City transit and infrastructure RANT!

[energieboi]

I have been in calgary 5 years now ever since gr.12 I realized one thing, the transit here is horrible. Both the system and the employees. I use to bus in gr.12 for couple years and I realized if the bus is 5 min or more late when it suppose to show up, they would just not show up at all. They will be even more late at the next stop and maybe ppl who were waiting there might left already so they decide just not come at all. This happened so many times especially in the winter and I had to wait outside the freezing cold for half an hour or more sometimes. And not to mention the grumpy impolite bastards who drives the damn thing. I heard lately there was couple girls in the back was making a ruckus so the bus driver stoped in the middle of no where without a bus stop in sight and asked them to step out for a second......then he drove off ( i know i know its a bit funny but still very cruel and UNPROFESSIONAL) I think their wages for what they do is more then fair but yet they would go on strikes and disable half the city and cause millions of dollars from the city's pocket HOW freaking unbelievable.

I have been to tokyo, the US, vancouver etc and most of their buses/trains are ontime all the time and in places like tokyo they are dead on to the seconds!

Just the past few years when I started to work in downtown and had to take the train in the mornings after 3 years without getting in touch with the transit I was hoping something would improve but not at all. C train lacks numbers in the morning rush and sometime 20 min late due to mechanical problems etc etc and so many have to cram into one cart.

Why is that the city can't see that the transit is the heart of the city and it makes the world goes around? While we have billions of dollar to spend on this and that can't we afford to buy better trains like the unmanned magnet skytrain like vancouver?

[Proyecto2000]

i agree public transportation in calgary is not as good as it should be. But then again they also need more people to drive the buses and trains. Not to long ago if you wanted to work for Calgary transit you had to wait for a bus driver to retire or quit before you could drive a bus and now they are trying to hire drivers like crazy or so I am told my a family friend who works for C.T.

[GQBalla]

public transportation is never good in calgary- always horrible -

why do you think people drive?

i don't mind the train though -

[Mikey_008]

Yup...there's nothing much you can do about it...city is growing soo fast....it'll cost too much to have something like Vancouver's or Toronto's system!

[viffer]

They are working on fixing it...check out the City's website and go to their projects page.

I kinda agree with you though. Its hard to justify $70 a month to be crammed into a sardine tin twice a day.

[energieboi]

That is exactly why i bought a car asap when I came out of highschool but now best way to get to downtown is park and ride. If it cost too much they should just buy more trains! And raise the standard for the employees especially the bus. If i had a 17 daughter and your 40 something and kicked her out on a cold day on crowchild I ll go apeshit on you

[yellowsnow]

Who needs public transportation, when Dave B just fixes up and builds more roads.

The transit system is horrible! It doesn't branch to the NE, the NW area is finally getting 1 or 2 more stations after 5-10 years. The trains are overcrowded during rush hour... our trains suck! NO A/C!! ugh, summer is f*cking nasty inside a train in rush hour... and don't get me started on rainy days.

A lot of people don't pay for c-trains... maybe if they implement a new system so people can't sneak on the train.... maybe there would be more funding for the transit. During rush hour, it's not like they can check whether or not everyone bought a ticket. for a city of our size, our transit is a joke.

[energieboi]

Originally posted by viffer
They are working on fixing it...check out the City's website and go to their projects page.

I kinda agree with you though. Its hard to justify $70 a month to be crammed into a sardine tin twice a day.

don't you work for bantrel?
do you park at banff trail in the mornings?

[eb0i]

Kicking girls off the bus because the were f'ing around isn't unprofessional. If they were disturbing other riders than he has every right to do so. It is their own actions that put them in the situation where they were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Now unless it was -30 outside, then yes he could have done something else.

But I do agree with you, the transit system sucks. Too many people using it, not enough service. Morning c-train rides suck!

[khtm]

Yeah...it sucks.

I even started e-mailing CT last winter every time something wrong happened with transit (like bus late, bus early, bus broke down). Some of the e-mails were pretty funny. Then I think they got pissed and stopped reading them.

Some lady replied once with a lame excuse about how the city is growing. Like as if 1,000,000 people just showed up in Calgary last year or something.

[nadroj23]

^^ ya with the city growing the way it has in the last years their should be plans already on the go for this. i dont understand how we can be a city of our size knowing that it is only to get bigger and have nothing set in place to compensate for it.......

beyond me

[b_t]

The transit system isn't bad off hours. I have never ever taken a bus in Calgary so I can't comment on that, but if you C-train to the bar or something late at night its no problem, not that bad at all and the enforcement is actually pretty good that late at night

But I will admit, in the morning and after work its awful, and it is really unreliable.

[Toms-SC]

Just plan shitty during peak times. I'm seriously thinking moving my working hours.

[Lo)2enz0]

lol the bus is horriable. esspecially once the schools are out. I know with the tuscany bus it only comes every hour and they stop it at 7:30!!!!

but hey with gas prices your going to be saving money. I am going to start taking the bus to school in october and i know its going to save me money but i will have to see how much of a hassle it is

[Lex350]

I have no respect for the transit workers ever since the last transit strike.

The odd time I've had to use LRT you can't find any parking at the train stations.

[Si_FlyGuy]

Originally posted by Toms-SC
Just plan shitty during peak times. I'm seriously thinking moving my working hours.

I'm glad that I can go to work 2 hours early for that reason alone.

[accord885]

I think the transit system works quite well... altough I come from Halifax where transit is the worst I've ever experianced!

[nadroj23]

it honestly isnt bad but as everybody else has said it SHOULD be better then what it is........peak times, i see the train when im driving home from work you wouldnt catch me dead on one of those during rush hour the way those things are packed......

[adidas]

I perosnally havent taken the bus in a few years but i know what it was like during my hs days.

About a year ago or so...my sis was working all the way in the NE and she lived in downtown...there was a bus that only came every hour somewhere in the NE, so during one very cold winter day she waited an hour and 30 min for the bus to come and it never did, she called in to complain like every other normal person would(the bus has been late before too) and when she talked to the manager what he told her was that its not their fault that the bus is late and if she wants the bus to be on time every single time she should just buy the bus. These were the exact words of the person that was a so called manager!

If only i knew his name, i would beat the living shit out of him!

Calgary transit sucks big balls!

[energieboi]

^ I had similar exp but x10, wait outside for an hour sometime and it would just not show up!

I remember one time I took the last 54(back in the days 54 was the one that goes up to hamptons) of the night at 11:15 i believe from dalhousie. So I got in and the guy with a very grumpy sigh and told me he isn't going to go past edgemount bc he is going home!!! So i played nice and convinced him to drive me to hamptons (which is what he suppose to do). And he was speeding like a maniac with the bus in residential i was literally holdiing to my dear life!