HALIFAX -- You can't call it rush hour traffic yet, but there's been a bit of a rebound in the amount of traffic moving along Halifax's two harbour bridges.
It's dramatically different from when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down everything in mid-March.
"I think at one point we were down to as low as 40 per cent and then it stayed that way for several weeks," said Alison MacDonald of Halifax Harbour Bridges.
According to the bridge commission, numbers are inching back up week-to-week.
"Around six weeks ago, we were at around 47 per cent of normal traffic compared to the same time period in 2019," MacDonald said. "Now we're at about 58, 59 per cent."
About 385,000 vehicles were on the two bridges last week, about 14,000 more than the week before and 35,000 more when compared to early May.
On Wednesday, Halifax Transit reported a ridership drop of 73 per cent during the pandemic.
Ridership on the harbour ferries has been down about 90 per cent.
"It's quite a transformation," said Halifax Transit user Kenneth Purcell. "I'm used to seeing it packed."
Halifax Transit says any change to its schedule or safety protocols will be done gradually over time and that transit should continue to be only used by people getting groceries or going to and from work.
"A lot of people will assume that it will be alright and the buses will be packed again," Purcell said. "We just want to keep this to a minimum; we don't want this spreading too much right?"
Back at the A. Murray MacKay Bridge, work will continue to switch an expansion joint that will require several full weekend closures in the weeks to come.
"Hopefully, the impact won't be as great because traffic will be reduced overall," MacDonald said.
Bridge traffic usually goes down in the summer and the commission says it could take up to a year for traffic numbers on the bridges to return to normal.
As both transit and the bridges deal with an overall revenue shortfall, the bridge commission said Thursday it has no plans to hike any fares in the near future.
