profit and better our quality of life. I may think Bedford has bad issues that need to be dealt with immediately but unlike some foumers I realise other projects need consideration (like a Spryfield BRT, Lacewood Terminal, ect). Closed mided people like you need to wake up and realise HRM extends beyond Halifax and Dartmouth. The Bedford area is a fundamental part of HRM and just like every other part of the municipality it needs to be invested in.
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  #264  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 1:20 AM
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Ahhh ... got to love the silence that always follows a pro-Bedford post.
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  #265  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 7:03 AM
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Being against a project that happens to be in Bedford does not necessarily make one anti-Bedford.

I'm not a fan of the hockey rink for example and I went to CPA.
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  #266  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 1:09 PM
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Can't be anymore impractical and uncomfortable than spending an hour and a half on a bus or an hour in a car to get in town in the mornings ...
Of course it can. It is limited to service areas adjacent to the waterside. Not everyone lives or works in such areas. Other modes of transport have no such limitation and this are far more practical. Then you have the discomfort and unease many have with being on a boat of any sort, added to the usual chop and wave action in our bad-weather days. Buses don't need seasickness bags.

Quote:
One question I have for you Keith P. is why do you have a grudge against Bedford? You've come out as against the Fast Ferry, and the 4plex. I'm also sure you've been against the LRT at times and improved bus service in Bedford. There's 20'000 residents in Bedford that have the same rights as whereever you live to have access to municipal funds in a manner that we know will make profit and better our quality of life. I may think Bedford has bad issues that need to be dealt with immediately but unlike some foumers I realise other projects need consideration (like a Spryfield BRT, Lacewood Terminal, ect). Closed mided people like you need to wake up and realise HRM extends beyond Halifax and Dartmouth. The Bedford area is a fundamental part of HRM and just like every other part of the municipality it needs to be invested in.
I have no bias against Bedford. I do have a bias against building ugly 4-pad arenas anywhere with only municipal tax dollars footing the bill. I would be equally opposed to it if it were in Dartmouth or Spryfield or anywhere else. I am not one of those people who is part of the hockey culture. I do not believe it is every Canadian's birthright to be able to play hockey from the age of 2 at my expense.

Show me where I have said I am against the LRT. Nothing could be further from the truth as that actually makes some sense. I have supported the widening of the 102 and Bayers Road. That largely serves Bedford commuters. I support a 3rd harbor bridge which, if built, would remove load from the existing pair and benefit Bedfordites working downtown. I have nothing against Bedford, except for its lack of any decent places to eat and its fixation on beige vinyl-sided McMansions.
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  #267  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 6:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
Of course it can. It is limited to service areas adjacent to the waterside. Not everyone lives or works in such areas. Other modes of transport have no such limitation and this are far more practical. Then you have the discomfort and unease many have with being on a boat of any sort, added to the usual chop and wave action in our bad-weather days. Buses don't need seasickness bags.
Not only is the ferry in what will become a very dense community it would also be serviced by buses (existing and commuter routes), the extensive trail system in the area and some form of Park 'N Ride. As for seasickness that would be minor problem at worst. A high quality boat would have the same rate of this as the existing ferries and it would only happen on very bad weather days with high waves (not often in the sheltered Basin). I know I'd rather ride my bike for 20 minutes from my house to get to the terminal then have a nice relaxing half hour ride downtown then sit or a bus or fight traffic every morning.


Quote:
I have no bias against Bedford. I do have a bias against building ugly 4-pad arenas anywhere with only municipal tax dollars footing the bill. I would be equally opposed to it if it were in Dartmouth or Spryfield or anywhere else. I am not one of those people who is part of the hockey culture. I do not believe it is every Canadian's birthright to be able to play hockey from the age of 2 at my expense.
I'm not part of the hockey culture either. I like watching games but I don't know how to skate and nobody else in my family plays the game (at least in the Halifax area). However I don't think Bedford area skaters should have to be given the crappy hours at rinks in Halifax and Dartmouth in order to play thier favourite sports. Sure a two rink facility could of served the Northwest region but I have no problem with making it larger in order to serve a larger catchment area and ultimately save money down the road when the extra surfaces will be in high demand.

Besides it's not just ice rinks in the building. There's needed community meeting space, volleyball courts in the summer (and other sports could use the area)

Quote:
Show me where I have said I am against the LRT. Nothing could be further from the truth as that actually makes some sense. I have supported the widening of the 102 and Bayers Road. That largely serves Bedford commuters. I support a 3rd harbor bridge which, if built, would remove load from the existing pair and benefit Bedfordites working downtown. I have nothing against Bedford, except for its lack of any decent places to eat and its fixation on beige vinyl-sided McMansions.
Well I guess its good to hear you are for the LRT. Unfortunately that is the least likely of the three options to serve Bedford to actually get funding.

The widening of Bayers Road would actually help commuters from Sackville and beyond and not really Bedford (the new interchange may change that). Most Bedfordites use Burnside to get in town. The sothern area uses the Bedford Highway (for now) becuase of the lack of access onto the Bi-Hi. The one project that would really help Bedford is the Burnside Expressway becuase it would get futher out commuters off of Magazine Hill. Another simpler solution would be to widen Magazine Hill to six lanes to allow Akerley-bound traffic to get off of the through lanes inbound and provide a Bus/HOV lane outbound.
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  #268  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2010, 5:10 AM
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If CN wasn't so unreasonable with regards to it's headways on the track; a commuter rail system (with feeder connections to downtown and major employment centres from Mumford and the downtown train station) might have been possible years ago.

A fast ferry is probably a reasonable stop gap; but I can tell you that my mom wouldn't use it for the exact reason KeithP suggested: She gets seasick on any boat, period.

From that perspective; I disagree with keith that this would fail - I think the boat would work well. However, there should be some consideration for people who can't/won't take the ferry and so many of the routes feeding into downtown (like the 80) should remain until such time as a rail system (be it commuter rail or LRT) could service the area.
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  #269  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2010, 6:40 AM
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I really doubt anybody would propose to eliminate the Bedford bus if a ferry were created. They wouldn't save exactly the same areas.

It's wrong to judge any transportation option as a solution for everybody. The question isn't whether everybody can take the ferry, it's whether or not the number of people the ferry could transport justifies the cost and studies done so far have suggested that is the case.

Commuter rail or LRT would be far better than a ferry but don't seem like an option for Bedford at this time.
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  #270  
Old Posted Oct 26, 2010, 1:09 PM
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Fast Ferry guy a bit of a Fast Freddie

HUMMM the whole thing soundy shady when he presented it to council. CBC says yes he may have some shady dealings in the past. This should of all been uncovered when some unknown American comes pitching proposals to council. Good on council for asking questions.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia...ast-coast.html
http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorning...president.html
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  #271  
Old Posted Oct 29, 2011, 1:05 AM
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An immediate relief for downtown traffic would be high capacity, high speed ferries from Woodside to downtown and from Alderney to downtown. A capacity of 2000 each would be a start. The cost to commuters would be zero. The cost of the ferries would be offset by savings in other infrastructure such as a third bridge etc.

The Staten Island ferry is free and carries 75,000 passengers a day 365 days a year.
The Toronto Island ferry is also free.

Staten Island Ferry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island_Ferry
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  #272  
Old Posted Oct 29, 2011, 1:10 AM
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With the city looking at better transit options because of the upcoming ''boom'' this might finally be a reality along with rail .
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  #273  
Old Posted Oct 29, 2011, 3:16 AM
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Ferries are vastly overrated and are not a viable transit option for most people because they need to connect with an absolutely horrific bus system to get to their ultimate destination. Faced with a 90-minute travel cycle, people will choose to drive.
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  #274  
Old Posted Oct 29, 2011, 3:33 PM
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Ha. 2000 capacity? Our current ferries carry 350 people. I like your enthusiasm but I think that is a bit overboard. I would argue frequency increases solve most ferry issues. I agree with Keith, to a degree.... ferries don't solve all problems.

Every day I take the Woodside home from work, I watch men and women dressed in office wear run, sprint even, up the ramp, as the ferry is dropping 350 people and there are what, 45 seats on the Metrolink to Portland Hills? They RUN to get a seat.

But the ferry is often carrying just a handful of people outside of peak hours. 2000 capacity ships would be too expensive to run except maybe twice a day inbound, twice a day outbound. Crew and fuel sizes go through the roof.

I think we need 2 more ferries exactly as we have now. They can go 8 knots but they usually only go 4-5, and they can make the crossing in under 10 minutes Dart>Halifax and just over 10 Woodside>Halifax. Could we get it so that 350 people are moving across the harbour 6 times an hour from Dartmouth and 4 times an hour from Woodside during peak? The issue then is the terminal, not the ferry. Then after that you need to invest in more BRT with more dedicated lanes, so when you get to Dartmouth you can get a damn seat.

Each current ferry is $12 million to replace.

Last edited by Waye Mason; Nov 1, 2011 at 12:09 PM. Reason: hah did the math wrong 6 times a hour
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  #275  
Old Posted Oct 31, 2011, 6:53 PM
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I don't agree with Keith on this one - I think the transit system can be improved if the end result is that local feeder buses would be the way people would get to the ferry. The problem is that you would likely see a loss of routes like the 80, since the ferry would become the backbone.

While I like that empire is thinking - I can't see a 4000 person ferry being workable at the current population. If the city were to jump to 750,000 in 25 years, then I could see it being a possibility.

Personally, I am for a transit system to offer multi-modal options. Ferry and rail, with BRT and conventional bus plus streetcars - all working together. This way if one part of the system fails, there are other options. For example: If the ferry to Bedford broke down - people could still take commuter rail.
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