Hey, this is Paul Comfort.

Thanks for being with us today on Transit Unplugged.

We're now over 300 episodes in interviewing some of the world's most

interesting people that run public transportation systems around the world.

And some of the top thought leaders in our public transit industry.

And today we're happy to bring to you an interview I did live and in person with

Dave Reage he's the Executive Director of Halifax Transit and the First Vice Chair

of the Canadian Urban Transit Association.

We visited both of them just recently up in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

They're out like in the Atlantic Ocean, even further than the East

Coast of the United States is.

They're one hour ahead of us, when you do the time zone thing.

But we had a great time.

We toured Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Got to learn a lot about it.

We filmed there.

Our film crew was there.

We did an episode of Transit Unplugged TV.

So this podcast is an audio companion piece to that video.

When you're done listening, I encourage you to jump right over to YouTube to

our channel there Transit Unplugged TV and join the hundreds of thousands

of people who are now watching our show every month It's a travel show.

We feature the food, the culture, the music, the entertainment

there, and then show you how to get around on public transportation.

Happy to say that our the program recently just won a big award, the

Transit Unplugged TV show did, for an episode we filmed in Canada on the

Rocky Mountaineer train, and that is the 30th Annual Communicator Awards.

We won in our category, travel shows.

It is a highly, respected honor to get this.

It's the best kind of in branded media.

So we're excited about that, an award winning show now, but, so jump over

there after you hear this podcast, but this podcast is in several pieces, I

interviewed it as Dave and I were just riding together, walking together,

just picking his brain about their ferry system, what's going on there

as they, are now moving to an electric ferry system, and a brand new electric

ferry terminal, we went out and visited the site, uh, Talk to him about his

transit system, why he got into transit, why he loves it and stays there.

All kinds of just a great, interesting conversation.

And Tris Hussey, our editor, was able to put some fun music in

between, kind of from the area.

The Halifax area is fascinating.

I'd never been there before and did not realize, what Interesting,

fascinating connection it has to the Titanic shipwreck.

We filmed a lot of it.

We actually went out to the cemetery where, there's over a hundred

bodies buried that were taken up from the ocean after that terrible,

dreadful disaster in the early 1900s.

It's just an interesting connection, because they were the closest big

port city to where it happened.

And so, They're the ones that went out to try to do the

rescues and all from that city.

So, it's a maritime city on the coast.

That's why they're one of only two cities in Canada that has a ferry

system operated by the transit system.

The other one is on the other side, in Vancouver with my friend Kevin Quinn, who

runs that transit system there, TransLink.

And so, anyway, we dive into all things Halifax, and maritime, and I

think you'll find this a great, fun, interesting interview with a great

guy, Dave Reage who is, going to be the next chair of CUTA after this term.

So, enjoy the podcast and let us know what you think about it.

Give us a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

you can send me a question if you want me to answer any questions

you might have about the public transit industry by emailing me.

Paul.

Comfort at TransitUnplugged.

com.

Stay connected with us.

We love you, our listeners, and we're hoping that this show enlightens you,

informs you, and entertains you each week as we bring you another interesting guest.

Today, enjoy this episode with Dave Reage

Thanks for being with us, Dave.

My pleasure, Paul.

This, already, we're only halfway through the trip,

but this has been an amazing trip.

Tell us some about your transit system here in the city itself.

Halifax is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia.

It's a city of about half a million people, the largest

city in Atlantic Canada.

And, you know, us as a transit system operate about 400 buses, over a

thousand employees, and five harbor ferries as part of the way that we

service the citizens of Halifax.

And we're on one of your buses now.

This one's obviously a diesel because there's a little noise going on.

Later on when you You have your two electric buses going.

We could do this very quietly, couldn't we?

Absolutely.

It'll be silence.

We were out at your garage yesterday with your head of maintenance,

Norman, who showed me the battery electric buses that you've got coming.

Two of them are there.

I thought it was pretty cool.

You have one of the buses loaded up with sandbags, like 5, 000 pounds to,

you know, be like it was 36 passengers.

Tell us about what you're doing there with alternate fuels and those kind of things.

What are you exploring?

Yeah, so right now the first, the first part into it is

we're on battery electric buses.

So we do We do have 60 buses coming from our suppliers, Nova Bus.

so right now with the first two we have, we're really doing a lot

of testing, a lot of training.

Going to a fleet like this is really one of the biggest

transitions you could ever make.

I've been telling my team to keep in mind, the last time we had a transition

this significant, we were actually going from trolley buses to diesel buses, so

it's all kind of coming full circle now.

And, you know, the testing piece is so crucial because we need to learn

everything we can and make sure we know how it's going to work, make

sure It's going to work before we ever put it out into public service.

That's smart.

Yeah.

He told me they were even doing like hill testing, see how the

brakes hold, those kinds of things.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

although the bus itself is very similar to the untrained eye, so many

systems are different, new, modern.

So, you know, from safety to reliability, we need to make sure

we, we've tested everything out very thoroughly and we're comfortable with it.

You know, speaking of hilly, I didn't realize that this, that

Halifax was going to have such big hills.

We walked up to the Citadel.

today.

I mean, is this, is that the way it is all over the town

and your buses do okay in that?

Yeah, it's a very hilly city.

we don't have mountains, but we have lots of small hills and,

that's the nature of Halifax.

it's something like part of the testing for the e buses is what do

all these hills do to our range?

what kind of kilometers can you get when they're climbing the hills?

but then coming down the hills, the regenerative braking will actually

help to, to restore the battery.

So that's the kind of profile we need to get.

So we fully understand.

We're looking to see how far we can drive these, different weather

conditions, everything like that.

We, you know, we have a nice summer, we have a cold winter,

so how does that temperature impact the battery life as well?

And what about other fuels?

Are you looking at anything else?

Starting to look into hydrogen now.

There's, there's a lot of push for hydrogen here in Nova Scotia.

The province is very interested in developing a hydrogen economy, so, we're

looking to see how can we tap into that.

there's a lot of players in Halifax right now starting down that path.

So, I'm interested in looking to see what is that.

proper fleet mix.

What can we do as a mixture, some battery electric, some hydrogen,

and see where we go from there.

So, the system itself, you're part of the city government, right?

Tell us how you're structured.

Yeah, so we're a department, department of the Halifax Regional

Municipality, so we report up through the Commissioner of Operations, who's

the second in command for the city.

So, so ultimately, you know, we are a department alongside Public Works

or any of those other departments.

And does the city, have a different Dedicated funding

source for you or you have to go to the general fund every year.

How does that work?

Yeah, so we are funded predominantly through property taxes

as similar to the rest of the rest of the the municipality We do get about

35 percent cost recovery from the fare box, so that's a pretty average ratio.

It's something that our council is happy with being at that rate

I think so that that's yeah, that's the funding funding mixture

. Paul Comfort: And tell us about your history a little bit your background.

Yeah, so well I've been with Halifax Transit for 17 years I've been the

executive director for the past 8 years.

you know, it was always, I kind of joke that I was that kid who

liked buses and trains and stuff.

I never really grew out of it.

That's pretty awesome, dude.

Yeah, so, you know, I get to do a job where, you know, having a

shelf full of model buses isn't weird.

Yeah, like we all do at home, right?

For all these conferences we go to.

That's great.

And tell me something about your team.

Yeah, so, I mean, I have an amazing team.

It's, you know, I'm the one here talking to you today, Paul.

But the reality is, as a leader, I'm only as good as my team, and I'm

really lucky to have a fantastic team.

so under me, I have a leadership team of five, five directors.

you know, operations, planning, technology, all of the various kind

of, kind of typical departments for a, for a transit system.

But, yeah, I mean, overall, we, we lead a large team of people, you

know, over a thousand employees.

So it takes a lot of, fantastic people doing amazing work to

make the transit system function.

And how's ridership been?

we're doing well.

you know, we, we exceeded the COVID, the pre COVID numbers back in September.

So that's great.

That's kind of a, I think a bit of a milestone we can put in the rear

view mirror now and really start focusing on growth going forward.

we very rapidly went from being under our pre COVID numbers.

So now we're actually well over them and seeing like overloads and all the

issues that come with, with a service that got very busy, very rapidly.

This city is growing, right?

And your system is growing with it?

Absolutely.

Yeah, we, we are the fastest growing city in Canada right now.

Really?

Which is, yeah, which is incredible.

I mean, Halifax traditionally was kind of a, a slow and steady town.

We never really boomed.

We never really had any busts.

But, you know, since, since 2020, we, we had been growing so rapidly.

you know, if you've been before, even a few years ago, you, you may not

recognize parts of the city anymore.

They're just, they're growing so rapidly, and there's lots of cranes in the sky.

So, I know that housing has become a big issue up

here in Canada, the cost of housing.

matter of fact, CUTA did a study on it this year, and I talked to Marco D'Angelo,

the executive director, about at the fall conference we did out in Edmonton.

Is housing a little cheaper here?

Is that why it's growing so much?

Well, housing used to be cheap here.

you know, and I would say housing, housing is still cheaper

here than the biggest cities.

Like, still cheaper than Vancouver or Toronto, like your big cities.

but the reality is, you know, the, the, the wage levels in Nova Scotia aren't

as high as in those cities, but our housing prices are also skyrocketing.

the rental vacancy rate is effectively zero.

so that's why you're seeing, I think, a lot of catch up to,

to, to bring housing back in.

And, housing affordability is a real issue, and I think we're, it's, it's a

good thing for transit in a way, because we can really help solve that issue.

more dense housing.

Everything built around good solid transits can really help fix that problem.

And last question for this segment would be, we're

headed, tell us where we're headed to and what's going to happen there.

Yeah, so we're headed out to a community called Bedford,

particularly the Mill Cove area.

So this year we received funding from the federal, provincial, and

municipal governments for 260 million to build the Mill Cove Ferry Service.

So, this is the first new ferry service we've built, since 1986.

So really excited to be adding a new route to the ferry family.

so it'll be high speed electric ferries, commuting time expected to

be about 18 minutes into downtown.

comparatively, driving at rush hour, you could be up to 40, 50 minutes,

even an hour, depending on traffic.

So, really excited for this mode to come into play, really be a

time competitive transit option.

how do you price ferries?

I mean, and it's not cars, right?

It's just people?

Yeah, just people.

People on the ferry, you know, we, we have, we have basically some, some ferry

experts on, on contracts, naval architects who can kind of look at it and do a,

do a high level design of what we're going to need based on the speeds and

harbor conditions and things like that.

and then ultimately they can work up a price estimate for us.

Gotcha.

And, and the,

the, the passenger fare, is it a lot higher than riding

a bus or tell us how that works?

Nope.

so the fare is for the new route.

We haven't determined that yet, but, yeah, for the The existing ferry

routes, they're all the same price, all the same fares as the bus system.

Oh,

is that right?

Yeah.

And can you, can you transfer from one to the other?

How does that

work?

Yep.

It's a free transfer between the two of them.

It is one, one united system.

All right, Dave, now we're out.

Tell us where we're at now.

We're off the bus.

It's a little quieter.

That's right, Paul.

We're in Mill Cove in the community of Bedford, and right beside the

pile of rocks that will one day be the Mill Cove Ferry Terminal.

So this is where our five electric ferries are going to come, and it's,

you know, the location here, part of why it was chosen, it's very sheltered

water, so much more safe and safe for docking and service reliability.

So, like, where will the ferries go?

They come here, I mean, what's here where we're at by the way?

It's just like a, it looks residential.

Yeah, so this is a suburban community, one of the fastest growing

communities in the Halifax area actually.

So, that's part of the push for this service.

fast growing community, community without a lot of, you know, good

road connections and things like that and, fairly far from downtown.

So this, this ferry will go from here, right to the downtown terminal.

about an 18 minute ride.

again, you know, your, your drive could be 40, 50 minutes, so a much quicker ride,

and I mean, riding the ferry is amazing, so who wouldn't want to be on the boat?

I got to meet your, your captain that's the head of

your ferry boat operation here.

Tell us about, you know, running, I mean, running the ferry.

Public transit folks, there's not many of 'em that run ferries.

Tell us about what that's like as part of a transit agency and having the

right people in charge and all that.

Absolutely.

it's unique, I guess is the best way to put it.

It's, you know, the most highly regulated thing we do.

it is federally regulated here in Nova Scotia by Transport Canada,

or in Canada by Transport Canada.

at the end of the day, I mean, everything in transit is, is about safety.

With ferries, it's a whole different level because, you know, you are literally,

in, in a, on a ship away from shore.

So, you know, things that could be a little bit bad on shore are

really bad, when you're offshore.

So, it's, it's, it's unique, that's for sure.

Yeah, I thought it was great that you got a guy that

actually is Captain Chips out at sea to be your head of ferry operations.

Yeah, absolutely.

Mervin's amazing.

He has, such extensive experience, working, you know,

large, ocean going vessels.

so his, his, mariner experience is so invaluable, in keeping our system

running efficiently and safely..

How many people does it take on a ferry system to run it a boat?

You know?

And then, are they all your employees?

Yeah, so they're all, all of our, all of them are our, our employees.

so, typically we run a crew of four.

and that will allow us to, carry a capacity of about 250 people.

and we can add a fifth crew member to that.

And that.

goes up to our maximum capacity of 390.

So, it's kind of like an airplane in that on an airplane, the more flight

attendants you have, they're, they kind of go in line with, the number

of passengers for evacuation purposes.

It's very similar on a ferry.

We need to make sure that in the unlikely event of an emergency, we have enough

people to get everybody off safely.

You, you sounded just like a flight attendant.

In the unlikely event of an emergency, things will happen.

and so, very fun, kind of thing, and you mentioned earlier that you ride

the ferry back and forth, and I think Mervin told me yesterday you have a

million people a year ride your system, something like that, on the ferries?

Yeah, it's about that.

It's, and it's interesting because it's a very seasonal ridership, and

kind of in the opposite way that most transit systems are, you know.

Usually on a bus system, your ridership drops in the summer, people are on

vacation and that, but the ferry system actually goes way up in the

summer because, you know, and our existing ferries have an open top

deck so people love to sit up there on a sunny day like we have today, we

have tourists in town, so, you know, in the summer we'll see See about 5,

000 or so people per day and then, you know, it goes down to about 3, 000

or so

in the winter.

That's wild.

Yeah.

I mean, that's something your boats have, you know, my good buddy, Kevin Quinn out

there, he's got ferries too, but I don't remember being able to get up on the

deck there, but you can on yours, right?

Yes, that's right.

Yeah.

It's one of the distinctive features.

And actually, I remember when we were looking to build our current

fleet of ferries, there was an idea from, from one of the designers

that we didn't need that deck.

And I said, no, that's, That's a Halifax thing, that's a Dartmouth thing.

We absolutely need to be able to, even if we can only sit up there like

three or four months of the year.

Yeah, people want to ride with you.

Where are we at now, Dave?

We are at the Halifax Ferry Terminal in downtown Halifax.

Okay.

And what are we about to do?

We're about to hop on the ferry.

We're going to Dartmouth.

We're going to supper at the canteen.

That's great.

Tell me some about your ferry system.

Some of the stuff we were just talking about.

Yeah, so we have five ferries, uh, five, um, they're diesel

powered ferries and, uh, we use four in service in any given day.

and the, the vessels now range in, uh, you know, from, from six to ten years old.

Uh, they were replacements to the originals, which were, you

know, two were built in the 70s, one built in the early 80s.

So You know, about a 40 year lifespan for a ferry and, uh, you know, expect to

get about 40 years out of these, uh, I'll be long retired and they'll still be out

there sailing the sail in the harbor.

Now, we were mentioning that a lot of the maintenance is done

in harbor, but you're building a new facility that we just talked about.

Yeah, that's right.

So, you know, when we had three ferries, we could kind of get away with not

having a dedicated ferry maintenance facility, um, but with five ferries now,

it's, it's really quite challenging.

Um, and with the Milco ferry project coming online, we'll

have five more ferries.

So, part of that project does include, uh, building us a proper on

harbour, uh, maintenance facility.

Dave, we made it over here to Dartmouth.

You live over in this area, right?

I do, just outside of Dartmouth, actually.

Yeah, that's great.

great restaurant here, The Canteen.

But you've been in this system for quite a while.

How long have you been the executive director?

eight years as executive director.

I've worked here most of my career, actually.

Seventeen years in total.

what is it about this job and this city that keeps you here?

It's, you know, Halifax is beautiful.

I think as we've seen, it's, you know, we have a lot of family connections

here, but, you know, Halifax is just a wonderful, beautiful place to live.

The people are friendly, the food is great.

It's hard to imagine living anywhere else, honestly.

And what else do you have going?

You've got the big ferry system coming, the expansion, do you

have anything else new happening?

Yeah, the next thing that we're really trying to do is work

on getting funded is actually a bus rapid transit network for Halifax.

We do have a rapid transit strategy that's been approved by our council.

Now we're still trying to find the funding to build out the four

bus rapid transit lines that will complement the ferry system quite

nicely and really allow the city to grow around transit in a smart way.

And I noticed when we were down at the ferry terminal,

you've got good connections with your buses too, right?

So people come in by ferry.

It's kind of a link between your bus service, right?

Absolutely, yeah.

The ferry really is, you know, it is that cross connection

in the middle of the city.

having a harbor right in the middle of the city can be a transportation

challenge or it can really be an asset depending on how you use it.

So, we do tightly connect the buses and the ferries so that you can take the

ferry and then continue on your way.

so, what's your level of involvement with CUTA?

So, CUTA's played a huge role in my career, and actually way

back to, I was a delegate at one of the first youth summits back in, 2004.

Oh yeah, I spoke at one in Edmonton this last year.

Right, yeah, so, so actually the second CUTA youth

summit I was a delegate, and that really kind of solidified my

interest in the transit industry.

Really?

How old were you?

I

was 24.

Okay.

I was 24, Let's not get under the category of youth.

So it's played such a big role in my career that once I advanced further

in my career I wanted to give back.

So I've been a member of the board now for about six, six or seven

years, and I'm the executive.

currently I'm the First Vice Chair.

Oh, great.

So does that mean next year you're Chair?

That's the kind of, that's the kind of line of assumption.

Oh, that's exciting man.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

Who are you going to bump off?

Kelly Palenci.

We'll be happy to hand the reins over, I think.

It's generally a two year term, and it's a great opportunity, but quite

a bit of work, actually, so Kelly's an amazing Chair, but I imagine

she'll be ready to kind of hand it over to me once we get there.

It's a lot of work.

It is.

Absolutely.

With no compensation, right?

Yeah.

So Bismeyer, Mike Bismeyer and you, he's Vice Chair of the business members, right?

Yes, that's right.

So you both are going to elevate at the same time?

Yeah.

That'll be great.

He's a good pal.

Mike's a great guy.

Yeah, yeah, that's great.

So an association played a big part in your career.

It really did.

Yeah, it really did.

I mean, in terms of like getting to know people and I mean, like, like

the conferences, like the one we've just hosted in Halifax, such a great

opportunity to get together and share information because like one of the

things that's great about this industry is that like none of us are competing

and we've all got similar challenges.

So it's just so good to get together, twice a year, talk about what's

going on and figure out how to, how to learn from each other and

how to fix the common challenges.

Yeah.

That's great.

I like it.

I don't know how to say this.

So, but it's like, America has the big association to America, the

trans association, and when they get together, you know, it might be five

or 10, 000 people, you know, it's big.

Feels like a family here in Canada, between all of you.

Am I feeling it right?

Absolutely.

Because, because CUTA is small, and I, I've been to a few APTA conferences, and

they're, they're overwhelming compared to what I'm used to here, but because

CUTA is, you know, the Canadian transit industry's smaller, less populous country,

so you really are seeing a lot of the same people every six months or every year.

It's great to see Wade today.

You know, I haven't

seen him for a while, love that guy.

Yeah.

And you can realistically get around.

and see everybody over the course of a four or five day conference so it really

is you know we had like 250 people here in Halifax the fall one's a bit bigger

it'll be four maybe 500 people but all still very very small and manageable.

And you all seem to be very supportive of each other

. Dave Reage: Oh absolutely absolutely it's it's a It's hard to know what

it's like to work in the transit industry, and the challenges that

come with that, unless you do it.

So, when you're at a conference like this, it's such a good opportunity to talk to

people that know what you're dealing with.

And you may have a good solution for it, or maybe just vent

together over a beer, you know?

It's a good time.

So, prior to this, when you, before you were Executive

Director, it was Eddie Robar, right?

Yes, that's right.

Yeah, Eddie's a good pal of mine and of the show, and so

now he's gone to Edmonton.

Exactly.

And now he's the acting city manager with everyone.

Yeah, yeah.

Kevin Quinn, who used to work with me at MTA Baltimore, is now

the head of Vancouver TransLink.

Yeah.

Erinn Pinkerton's a good friend of mine in BC Transit.

And, like I said, Strathcona and now Carrie I mean, you've

got some great people up here.

Absolutely.

No, yeah, the transit industry it's got a lot of great people in it and that's,

that's what makes these conferences special and, and, and why, you know,

you see people that like, that's why I'm, I'm, I want to give back.

to the, to the association.

That's great.

I guess last question would be, about technology.

Mm hmm.

so talk to me about, you know, where you're at in your technology

future, what's happening for you.

Yeah, so the, the newest thing is our, our fare app, HFXGO, so

that is a, that's active now, so you can buy a transit fare on the app.

You know, no more fumbling for change and, you know, trying to

go, remember to go buy a monthly pass at the drugstore every month.

so that's, that's kind of the early stages.

The next thing we're working towards very rapidly is actually open payment, so we'll

have, validators on all of our transit vehicles and at the ferry terminals,

and you can just tap a credit card, tap a debit card, so, like, you don't have

to even download the app if you don't want to at that point, and my philosophy

around fare management has always been that, like, as long as you want to pay

me, I don't really care how you want to pay me, I will take your money.

So, just making it as easy and barrier free as possible.

That's good, and you've got a 35 percent farebox recovery ratio.

Yeah.

You told me, that's great.

Yeah.

Actually, yeah.

Yeah, it's, it's interesting.

It's about average in, in, in Canada, but I understand that's probably

pretty high compared to some of the U.

S.

yeah.

Yeah.

When I was in Baltimore, man, when I first got there, there was

a, a law in place where we had to have a 50 percent farebox recovery ratio.

We weren't even close to it.

We were under 25.

So, the legislature changed the law.

but a lot of cities now are hovering around 14 15 percent farebox

recovery, so, yeah, this fiscal cliff that's coming there is interesting.

I guess, oh, I do have one more question for you, for the podcast

here, and that is bus availability.

So, at the, at the, at the big reception the other night, I was, you know, mingling

with everybody, talking to everybody.

And it seems like you guys are having a very similar issue in Canada.

You're down to two manufacturers, right?

Yeah.

Nova and New Flyer?

That's right.

And everyone was telling me they're having the same issues we're having in

America, where it's hard to get buses.

Yeah, it's a challenge.

and I don't know that anyone has the answer yet.

the good thing is though, you know, there's been lots of conversations.

Really, Healthy, open conversations between the bus manufacturers and the

transit systems, being facilitated by CUTA, because it's an issue for all of us.

Like, you know, the bus availability is not good for the manufacturer, it's an

issue for us, so, I'm confident we'll find a solution, because the industry,

we have to find a solution, there's no other way around it without buses,

like, what are we all doing here?

Right, yeah, that's something.

Well, good luck to you, and dude, you've got an amazing transit system, I just love

your ferry system, you've got something fun and unique, and super excited about

your electric ferries that are coming.

and is that like the first for Canada?

yes.

Yeah, the first in transit years for sure.

Yeah, that's awesome, man.

And a brand new terminal, new services growing.

You've got a great city here.

It seems like it's very well rooted in its history, but growing for the future.

That's a good way to put it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, no, we're proud of our history here, but you know, we're also not a museum.

We're a modern city and, and we're growing up.

Well, best of luck to you.

Thanks for being on the show.

Thanks so much.

My pleasure, Paul.

Hi, this is Tris Hussey editor of the Transit Unplugged podcast.

Thanks for listening to this week's episode with our special guest

Dave Reage head of Halifax transit.

coming up next week, we have Erick Van Wagenen CEO of WeDriveU

formerly known as National Express.

Erick and Paul talk about contracting in the U S and how it's helping transit

move forward beyond the pandemic.

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So until next week, ride safe and ride happy.