Hill Testing, Hydrogen, and Electric Ferries: Halifax Transit’s Green Innovations with Dave Reage

Dave Reage: 00:00:05

Hey, this is Paul Comfort.

Dave Reage: 00:00:06

Thanks for being with us today on Transit Unplugged.

Dave Reage: 00:00:09

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

Dave Reage: 00:00:12

interesting people that run public transportation systems around the world.

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

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

Dave Reage: 00:00:24

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

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of the Canadian Urban Transit Association.

Dave Reage: 00:00:31

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

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

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Coast of the United States is.

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

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But we had a great time.

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We toured Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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Got to learn a lot about it.

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We filmed there.

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Our film crew was there.

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We did an episode of Transit Unplugged TV.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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We won in our category, travel shows.

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It is a highly, respected honor to get this.

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It's the best kind of in branded media.

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

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

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

Dave Reage: 00:01:41

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

Dave Reage: 00:01:44

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

Dave Reage: 00:01:49

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

Dave Reage: 00:01:52

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

Dave Reage: 00:01:56

All kinds of just a great, interesting conversation.

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

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between, kind of from the area.

Dave Reage: 00:02:03

The Halifax area is fascinating.

Dave Reage: 00:02:06

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:09

fascinating connection it has to the Titanic shipwreck.

Dave Reage: 00:02:12

We filmed a lot of it.

Dave Reage: 00:02:14

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:16

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:19

dreadful disaster in the early 1900s.

Dave Reage: 00:02:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:24

port city to where it happened.

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:27

rescues and all from that city.

Dave Reage: 00:02:29

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:31

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:35

system operated by the transit system.

Dave Reage: 00:02:37

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

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runs that transit system there, TransLink.

Dave Reage: 00:02:42

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

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

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

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

Dave Reage: 00:02:57

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

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

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

Dave Reage: 00:03:05

Paul.

Dave Reage: 00:03:06

Comfort at TransitUnplugged.

Dave Reage: 00:03:07

com.

Dave Reage: 00:03:08

Stay connected with us.

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

Dave Reage: 00:03:12

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

Dave Reage: 00:03:17

Today, enjoy this episode with Dave Reage

Paul Comfort: 00:03:25

Thanks for being with us, Dave.

Dave Reage: 00:03:26

My pleasure, Paul.

Paul Comfort: 00:03:27

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

Paul Comfort: 00:03:29

but this has been an amazing trip.

Paul Comfort: 00:03:31

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

Dave Reage: 00:03:33

Halifax is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia.

Dave Reage: 00:03:37

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

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city in Atlantic Canada.

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

Dave Reage: 00:03:46

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

Dave Reage: 00:03:50

service the citizens of Halifax.

Paul Comfort: 00:03:53

And we're on one of your buses now.

Paul Comfort: 00:03:54

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

Paul Comfort: 00:03:57

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

Paul Comfort: 00:04:00

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:02

Absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:04:02

It'll be silence.

Paul Comfort: 00:04:03

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

Paul Comfort: 00:04:06

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

Paul Comfort: 00:04:10

Two of them are there.

Paul Comfort: 00:04:11

I thought it was pretty cool.

Paul Comfort: 00:04:12

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

Paul Comfort: 00:04:16

you know, be like it was 36 passengers.

Paul Comfort: 00:04:19

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

Paul Comfort: 00:04:22

What are you exploring?

Dave Reage: 00:04:23

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:26

we're on battery electric buses.

Dave Reage: 00:04:27

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:31

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:34

of testing, a lot of training.

Dave Reage: 00:04:35

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:38

transitions you could ever make.

Dave Reage: 00:04:40

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:43

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:47

it's all kind of coming full circle now.

Dave Reage: 00:04:48

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:53

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

Dave Reage: 00:04:57

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

Paul Comfort: 00:05:00

That's smart.

Paul Comfort: 00:05:01

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:05:01

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

Paul Comfort: 00:05:03

brakes hold, those kinds of things.

Dave Reage: 00:05:04

Absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:05:05

Yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:05:05

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:10

systems are different, new, modern.

Dave Reage: 00:05:12

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:15

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

Paul Comfort: 00:05:18

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

Paul Comfort: 00:05:22

Halifax was going to have such big hills.

Paul Comfort: 00:05:23

We walked up to the Citadel.

Paul Comfort: 00:05:25

today.

Paul Comfort: 00:05:25

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

Paul Comfort: 00:05:27

and your buses do okay in that?

Dave Reage: 00:05:29

Yeah, it's a very hilly city.

Dave Reage: 00:05:30

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:33

that's the nature of Halifax.

Dave Reage: 00:05:34

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:38

all these hills do to our range?

Dave Reage: 00:05:39

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:42

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:45

help to, to restore the battery.

Dave Reage: 00:05:46

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:49

So we fully understand.

Dave Reage: 00:05:50

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:53

conditions, everything like that.

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

Dave Reage: 00:05:57

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

Paul Comfort: 00:06:00

And what about other fuels?

Paul Comfort: 00:06:01

Are you looking at anything else?

Dave Reage: 00:06:03

Starting to look into hydrogen now.

Dave Reage: 00:06:04

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:06

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:10

looking to see how can we tap into that.

Dave Reage: 00:06:12

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:16

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:19

proper fleet mix.

Dave Reage: 00:06:20

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:24

and see where we go from there.

Paul Comfort: 00:06:25

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

Paul Comfort: 00:06:28

Tell us how you're structured.

Dave Reage: 00:06:29

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:32

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:36

the second in command for the city.

Dave Reage: 00:06:37

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:41

or any of those other departments.

Paul Comfort: 00:06:43

And does the city, have a different Dedicated funding

Paul Comfort: 00:06:45

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

Paul Comfort: 00:06:48

How does that work?

Dave Reage: 00:06:49

Yeah, so we are funded predominantly through property taxes

Dave Reage: 00:06:52

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

Dave Reage: 00:06:56

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:02

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:05

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:08

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:10

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:14

executive director for the past 8 years.

Dave Reage: 00:07:17

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:20

liked buses and trains and stuff.

Dave Reage: 00:07:22

I never really grew out of it.

Paul Comfort: 00:07:23

That's pretty awesome, dude.

Dave Reage: 00:07:25

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:28

shelf full of model buses isn't weird.

Paul Comfort: 00:07:32

Yeah, like we all do at home, right?

Paul Comfort: 00:07:33

For all these conferences we go to.

Paul Comfort: 00:07:35

That's great.

Paul Comfort: 00:07:35

And tell me something about your team.

Dave Reage: 00:07:37

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:39

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:42

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:45

really lucky to have a fantastic team.

Dave Reage: 00:07:47

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:51

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

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

Dave Reage: 00:07:57

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:00

know, over a thousand employees.

Dave Reage: 00:08:02

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:05

make the transit system function.

Paul Comfort: 00:08:06

And how's ridership been?

Dave Reage: 00:08:09

we're doing well.

Dave Reage: 00:08:10

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:14

So that's great.

Dave Reage: 00:08:15

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:18

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:24

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:28

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

Paul Comfort: 00:08:32

This city is growing, right?

Paul Comfort: 00:08:33

And your system is growing with it?

Dave Reage: 00:08:34

Absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:08:35

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:39

Really?

Dave Reage: 00:08:39

Which is, yeah, which is incredible.

Dave Reage: 00:08:41

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:45

We never really boomed.

Dave Reage: 00:08:46

We never really had any busts.

Dave Reage: 00:08:48

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:53

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

Dave Reage: 00:08:56

recognize parts of the city anymore.

Dave Reage: 00:08:58

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

Paul Comfort: 00:09:02

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

Paul Comfort: 00:09:05

here in Canada, the cost of housing.

Paul Comfort: 00:09:07

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

Paul Comfort: 00:09:11

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

Paul Comfort: 00:09:15

Is housing a little cheaper here?

Paul Comfort: 00:09:16

Is that why it's growing so much?

Dave Reage: 00:09:18

Well, housing used to be cheap here.

Dave Reage: 00:09:20

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

Dave Reage: 00:09:23

here than the biggest cities.

Dave Reage: 00:09:24

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

Dave Reage: 00:09:27

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

Dave Reage: 00:09:32

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

Dave Reage: 00:09:36

the rental vacancy rate is effectively zero.

Dave Reage: 00:09:39

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

Dave Reage: 00:09:42

to, to bring housing back in.

Dave Reage: 00:09:44

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

Dave Reage: 00:09:48

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

Dave Reage: 00:09:53

more dense housing.

Dave Reage: 00:09:54

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

Paul Comfort: 00:09:58

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

Paul Comfort: 00:10:00

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:03

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:06

particularly the Mill Cove area.

Dave Reage: 00:10:08

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:13

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:17

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:25

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:28

be about 18 minutes into downtown.

Dave Reage: 00:10:31

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:35

even an hour, depending on traffic.

Dave Reage: 00:10:36

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:40

time competitive transit option.

Paul Comfort: 00:10:42

how do you price ferries?

Paul Comfort: 00:10:44

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

Paul Comfort: 00:10:46

It's just people?

Dave Reage: 00:10:46

Yeah, just people.

Dave Reage: 00:10:47

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:51

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

Dave Reage: 00:10:57

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:00

harbor conditions and things like that.

Dave Reage: 00:11:02

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:04

Gotcha.

Dave Reage: 00:11:05

And, and the,

Paul Comfort: 00:11:05

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

Paul Comfort: 00:11:09

a bus or tell us how that works?

Dave Reage: 00:11:11

Nope.

Dave Reage: 00:11:11

so the fare is for the new route.

Dave Reage: 00:11:12

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:15

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:19

Oh,

Paul Comfort: 00:11:19

is that right?

Paul Comfort: 00:11:19

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:11:19

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

Paul Comfort: 00:11:22

How does that

Paul Comfort: 00:11:22

work?

Dave Reage: 00:11:23

Yep.

Dave Reage: 00:11:23

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:25

It is one, one united system.

Paul Comfort: 00:11:32

All right, Dave, now we're out.

Paul Comfort: 00:11:33

Tell us where we're at now.

Paul Comfort: 00:11:34

We're off the bus.

Paul Comfort: 00:11:35

It's a little quieter.

Dave Reage: 00:11:35

That's right, Paul.

Dave Reage: 00:11:36

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:41

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:44

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:49

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

Dave Reage: 00:11:53

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

Paul Comfort: 00:11:58

So, like, where will the ferries go?

Paul Comfort: 00:12:00

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

Paul Comfort: 00:12:02

It's just like a, it looks residential.

Dave Reage: 00:12:04

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:07

communities in the Halifax area actually.

Dave Reage: 00:12:08

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:11

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:14

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:17

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:20

about an 18 minute ride.

Dave Reage: 00:12:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:26

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

Paul Comfort: 00:12:30

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

Paul Comfort: 00:12:32

your ferry boat operation here.

Paul Comfort: 00:12:33

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

Paul Comfort: 00:12:35

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

Paul Comfort: 00:12:38

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

Paul Comfort: 00:12:41

right people in charge and all that.

Dave Reage: 00:12:42

Absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:12:43

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:45

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:48

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:51

or in Canada by Transport Canada.

Dave Reage: 00:12:53

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

Dave Reage: 00:12:56

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:00

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:02

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:06

really bad, when you're offshore.

Dave Reage: 00:13:07

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

Paul Comfort: 00:13:10

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

Paul Comfort: 00:13:11

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:15

Yeah, absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:13:15

Mervin's amazing.

Dave Reage: 00:13:16

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:19

large, ocean going vessels.

Dave Reage: 00:13:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:25

running efficiently and safely..

Paul Comfort: 00:13:27

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

Paul Comfort: 00:13:31

You know?

Paul Comfort: 00:13:31

And then, are they all your employees?

Dave Reage: 00:13:33

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:36

so, typically we run a crew of four.

Dave Reage: 00:13:38

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:43

and we can add a fifth crew member to that.

Dave Reage: 00:13:44

And that.

Dave Reage: 00:13:45

goes up to our maximum capacity of 390.

Dave Reage: 00:13:48

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:51

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

Dave Reage: 00:13:54

of passengers for evacuation purposes.

Dave Reage: 00:13:56

It's very similar on a ferry.

Dave Reage: 00:13:57

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:01

people to get everybody off safely.

Paul Comfort: 00:14:02

You, you sounded just like a flight attendant.

Paul Comfort: 00:14:05

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

Paul Comfort: 00:14:08

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

Paul Comfort: 00:14:11

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

Paul Comfort: 00:14:14

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:17

Yeah, it's about that.

Dave Reage: 00:14:18

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:24

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:27

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:30

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:33

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:37

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:40

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:44

or so

Dave Reage: 00:14:44

in the winter.

Paul Comfort: 00:14:45

That's wild.

Paul Comfort: 00:14:46

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:14:46

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

Paul Comfort: 00:14:50

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

Paul Comfort: 00:14:53

deck there, but you can on yours, right?

Dave Reage: 00:14:54

Yes, that's right.

Dave Reage: 00:14:55

Yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:14:55

It's one of the distinctive features.

Dave Reage: 00:14:57

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

Dave Reage: 00:14:59

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:02

that we didn't need that deck.

Dave Reage: 00:15:03

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:06

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:09

three or four months of the year.

Dave Reage: 00:15:10

Yeah, people want to ride with you.

Paul Comfort: 00:15:17

Where are we at now, Dave?

Dave Reage: 00:15:19

We are at the Halifax Ferry Terminal in downtown Halifax.

Dave Reage: 00:15:21

Okay.

Dave Reage: 00:15:22

And what are we about to do?

Dave Reage: 00:15:23

We're about to hop on the ferry.

Dave Reage: 00:15:24

We're going to Dartmouth.

Dave Reage: 00:15:25

We're going to supper at the canteen.

Paul Comfort: 00:15:26

That's great.

Paul Comfort: 00:15:27

Tell me some about your ferry system.

Paul Comfort: 00:15:29

Some of the stuff we were just talking about.

Dave Reage: 00:15:30

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:34

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:38

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:43

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:45

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:48

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:52

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

Dave Reage: 00:15:56

there sailing the sail in the harbor.

Paul Comfort: 00:15:57

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

Paul Comfort: 00:16:00

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:03

Yeah, that's right.

Dave Reage: 00:16:03

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:06

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:11

it's, it's really quite challenging.

Dave Reage: 00:16:12

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:15

have five more ferries.

Dave Reage: 00:16:16

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:20

harbour, uh, maintenance facility.

Paul Comfort: 00:16:27

Dave, we made it over here to Dartmouth.

Paul Comfort: 00:16:28

You live over in this area, right?

Dave Reage: 00:16:29

I do, just outside of Dartmouth, actually.

Paul Comfort: 00:16:31

Yeah, that's great.

Paul Comfort: 00:16:32

great restaurant here, The Canteen.

Paul Comfort: 00:16:34

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

Paul Comfort: 00:16:35

How long have you been the executive director?

Dave Reage: 00:16:37

eight years as executive director.

Dave Reage: 00:16:38

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:41

Seventeen years in total.

Paul Comfort: 00:16:42

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:46

It's, you know, Halifax is beautiful.

Dave Reage: 00:16:48

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:51

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

Dave Reage: 00:16:55

The people are friendly, the food is great.

Dave Reage: 00:16:58

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

Paul Comfort: 00:17:00

And what else do you have going?

Paul Comfort: 00:17:01

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

Paul Comfort: 00:17:04

have anything else new happening?

Dave Reage: 00:17:05

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:07

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:11

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:14

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:17

bus rapid transit lines that will complement the ferry system quite

Dave Reage: 00:17:20

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

Paul Comfort: 00:17:25

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

Paul Comfort: 00:17:27

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

Paul Comfort: 00:17:30

So people come in by ferry.

Paul Comfort: 00:17:31

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:33

Absolutely, yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:17:34

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:37

in the middle of the city.

Dave Reage: 00:17:38

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:41

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:43

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:47

ferry and then continue on your way.

Paul Comfort: 00:17:54

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

Dave Reage: 00:17:57

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:00

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

Paul Comfort: 00:18:05

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:08

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:10

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:13

interest in the transit industry.

Paul Comfort: 00:18:15

Really?

Paul Comfort: 00:18:16

How old were you?

Paul Comfort: 00:18:17

I

Dave Reage: 00:18:17

was 24.

Dave Reage: 00:18:17

Okay.

Dave Reage: 00:18:18

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:25

in my career I wanted to give back.

Dave Reage: 00:18:26

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:29

years, and I'm the executive.

Dave Reage: 00:18:31

currently I'm the First Vice Chair.

Paul Comfort: 00:18:32

Oh, great.

Paul Comfort: 00:18:33

So does that mean next year you're Chair?

Dave Reage: 00:18:35

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:37

Oh, that's exciting man.

Dave Reage: 00:18:38

Yeah, that's right.

Dave Reage: 00:18:38

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:18:39

Who are you going to bump off?

Dave Reage: 00:18:41

Kelly Palenci.

Dave Reage: 00:18:43

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:45

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:49

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:53

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

Dave Reage: 00:18:55

It's a lot of work.

Dave Reage: 00:18:55

It is.

Dave Reage: 00:18:56

Absolutely.

Paul Comfort: 00:18:56

With no compensation, right?

Paul Comfort: 00:18:58

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:18:58

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

Paul Comfort: 00:19:02

Yes, that's right.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:02

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

Paul Comfort: 00:19:04

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:04

That'll be great.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:05

He's a good pal.

Dave Reage: 00:19:06

Mike's a great guy.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:07

Yeah, yeah, that's great.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:08

So an association played a big part in your career.

Dave Reage: 00:19:11

It really did.

Dave Reage: 00:19:12

Yeah, it really did.

Dave Reage: 00:19:13

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:16

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:20

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:23

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:26

and we've all got similar challenges.

Dave Reage: 00:19:29

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:32

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:35

how to fix the common challenges.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:37

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:38

That's great.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:38

I like it.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:39

I don't know how to say this.

Paul Comfort: 00:19:40

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

Paul Comfort: 00:19:43

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

Paul Comfort: 00:19:46

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

Paul Comfort: 00:19:48

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

Paul Comfort: 00:19:50

Am I feeling it right?

Dave Reage: 00:19:51

Absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:19:52

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:56

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

Dave Reage: 00:19:59

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

Dave Reage: 00:20:04

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

Dave Reage: 00:20:08

It's great to see Wade today.

Dave Reage: 00:20:09

You know, I haven't

Paul Comfort: 00:20:10

seen him for a while, love that guy.

Dave Reage: 00:20:11

Yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:20:11

And you can realistically get around.

Dave Reage: 00:20:13

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

Dave Reage: 00:20:17

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

Dave Reage: 00:20:21

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

Paul Comfort: 00:20:26

And you all seem to be very supportive of each other

Paul Comfort: 00:20:28

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

Paul Comfort: 00:20:31

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

Paul Comfort: 00:20:34

come with that, unless you do it.

Paul Comfort: 00:20:35

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

Paul Comfort: 00:20:40

people that know what you're dealing with.

Paul Comfort: 00:20:42

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

Paul Comfort: 00:20:45

together over a beer, you know?

Paul Comfort: 00:20:47

It's a good time.

Paul Comfort: 00:20:48

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

Paul Comfort: 00:20:51

Director, it was Eddie Robar, right?

Paul Comfort: 00:20:52

Yes, that's right.

Paul Comfort: 00:20:53

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

Paul Comfort: 00:20:55

now he's gone to Edmonton.

Paul Comfort: 00:20:57

Exactly.

Paul Comfort: 00:20:57

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

Paul Comfort: 00:21:00

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:21:00

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

Paul Comfort: 00:21:03

the head of Vancouver TransLink.

Paul Comfort: 00:21:05

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:21:05

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

Paul Comfort: 00:21:08

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

Paul Comfort: 00:21:11

got some great people up here.

Dave Reage: 00:21:12

Absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:21:13

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:16

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:19

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:22

to the, to the association.

Paul Comfort: 00:21:24

That's great.

Paul Comfort: 00:21:24

I guess last question would be, about technology.

Paul Comfort: 00:21:27

Mm hmm.

Paul Comfort: 00:21:27

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

Paul Comfort: 00:21:30

future, what's happening for you.

Dave Reage: 00:21:32

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:36

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:39

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:42

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:45

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:47

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:51

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:55

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

Dave Reage: 00:21:59

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

Dave Reage: 00:22:02

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

Dave Reage: 00:22:05

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

Dave Reage: 00:22:08

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:11

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

Dave Reage: 00:22:14

Yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:22:14

You told me, that's great.

Dave Reage: 00:22:15

Yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:22:15

Actually, yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:22:16

Yeah, it's, it's interesting.

Dave Reage: 00:22:17

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

Dave Reage: 00:22:20

pretty high compared to some of the U.

Dave Reage: 00:22:21

S.

Dave Reage: 00:22:22

yeah.

Dave Reage: 00:22:22

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:22:23

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:26

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:29

We weren't even close to it.

Paul Comfort: 00:22:30

We were under 25.

Paul Comfort: 00:22:32

So, the legislature changed the law.

Paul Comfort: 00:22:33

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:39

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:43

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:46

here, and that is bus availability.

Paul Comfort: 00:22:49

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:52

with everybody, talking to everybody.

Paul Comfort: 00:22:54

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

Paul Comfort: 00:22:57

You're down to two manufacturers, right?

Paul Comfort: 00:22:58

Yeah.

Paul Comfort: 00:22:58

Nova and New Flyer?

Paul Comfort: 00:22:59

That's right.

Paul Comfort: 00:23:00

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

Paul Comfort: 00:23:02

America, where it's hard to get buses.

Dave Reage: 00:23:04

Yeah, it's a challenge.

Dave Reage: 00:23:06

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:07

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:10

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:15

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:21

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:24

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:28

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:31

like, what are we all doing here?

Paul Comfort: 00:23:33

Right, yeah, that's something.

Paul Comfort: 00:23:34

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

Paul Comfort: 00:23:38

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

Paul Comfort: 00:23:42

your electric ferries that are coming.

Paul Comfort: 00:23:44

and is that like the first for Canada?

Dave Reage: 00:23:46

yes.

Dave Reage: 00:23:46

Yeah, the first in transit years for sure.

Paul Comfort: 00:23:48

Yeah, that's awesome, man.

Paul Comfort: 00:23:49

And a brand new terminal, new services growing.

Paul Comfort: 00:23:52

You've got a great city here.

Paul Comfort: 00:23:54

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

Dave Reage: 00:23:58

That's a good way to put it.

Dave Reage: 00:23:59

Yeah, absolutely.

Dave Reage: 00:24:00

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

Dave Reage: 00:24:03

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

Paul Comfort: 00:24:05

Well, best of luck to you.

Paul Comfort: 00:24:06

Thanks for being on the show.

Dave Reage: 00:24:07

Thanks so much.

Dave Reage: 00:24:08

My pleasure, Paul.

Tris Hussey: 00:24:13

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

Tris Hussey: 00:24:17

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

Tris Hussey: 00:24:21

Dave Reage head of Halifax transit.

Tris Hussey: 00:24:24

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

Tris Hussey: 00:24:29

formerly known as National Express.

Tris Hussey: 00:24:31

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

Tris Hussey: 00:24:35

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Tris Hussey: 00:24:37

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