The Halifax Student Alliance wants to increase bus hours on university routes like the 1 so students can get home safely from downtown. Photo: Greg Weston

Student group pushes for longer bus hours

The Halifax Student Alliance wants to work with Halifax Regional Municipality to keep buses running downtown after last call.

A Halifax student group is renewing its push to have bus hours extended in the downtown area, especially among routes frequented by university students.

Mark Coffin, chair of the Halifax Student Alliance, says the group has been working on the submission for about a year and a half. He hopes that this year the municipality will put aside money in its budget for the project. He says extending the hours of service in downtown Halifax will make it easier and safer for students to get around after a late-night shift or after a night of partying at one of the bars.

"We're at the point where we're making a formal submission to council to request that service on university routes be extended to three or four in the morning once the bars close, basically following the busiest hours for the bars, making sure that students who are either working or having a good time can get home safely," says Coffin.

Following the HRM's 2007 roundtable on violence, the alliance conducted its own survey of students and discovered that 45 per cent of students claim to have been victims of crime, especially while in the downtown area. Coffin believes getting people on buses home instead of walking will cut this percentage down.

"A common good"

Dawn Sloane, councillor for District 12, Halifax-Downtown, says that the move would benefit other Halifax residents by reducing the amount of disturbance and noise university students can make when walking home from the bar.

"We have a lot of youth walking back to the universities at night. And who doesn't make noise after having a couple of drinks? But it's at the point where its annoying individuals. That's one way to combat it. Instead of walking, get them on a bus and get them back to where they're going faster."

She was unsure how much the project would cost, but will back the idea if the municipality can get it going.

"We pay one way or another in society so I'd rather put it to a common good," she says "I'm willing to try a trial run if we can get it going."

Eric Eisner, a fourth-year student at Dalhousie would be excited to see expanded university bus service, although not for the easier access to bars downtown

"I would say it's a good thing because it would let day-students stay and destroy their souls longer in the [Dalhousie] Killam [Library] and still have an escape."

Lori Patterson, spokesperson for Metro Transit, says they haven't been formally approached by anyone yet regarding late-night buses in the downtown area but there are a lot of challenges to providing that kind of service.

"They wouldn't all just be going from Dal to point B. You have to think about students who are heading to Spryfield and everywhere else."

Problems with drunks

Katie Lantz, a fourth-year student at King's, thinks increasing the hours buses run would lead to a lot of problems.

"It would be unfair for the bus drivers because going to university and drinking and stuff, that's part of university life and its almost expected of you. But bus drivers shouldn't be responsible for what you do. You should be responsible enough to find your own way home. Plus, if there's a bunch of drunk people on a bus it could be a really bad scene."

Patterson says there's a lot of demand for expanded service everywhere as the rest of the municipality develops. The student group is a large one, but it's still just one group. She agrees that expanded service for university areas would be a very good thing. She says Metro Transit's new strategic plan, which will be released this summer, will take it into consideration.

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