The Centre Plan – a review and big rewrite of the rules for development in Halifax and Dartmouth – kicks off on March 21st. The goal will be to make our community vibrant, attractive and green. It will be about creating opportunities for more people to live, work, learn and play in the core of our city.

This is a big opportunity to link land use planning and transportation planning. A new transit network is needed, one that is fast, frequent and reliable, to support the dense communities envisioned by the Centre Plan. The good news is Halifax Transit should release the next draft of a new transit network shortly. This network will direct more service to busy, high quality routes – the kind of routes needed to support vibrant, dense communities.

Its More than Buses is excited to see the Centre Plan progressing. As urban planner Brent Toderian likes to say: “The best transportation plan is a good land use plan.”