for the amount of and (lack of) quality service CT provides, a $90/month transit pass is outrageous.

suggestions:

1. have an LRT-only pass for people who don't use buses. this could be 1/2 or 2/3 of a full pass.

2. implement a zone system. 1 zone bus pass is good in either of the 4 city quadrants. 2 zone pass is good in 2 of the zones, 3 zone, 3 quadrants, 4 zone, all over the city, and all zone passes would be valid in the downtown core.

I found this story quite amusing when I read it in the paper. Bringing the already high $75 monthly pass to $90 and charging $3 a day for the unsecured parking lots, bringing the monthly total for a person driving to the LRT to $150 a month. That is pretty steep, especially for the level of service recieved with CT. Your ideas do make sense, but I cant see it happening with the people they have in charge.

So because it's a sh*t system that doesn't even check if people actually bought tickets to ride thr train, other folks who pay honestly every month get dinged even more to use CT....


I am effing pissed by this. The service is garbage, the current system is utter crap compared to cities of equal size, all ctrains are overpacked and now I will have to pay even more money for a service that will continue to diminish...

At least we have another 2 years before the next strike.

For these rates, we should expect better service.

For example, longer train and main bus route shifts, so inebriated people will at least consider leaving their car downtown.

It would also be nice to have someone give them a quick clean over half way through the day, especially during winter.

Bah.

If they go ahead with this expect downtown parking demand to go way up, even with only 1 other person in a carpool you might as well drive.

terrible ideas.

1) so many problems with this one, dont know where to start. why would an LRT pass be cheaper than a bus pass?
the city really needs to get to the idea to create more collector roots to get people to the train stations by bus.


2)so if i live in Kensington and need to get downtown, I need a 2 zone pass. While the douchebag who lives in bridlewood needs a 1 zone pass to get downtown.


the zones could work but need to be created for the distant stations on the outskirts.

i like the idea of charging for parking. currently everyone who takes transit subsidizes parking. $3 per day is more than fair. even at $5, people living in the boonies will take the train rather than paying more for gas, insurance, maintanence etc and especially parking downtown.

I use the zone system out here in Denmark, and it makes life easier! the only problem is I never buy a multi zone pass because they are too expensive

1. Because there are lots of people who only use the LRT and don't use the buses. why should you have to pay full price if you don't use the bus system at all?

2. i said that all zones are good the downtown area. So if you live in Kensington, a 1 zone pass will get you anywhere in the NW as well as around downtown. The douchebag who lives in Bridlewood wouldn 't be taking a bus into downtown; they'd take the LRT, hence the suggestion for an LRT-only pass.

People who live outside of the city of calgary (okotoks, airdrie, etc) would also have to pay a premium for a pass as their property taxes don't go towards CT upkeep.

zoning by distance is the logical way, but the way the city is built you don't have firm borders.

When I lived in New York I was amazed at how more organized the transit system was. There's 2 different sets of trains....the Marta which travels around the state, including in/out Manhattan and also the local which travels around Manhattan. First of all they're all underground which is a huge plus, second is you don't have to buy a ticket before getting on the train. A guy comes around to every single person and asks for a ticket, and if you don't have one you can just buy it right there from him. So this gets 100% efficiency for ticket purchases instead of people in Calgary who sometimes ride without tickets because they never check. That's increased revenue plus it's more convenient. Although my monthly pass for the Marta was $165.

EDIT - I mean Metro North, not Marta......Marta was in Atlanta.

an interesting history on calgary transit heard from bus drivers around calgary...

- the "free fare" zone was introduced because downtown business men thought it was absurd for them to pay the city to travel a few blocks.

- a few years ago when the fare increased to $2.00 it was because the current head of the CT was retiring. he had the retirement plan of best earnings which is based on 5 years of highest salary. he received a $25,000 bonus on the years that CT came in under budget. so how did he guarantee CT coming in under budget? by increasing the fare without the actual need to do so.

- the reason we have no direct route to/from the airport is because the owner of the major cab companies in calgary bribes the transit officials to maintain his business.

a boom in the city doesn't come without it's price

I wouldn't mind paying the price if the service was there. it's not.

Originally posted by finboy
a boom in the city doesn't come without it's price

The boom came a while ago and they are just increasing it now, talked about a delayed reaction.

I don't use CT but these increases are horrible. The whole point of free parking at the stations is for people to use the train and lower traffic in downtown and reduce traffic on the roads leading into downtown. Charging for that makes sense but then they have to enforce that so all the money they make from that goes to paying the guys to check tickets or however they will do it.

Another thing they can do is if you park you ride at 1/2 cost or have it so you can buy a monthly parking pass coupled with a train pass at a discounted rate.

They really need to work on giving incentives to those who use the system in the form of discounts otherwise it's not going to work very well.

the fact that they want people to pay at park and rides is redicilous!! i drive to the big parking lot behind Studio 16 in coventry hills/country hills and if i had to pay to park there i would be pissed.

Even with the cop station right beside the parking lot there are still car break-ins...

and upping the rate wouldnt be such a problem if the service you get for it was worth it. I rmbr when buses were going to fast on there routes they would wait at a stop for a minute or two. So the next person who thinks the bus will be at there stop in 10 minutes when really its running 5 minutes fast, walk outside and BAM there goes the bus...

The parking lots at train stations are packed by 7:00am. If they charge $3, the lots will still be full. The $3 daily rate is far cheaper than the daily rate downtown.

$90 for the pass + $60 for the parking works out to $150. You would probably spend more on gas driving downtown everyday for that amount.

Its still cheap.

Bus passes are a write off on your taxes now too, which helps balance out that cost a lot.

the boom brought a drastic population increase, and even as the boom slowed, people still came, and will likely still come to calgary as it hasn't had as bad of a time with the slowing of the economy.

more people = need for upgrade of transportation = increased cost of use

such is the price of living in this shit hole

I think this is a great idea. The extra money paid goes towards CT users anyway. People aren't going to be flooding to drive downtown because the costs to drive downtown are still way higher.

There still is money to be saved riding CT.

are you high on crack? companies do not pass savings onto consumers. passing on savings would lead to a lack of something called profit!
if bus drivers start waving fares because they are late then i would agree with you.

considering a translink pass is $1xx.00 right now.

I think it is ridiculous to think that Calgary's transit deserves close to the same price.