Bedford-Halifax ferry tops transit funding list
Halifax is earmarking $13 million in federal public-transit funding for a highspeed ferry service.
Mayor Peter Kelly said council has agreed to spend all of the federal money allotted to the municipality on the HarbourLink ferry project connecting Bedford and Halifax.
"Harbourlink has been discussed by [council] for several years as a potential opportunity to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and get people out of their cars and into an alternative, environmentally friendly mode of transportation," he said in a release.
Council approved the HarbourLink project in principle in 2006.
The original idea was to have two 350-passenger vessels at a cost of $30 million. But after a staff review last year, the cost dropped to $20 million, with two smaller vessels carrying 250 people each.
The federal money for the Halifax Regional Municipality, announced Thursday, makes up the bulk of the funding promised to Nova Scotia.
Another $1 million will go to other transit authorities around the province, based mainly on ridership, the federal government said.
The money is to be put in a trust for use over the next two years.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia...fastferry.html