A thread to discuss public transit in Calgary. Information, questions, current issues, pros, cons, ideas, future plans, past experiences, whatever. I'm not sure if there will be enough interest here to sustain this thread, but it's a topic that comes up often enough in other threads.
I've compiled a bit of an information resource below to let everyone know what is currently happening with the system, and what is to come. All to the best of my knowledge of course, so if you have any other information, post it and I'll make the changes. I have kept most of the images as small as possible to make navigation easier. Just click on the image to see the larger version.
These first couple posts are basically a carbon-copy of a similar thread I started on Calgary Puck if any of you post there.
CURRENT PROJECTS
LRT INFRASTRUCTURE
West LRT
Stations: 7 - 11th Street West, Sunalta, Shaganappi Point, Westbrook, 45th Street, Sirocco, 69th Street
Status: Under Construction
Completion: Opens December 10th, 2012
Stations: Rebuilding and/or relocation of all platforms along 7th Avenue
Status: 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 8th Streets completed. City Hall and 4th Street Under Construction, Centre Street and 11th Street to be done
Completion: 2012
Description: The bus service to the airport is being improved and revamped. There will be two new routes and eventually a tram.
Completion: New route to/from McKnight-Westwinds Station by 2011, new BRT route to/from downtown by 2012.
Routes 430 and 57 are existing (57 currently goes all the way to terminal, but doesn't in above map due to Barlow Trail closure).
Route 100 would be in service by 2011
Route 310 is a BRT route that would be in operation by 2012
Long Term:
» Click image for larger version
Route 310 is replaced by "European-style" Tram.
New Buses
Model: Nova LFS 40102
Number: 49 on order
Arrival Status: 11 have arrived as of 01/12/11
SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS
Systemwide 4-car LRV Capacity and Traction Power Upgrades
Stations: All but Shawnessy, Somerset, Dalhousie, McKnight, Crowfoot, 7th Avenue.
Status: Whitehorn station currently undergoing extension and reconstruction, all others to be done.
Completion: 2014
Advanced Passenger Information System
Description: Realtime vehicle arrival information for LRT and BRT lines using GPS/INS or similar and visual displays at stations
Status: In development
Completion: 2012
Electronic Fare Payment Systems
Description: Ability to pay fares on LRT and BRT (possibly more) using some form of Smartcard technology, machines that take plastic and/or bills
Status: In development, technology not officially chosen
Completion: 2012
Improved CCTV Security at LRT Stations
Description: New and more cameras with better resolution
Status: In development
Completion: 2014
Disclaimer: I do not work for Calgary Transit or the City of Calgary.
01-15-2011, 04:38 PM
CUG
What would you like to talk about, it seems you've detailed most of that well.. It's going to be a pretty dense discussion :)
01-15-2011, 04:53 PM
HungryJack
I was neighbors with Kevin Lo growing up.
Carry on...
01-15-2011, 05:05 PM
J-D
I've never understood why the trains stop running before the bars close. :(
01-15-2011, 05:10 PM
frinkprof
Quote:
Originally posted by CUG What would you like to talk about, it seems you've detailed most of that well.. It's going to be a pretty dense discussion :)
As per the first post: Information, questions, current issues, pros, cons, ideas, future plans, past experiences, whatever.
So in other words, the idea behind the thread is to be a catch-all for transit discussion as issues or ideas come up. I included the information database because there's usually a new thread here every few weeks or months and a lot of the information that had been posted in older threads gets lost or forgotten and then gets rehashed, with varying accuracy, in the new thread.
It's also a place to put new information or articles as they come up, which I'll actually do below, since there was a good article in the Herald today.
01-15-2011, 05:11 PM
frinkprof
Good and thorough article on the C-Train in today's Herald.
Quote:
Calgary's C-train at 30
Skepticism met people-mover plan
By Jason Markusoff, Calgary Herald January 15, 2011 9:00 AM
Crammed. Feels like a sauna. Winter coats, wool scarves and coffee breath emit more heat.
Newspaper pages rustle loudly. Smartphone buzzes. Can't answer it, or even scratch an elbow, without getting five people to move one step over.
Finally, the doors slide open and the rats spill out into the concrete canyon. Free from the C-Train, and off to another holding cell known as the office cubicle.
Cities with light-rail systems all over North America experience varying degrees of the morning rush, but for the past 30 years, only few know the morning crush like users of Calgary's busy system.
Those who have long boasted that it's the busiest LRT system in the continent overlook the heavier ridership of the Metrorrey system in Monterrey, Mexico. But second ranking is little to be ashamed of in a city notorious for the car's dominance.
[...]
It would roll along the roads, just like the streetcars Calgary had scrapped, rather than the big eastern cities' full-fledged subway systems? When Edmonton's system opened in time for the 1978 Commonwealth Games with stations smartly burrowed underneath its downtown?
But flash forward to the present, when Calgary's 38-station system boasts 268,000 riders on an average weekday and Edmonton's newly expanded 15-stop LRT moves around 74,000 people daily.
Staying above-ground let Cowtown do more by spending less building the initial 13-kilometre Anderson-to-downtown stretch for $175 million, opening in May 1981. By contrast, the 1980s extension of the Edmonton LRT by less than two kilometres and three downtown subway stations cost $160 million.
[...]
New cars finally have air conditioning -- the same new-style cars Edmonton has, Mandryk notes -- and platforms this year will tell riders how many more minutes they have to wait. That might bode for a slower system, but not necessarily a less successful system. North America's No. 1 LRT system in Monterrey runs sleek-looking cars on lines that are fully underground or elevated, not on the road like some lowly streetcar.
And for those wary of that morning crush, stay tuned for longer, four-car trains. In 2014.
To accompany the above article, here is a Calgary Herald video of Mayor Nenshi speaking about the future of the C-Train, with emphasis on the north-central line and airport service:
^Yes. It will be open this coming Friday the 21st.
That leaves the following left before the 7th Avenue work is compete:
- Complete both platforms at City Hall (should be done later this year)
- Removal of Olympic Plaza Station (will be done shortly after City Hall opens)
- Extend Centre Street Station (shouldn't take long, and probably won't start until City Hall is done)
- Complete dual platforms at 11th Street West (being done as part of WestLRT)
- Remove 10th Street West Station
01-15-2011, 06:45 PM
Disoblige
Expansion, I love it.
It will also mean less wait times in the core area! :clap:
01-15-2011, 06:52 PM
kaput
.
01-15-2011, 06:54 PM
Twin_Cam_Turbo
I am just glad I rarely have to take public transit.
01-15-2011, 06:55 PM
frinkprof
Quote:
Originally posted by kaput Will the new station at 11 street still fall within the free fare zone?
Good question. I don't think I've seen anything official on it, but I would have to assume so.
01-15-2011, 06:57 PM
Benny
Quote:
Originally posted by J-D I've never understood why the trains stop running before the bars close. :(
THIS!
I don't really care about the bus not running that late, but holy fuck is it ever awful trying to get a cab late at night. Not to mention I've had to leave a bunch of concerts at the Dome early because the last train is about to come. What the hell kinda supposed "World Class City" doesn't have a 24 hour train line?
01-15-2011, 07:00 PM
nutella
Why did they choose to have the North Central LRT end at the zoo? At least that's what it looks like to me on the map. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. You may as well call it the North Central East LRT since it kinda veers off to the east.
People that take the 301, 3, and the express buses that go from the north to downtown and beyond will most likely still continue taking the buses.
If your stop is downtown and/or you need to transfer downtown - why would you take the North Central? That's an extra transfer you would have to do. Get off at the zoo, try to board the packed City Centre train to get downtown, only to have to transfer again.
But hey it's great for families going to the zoo.
01-15-2011, 07:06 PM
Cos
^^ I can answer part of that. The original plan was to bury up center street and come north out of SAIT. They cant figure out a way to do it without raising the road or burying the line.
This is a cheaper and viable option. They also figure they can run east-west shuttle buses for the middle communities and reduce some of the north-south traffic.
01-15-2011, 07:07 PM
Oz-
West LRT observation. The yellow track thing really lost steam in December. The big supports are still being worked on, while the yellow thing sits idle. I wonder how behind schedule it is?
My other questions are around the opening of 33rd street at Bow Trail - when?
The stretch of Bow Trail west between Crowchild and 24th St and when will it be shifted over to the new permanent alignment?
01-15-2011, 07:10 PM
4DoorGTZ
I'd be surprised if that last pic gets fulfilled in my lifetime. And by then the city will need much more, thats what we seem to be getting, plan today for what we need today, then build it in 25yrs when we then need so much more.
-But I'm not a transit user anymore, only for flames games since leaving school.
01-15-2011, 07:14 PM
nutella
Sometimes cheaper isn't better...
I see what you're saying and I truly don't expect them to place the LRT line right on Centre Street
Maybe there are plans to have the North Central LRT line continue past the zoo, into downtown and/or beyond? If so then I can definitely see the potential for this line