Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[Lubicon]

CBC interviewed on of the 3 passengers on the train this morning. He said the train had just arrived just prior to his boarding (he watched it arrive) and was surprised when it suddenly started moving so soon after arriving. It was a pretty quick acceleration too he said. Obviously the driver was still in the outbound cab so for whatever reason the train continued in the same direction and the driver never switched to the other end of the train for the inbound route. I guess that's all we really know at this point.

[Wormius]

Which app are people using for transit? I had YYC Transit, but noticed there is another by the same app maker called "Transit". Any difference besides the latter being more diverse? I found the YYC specific version had departure times jumping around a lot recently.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Which app are people using for transit? I had YYC Transit, but noticed there is another by the same app maker called "Transit". Any difference besides the latter being more diverse? I found the YYC specific version had departure times jumping around a lot recently.

I use Transit and find it to be pretty decent. I only use it for one bus route by our house and the CTrain periodically. I find it to be pretty accurate when I do use it, and it picks up the routes available from my location pretty quickly. I haven't used the YYC Transit version but imagine it would function similarly.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by Redliner

As far as I know, all of the road crossings on the C-train lines are protected with lights and/or gates. The crossing circuits are completely independent of the train controls and would function regardless of whether the train's movement was "expected" or not. I realize that despite the safeguards people still manage to run into the C-train on an alarmingly regular basis, but no system is completely idiot proof and 99% of those collisions are due to driver error on the part of the motorist.

Full disclosure here...I didn't design the C-train infrastructure, nor do I work for Calgary Transit, so anything I've written here is just speculation on my part based on my personal work experience with railways & railway infrastructure. Take it for what it's worth.

You have some of it right. All road crossings have gates and lights (wig wags) and some pedestrian crossings have both too, most, unfortunately, only have wig wags. The track circuits that activate the gates and wig wags work automatically for the most part and will always be there for the driver at a road crossing that is not at a station. At a station with a crossing directly in front of the driver (I will use Chinook inbound as an example), the gate arms are timed for a perfect stop, which is about 20 seconds, before the driver gets lunar protection (watch the lights at this crossing next time you are there and you will see two horizontal lights, or a horizontal line with newer lunars, that will go vertical when the crossing is protected). So if a driver were to blow through Chinook inbound, the crossing would not be protected and someone would likely be hurt. We also have the ability to cancel the gates, if we have a passenger emergency or a break down for example, so we do not hold up traffic. After the situation is cleared, we can then reactivate the gates to get the train moving. Also, at some stations we can activate the gates early if we so desire, which can help in picking up time or trying to prevent pedestrians from cutting in front of the train. All of this is provided we stopped the train over the loop so the train can communicate with the circuits.

[Ducay]

Is there any way a driver can stop the doors from re-opening on a train when a reject stops the doors from closing when they catch the train at the last second, which then allows another reject to catch it again when it starts closing again? By the end youve missed the light and now 7th ave is all messed up

Why can't we have more merciless doors like other systems, or doors that don't reopen when caught (just holds then recloses)?

[GGG]

The new trains are merciless. They just keep closing

I really like the new trains. Calgary Transit nailed the design. I was a little worried about the no butt spots on the benches but the poles clearly divide them into two or three seats. The areas at the ends for standing are also fantastic and Moving the doors away from the ends makes getting on and off packed trains much easier. Really nailed it.

[nik-]

I want trains that will amputate me if I'm a little too slow. Can you imagine the carnage until the lessons are learned?

[Looch City]

Yeah the new trains are pretty good. Love the leaning spots.

Only thing I don't like is the pause before the doors flash green when at a station. Sometimes when I'm waiting for it to go green, people behind me rush forward and shove their hands in the way to push the button. I'm getting off too don't worry!

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Is there any way a driver can stop the doors from re-opening on a train when a reject stops the doors from closing when they catch the train at the last second, which then allows another reject to catch it again when it starts closing again? By the end youve missed the light and now 7th ave is all messed up

Why can't we have more merciless doors like other systems, or doors that don't reopen when caught (just holds then recloses)?

Unfortunately, no we can't and it can be quite a pain in the ass during rush hour, at least downtown. 10 seconds too long at certain stations can cause us to miss the light syncing for the next station.

Now on the SD160's (the middle trains with the seats all facing in one direction), we can force the door closest to the driver's cab to close or open, which can prove useful especially at 1st ST W to get going or when your doors have cancelled and you want to let that cute girl running for your train on.

[RW99]

I'm happy they are looking to move forward with the underground option for the new line. The money sucks up front, but will be a much better option for the future. And I hope they add 12th Ave back to the underground plan. Centre St past 20th Ave will be a real mess for a couple years.

[Ozy_Flame]

Underground is such a better investment in the long run. Pay for it up front and your citizens will thank you for it later. As much as the Edmonton LRT is an enigmatic mess, the flow through downtown is really quite nice, primarily because there are no traffic interruptions to get you to your destination on time.

[Tyler]

90% of people's griping about poor infrastructure in Calgary is that planners didn't think far enough ahead and cut corners when they should have spent more money to do things right.

Perfect example here.

[calf]

How would the construction under 12th ave work? Dig up the street? Or burrow underneath & build?

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Underground is such a better investment in the long run. Pay for it up front and your citizens will thank you for it later. As much as the Edmonton LRT is an enigmatic mess, the flow through downtown is really quite nice, primarily because there are no traffic interruptions to get you to your destination on time.

Yeah, backing out from having it under 8th back in the 80's was a mistake. I kind of wished that when they expanded the blueline west they would have figured out a way to get the redline to go down 8th (in the tunnel) so the lines wouldn't be shared on 7th.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Tyler

90% of people's griping about poor infrastructure in Calgary is that planners didn't think far enough ahead and cut corners when they should have spent more money to do things right.

Perfect example here.

How far ahead should they plan? Should planners today make infrastructure decisions based on a population of 3 million? Would Calgary taxpayers be okay with paying up front for infrastructure for a city of 3 million in 30 years?

I think the city has done a pretty good job with long-term planning. The right-of-ways for the west leg of the ring road have been set aside and ready since the adjacent communities were built almost 40 years ago.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Tyler

90% of people's griping about poor infrastructure in Calgary is that planners didn't think far enough ahead and cut corners when they should have spent more money to do things right.

Perfect example here.

Calgary's Moto:

Why do it right when you can do it twice!

[ken0042]

Does anybody have a link for what they are proposing? While I agree with some aspects of underground, my concern was that the 9th ave NE station would be too far underground, that it would take 5 minutes of escalator to reach it.

Underground downtown, sure. Under the river instead of a bridge over the river seems like a waste of money for the benefit of not seeing the train go over the river and Memorial.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Yeah, backing out from having it under 8th back in the 80's was a mistake. I kind of wished that when they expanded the blueline west they would have figured out a way to get the redline to go down 8th (in the tunnel) so the lines wouldn't be shared on 7th.

I disagree. Calgary and Edmonton each built an LRT system and Calgarys has always been more functional. By deferring the tunnel expense Calgary got significantly more track laid. Edmonton has 25km and Calgary has 60k

Would you rather have the west leg of the LRT or buried under 8th Ave? These capital dollars are real trade offs.

The cost of burying is relatively unchanged overtime so unlike the airport tunnel where it was do it now or do it for significantly more cost of ever the 8th Ave tunnel was a good deferment of cost.

The green line decision is Much more like the airport tunnel as if you don't bury past 16th Abe you never get the opportunity to do it.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by calf

How would the construction under 12th ave work? Dig up the street? Or burrow underneath & build?

A tunnel would likely be bored for each direction of the line, however station boxes would likely need to be excavated at the station locations in downtown and Beltline. This is because the stations take up more space and need accesses and utilities, etc. built to tie into the surface.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Does anybody have a link for what they are proposing? While I agree with some aspects of underground, my concern was that the 9th ave NE station would be too far underground, that it would take 5 minutes of escalator to reach it.

Underground downtown, sure. Under the river instead of a bridge over the river seems like a waste of money for the benefit of not seeing the train go over the river and Memorial.

I'm of the opinion that underground is the proper and least intrusive way of running the train from 16th Ave into downtown. There is going to be significant NIMBY-ism for any surface or elevated LRT along Center street.

A deep underground station isn't that big of a deal. I've been in deep stations in Seoul and it isn't that big of a hassle. In terms of vision the city could even incorporate a large underground "plaza" with the new station and include commercial opportunities. Again from my experience in Seoul they have a really cool setup in that they essentially have an underground city with two or three levels of commercial at all their subway stations.