Quote:
Originally Posted by Yanda
I base that calgary is a driving city soley on the layout. Calgary is a Suburban Sprawl. This city was built "out" instead of "up" and has one of the lowest Population per Area2 Ratio when compared with other cities in the world.
Also I have Relied on public transportation in the past to get downtown when my jobsite has been downtown.
|
That's actually a really misleading stat. There arent many municipalities that are 800km2, including one of the largest(if not the largest) urban parks in North America. As far as metro areas go, Calgary is freaking compact compared to many.
Calgary is probably one of the only cities in North America with no connecting suburb cities, which is very beneficial for planning. Sure, Vancouver and Toronto have way higher pop per area ratios, but what of Surrey, Oakville, etc. I'm sure you'd find if Bowness, Midnapore, Forest Lawn, etc. stayed as separate cities, the core city of Calgary left would have very competitive density.
I think the city needs to continue on its balanced LRT/road system approach, but it needs to get real on parking downtown. There simply needs to be more access, both for cars and for those using the LRT to get there.
The last thing I would do is make it easy for people to live in Cochrane/Airdrie/Strathmore/Okotoks with commuter rail, thats a sure way to encourage their growth and lose needed tax revenue needed to sustain the city (unless the plan is to annex everything in Foothills and Rockview MD, with some Wheatland and Bighorn MD and call it "Calgary Region"). SWRR, SELRT, NCLRT and downtown subway should happen before they consider any fluff like commuter rail or high speed rail to Edmonton.