Improving transit in rural Nova Scotian communities

Happy Cities is working with the Nova Scotia Community Transportation Network to improve bus service in three rural communities: Antigonish, Bridgewater, and Pictou County.

A group of residents from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, sharing their experiences about using public transit in their neighbourhood (Happy Cities).

Transit is an essential ingredient to healthy, happy communities. Buses can take us to the places we need to go—work, the grocery store, doctor appointments, to visit friends—at a low cost. They are an essential way to get around for people who do not or cannot drive a car. Yet, in many rural communities, transit is often slow and inefficient. Rural transit agencies often struggle to attract riders, in part due to limited budgets, staff, and resources. 

Smaller towns can learn from one another and share resources to understand: What are the most effective ways to increase ridership, while working within a limited budget? How can transit routes more efficiently serve the destinations people need to get to?

Happy Cities is excited to be working with the Nova Scotia Community Transportation Network (NSCTN) to help overcome these challenges in Antigonish, Bridgewater, and Pictou County. With funding from the Province of Nova Scotia, our team is developing recommendations and a budget for each transit provider to implement over the next three years. 

What we learned about rural transit in Nova Scotia

Community members in Antigonish, Bridgewater, and Pictou County shared their experiences and aspirations for public transit in their neighbourhoods. Happy Cities held pop-up events, an online survey, and even hopped on the local buses with residents (Happy Cities).

This project included background research on innovative rural transit models, analyses of each of the three transit systems, and engagement with local residents and employers to understand how transit can better meet community needs. We rode the bus, held pop-up events, and conducted an online survey in each community to hear from as many people as possible—whether or not they ride the bus regularly.

Throughout engagement, we heard that many people want to use transit more, but that it takes too long to get where they want to go, or that the bus is not reliable enough. 

Happy Cities is developing a series of recommendations to improve bus service in each community while working within provincial budgets. Local transit providers will then implement the recommendations over the next three years, as a pilot project to demonstrate how service improvements can increase transit ridership and improve the rider experience. The budget and recommendations will be tailored to the needs and capacity of each community and transit service.

The final recommendations report will be released in early 2025.