Enhancing Bus Stops in Halifax: Making Transit More Welcoming for Everyone

We often talk about public transit in terms of how frequently buses run, how late they arrive, or how many routes connect across the city. But there’s one part of the system that doesn’t get enough attention: the bus stops themselves.

In Halifax, many of our bus stops are missing basic infrastructure: there’s no shelter, no lighting, no seating, and sometimes not even enough sidewalk space. These small things add up and can make people feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or simply unwelcome while waiting for a bus. So, I decided to look closer at this issue and explore what small, affordable changes could improve the transit experience for people across the city.

1. Image showing bus stop 6106 on Barrington St., having high ridership with less space to and shelter. (Source: Author)

For the purpose of this study, I decided to take a deep dive into one of the busiest streets in Halifax- Barrington St. This street has around 30 bus stops and is a part of 15 bus routes, out of which four are the most frequent. Route 29 is one of the popular bus routes along this street. With so much foot traffic and frequent service, it made sense to focus my study here. But even with its high ridership, many of the stops along this corridor are poorly equipped.

To get a better understanding, I visited most of the stops along Barrington Street (the ones from the South End to North End area of Halifax along this Street, where the street is the busiest), spoke with around ten people at these bus stops, and conducted an analysis to see how infrastructure varied from stop to stop.

2. Image showing Barrington Street, Halifax (Source: Author)
3. Image showing bus stops along Barrington Street (Source: Halifax Open Data)

What I Observed

During my analysis, I found that bus stops along this street and mostly across Halifax from general observation, tend to fall into two basic categories:

  • Sheltered stops: These have a shelter and some seating, but often lack lighting, emergency contact systems, safety, and user-friendly features.
  • Pole stops: These bus stops consist of just a transit sign on a pole, with no shelter or seating at all. These are sometimes present at high-ridership bus stops as well, and the lack of shelter and seating becomes an inconvenience for people when it’s raining, snowing, or even when the bus timings are delayed.
4. Image showing a bus stop with shelter (Google Street View)
5. Image showing a bus stop with pole (Google Street View)

Some of the busiest stops (stops receiving multiple bus routes) were also the most challenging. The following images 6, 7 and 8 showcase some of the problematic bus stops along Barrington Street. The issues observed at these stops are that they experience overcrowding at peak hours, with no shelters or protection against adverse weather conditions.

6. Image showing bus stop 6105: Barrington St. before Prince St. Bay (Source: Google Street View)
7. Image showing bus stop 6107: Barrington St. before George St. (Source: Google Street View)
8. Image showing bus stop 6088: Barrington St after Artz St. (Google Street View)

These stops also have insufficient lighting posing safety risks at night, as expressed by some transit users at these stops. User feedback also highlighted that due to this lack of lighting, buses tend to sometimes pass by the stops without stopping for the passengers.

In conversations with riders, a common theme came up: these stops didn’t feel welcoming. And for people who rely on transit (like seniors, people with accessibility needs, or those travelling in bad weather), this becomes more than just an inconvenience. The lack of certain features as mentioned earlier affects access, comfort, and safety, and leads to people sometimes hesitating to use public transit.

What the Data and Analysis Showed

Through the analysis and observations, I found that only half of the 30 stops on Barrington Street are sheltered. The rest are exposed, regardless of how many riders use them. There does not seem to be any logic or pattern behind which bus stops should be poles vs. sheltered. I also looked at winter operations and found that while Barrington is a priority-1 route for winter operations like snow clearing (which means snow clearing has to be done within 12 hours from the end of a declared event), that doesn’t help much if a stop is just a pole with nowhere to stand.

9. Image showing different types of bus stops along Barrington Street (Source: Author)

What Can Be Done?

Improving bus stop infrastructure doesn’t have to mean expensive, large-scale renovations. Small, thoughtful changes can make a big impact especially when rolled out gradually, starting with the most heavily used or vulnerable locations.

Here are a few practical solutions that I came across while exploring ideas and practices from around the world:

1. SOS Call Buttons
Used in some places of Brampton, Canada, these allow people to quickly contact transit authorities in case of an emergency. They’re simple, effective, and can be added to both sheltered and pole stops.

10. Image showing SOS sign used in Brampton (INsauga.com)

2. Stop Signals
In the Netherlands, riders can press a button to alert the driver that someone’s waiting. This could help avoid missed pickups in Halifax, especially at night or in bad weather. These can also be used at both sheltered as well as pole bus stops.

11. Image showing a stop signal for buses in the Netherlands

3. Motion-Sensored Lighting
Lighting that turns on only when someone is nearby improves safety and saves energy. Many cities in the U.S. are already using solar-powered versions like the ASE G3-SC, and would be useful at sheltered and pole bus stops in Halifax.

12. Image showing a motion-sensored light at bus stop (Source: ASE)

4. Compact Shade & Seating
For pole stops where space is limited, compact seating and shade structures- like SIMME Seats, can offer a big upgrade without taking up much room. These would be highly useful at pole stops, where space for seating is usually a constraint.

13. Image showing a Simme-Seat bus stop (Source: simmeseat.com)

While sheltered bus stops can benefit from some changes like ones highlighted earlier, they still at least have some shelter and seating. Pole bus stops, on the other hand, seem unwelcoming and inaccessible, due to the user-friendly and people-oriented features they lack. That’s why in addition to proposing additions/changes to the sheltered bus stops, I also decided to go a step further and design a prototype for pole bus stops, to make them more accessible, welcoming and user-friendly.

By bringing elements together, I created a simple prototype combining seating, shade, and space for lighting or emergency features. It’s compact, cost-effective, space-efficient and can be suitable for all seasons.

14. Image showing compact bus stop shelter and seating-prototype (Source: Author)

Moving Forward

Although bus stops are a small part of the transit experience, they do matter. They are where every journey begins and ends. There definitely are more things that can be done to make Halifax Transit a better experience for all, such as more reliable bus timings and schedules, live updates in case of last-minute changes etc. But improving accessibility, inclusivity and comfort at bus stops is also worth thinking about.

References: