What’s happening?

The Nova Scotia Community Transportation Network (NSCTN) is working with transit providers in Antigonish, Bridgewater, and Pictou County to identify ways to improve bus service in each community. 

This pilot project will create recommendations and a budget for each transit provider to improve bus service and make transit easier to use. The budget and recommendations will be tailored to the needs and capacity of each community and transit service.

To inform the recommendations, NSCTN is seeking input from the community in September and October 2024. We want to hear from anyone living in Antigonish, Bridgewater, and Pictou County—regardless of if you regularly use transit or not. 

Project goals

• Identify service improvements that can increase transit ridership and reduce car usage.
• Make it easier for more people to use transit to get to the places they need to go.
• Hear from a diverse range of residents, employers, local organizations, and other community members to understand key challenges, priorities, and opportunities for transit improvements in rural Nova Scotian communities.

Share your input!

There are several ways for you and interested community members to share input:

1. Fill out the online survey for your community. Each survey is open until October 6, 2024. 
   • Antigonish survey
   • Bridgewater survey
   • Pictou County survey
     
2. Join an online focus group:
   • Thursday October 3, from 12 to 1 p.m.  
     Register here for the focus groups
3. Attend a community pop-up event:

• Bridgewater: Tuesday, September 24
  • South Shore Center (Bridgewater Mall), by the Tim Hortons (464 Lahave St.): 3 to 4:30 p.m.
• Pictou County: Wednesday, September 25
  • Pictou County Wellness Centre: 3:30 to 5 p.m.
• Antigonish: Thursday, September 26
  • St. FX Mulroney Building lawn, side facing lower campus: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
  • People’s Place Library: 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Project timeline

• June 2024: Project start
• Summer 2024: Background research review and evaluation plan
• Fall 2024: Community engagement
• November 2024: Draft budget and recommendations
• January 2025: Final report on budget and recommendations
• 2025-2028: Implementation of pilot project budget and recommendations 

Frequently asked questions

What is the Nova Scotia Community Transportation Network?
The Nova Scotia Community Transportation Network (NSCTN) is a non-profit that advocates and supports community-based transportation in Nova Scotia. Within the community transportation sector in Nova Scotia, we act as a hub for providers, funders, clients, and supporters. Out of this hub we offer information sharing, education, advocacy, innovation, and support new and existing providers within the community transportation sector. We are working to build a strong integrated community transportation sector across rural Nova Scotia.
Learn more

How will this project impact trips by transit in my community?
This project will create a budget and recommendations for service improvements for transit routes in Antigonish, Bridgewater, and Pictou County. The pilot project is planned to take place over the next three years.

The service changes aim to make it easier, more convenient, and more efficient for you to take transit to meet daily needs—for example, travelling to work, school, the grocery store, or to visit friends. 

The project will consider changes to things such as:

• Hours of operation 
• Weekend service
• Accessibility of buses and transit stops 
• Transit information
• Bus frequency

What are the goals of this project?
The pilot study aims to identify improvements that will make transit more accessible, efficient, and convenient to as many people as possible. By doing so, we aim to increase the number of people who ride transit and decrease car usage. To inform the recommendations, we aim to hear from a diverse range of residents, employers, local organizations, and other community members to hear about the key challenges, priorities, and opportunities for transit expansions and improvements. 

What transit routes are included in this project?
This project includes transit service and routes operated by:

• Antigonish Community Transit
• Bridgewater Transit
• Pictou County Transit (both the main route and expansion route)

Future phases of this project may consider additional routes in other communities. 

How will my feedback be used?
Your input will help us understand needs, challenges, and opportunities for public transit in and surrounding Antigonish, Bridgewater, and Pictou County. Your feedback will play an important role in guiding service improvements to each community’s transit service. Community input will be balanced with technical analysis and research, and recommendations will be tailored to the needs and capacity of each community and transit provider. With all of this information, we will draft a final report in December 2024, outlining recommendations for service improvements in each community and a three-year budget to implement these changes.

When will the community see the final recommendations?
The final report will be completed in January 2025.