Quote:
Originally Posted by ken0042
I wonder if the SW BRT project is really needed? What would happen if they had trains that started out at Anderson again; instead of all of them going to Briddlewood to start.
It's not like that part of the city has grown much in the last 10 years; it's just that in the last 10 years residents have found it futile trying to board the train north of Canyon Meadows.
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This already happens. There are a few trips that start out from Anderson Station and head north during the morning rush (aside from the very first ones of the day that head out to get trains up to the northwest for the start of service). Also, since the south line is busier overall than the northwest, there are a few trips that go from the south line to City Centre only (10th Street West), which turn around and head back to the south again.
There can only be a very few such trips like this because of a couple reasons. It is really difficult to get those ones in that turn around at 10th Street Station because that station also has to serve short-turning purposes for the NE line and trying to squeeze any more short-turning functions in at that station would cause for train congestion (for all lines) on the west end of downtown. This already occurs to a degree since scheduling for short-turning and heading back in the other direction is already tight, and little delays (even something as small as one person too many holding the doors at a station) can cause trains to miss signals and throw off the schedule for themselves, but also ultimately every train behind them. The West LRT will change things next year anyway, as City-Centre-only trains won't be possible anymore, and any south line service gained by running trains from the south line to 69th Street instead of Crowfoot and then back again wouldn't be that great.
As for the trains that go from Anderson all the way to the Northwest, you can only do that so much for the same reasons as in the 10th Street situation, but I think it is less prevalent there. At some point though, those trains will have to come back down toward the south line and will end up at Somerset-Bridlewood anyway. In a 3 hour rush period, any one train will make more than one pass through any one station, so they have to end up back at Somerset-Bridlewood heading north.
I suppose what could happen is that some trains could come back as far as Southland, go out of service, turn around in the yard at Anderson and then have another trip starting out at Anderson. I don't think the yard at Anderson can handle this sort of thing very well though, and is busy enough with its own activities and traffic already. Also, this would require there to be more rolling stock (LRVs) on hand, which requires capital expenditures. It would also at some point be too much to the detriment of service further south since the entire system is bottlenecked at 7th Avenue and any more trains starting out at Anderson Station couldn't be additional trips, but rather trips that would otherwise head north from Somerset.
All of this points to the need for capacity improvements, the least of which being the 8th Avenue Subway. It would solve all of the issues discussed above. 4 car trains will help, but is ultimately a medium-term solution.
As for the southwest BRT, I struggle with the necessity of that one a bit too, when compared to other priorities at least, perhaps not the Tuscany LRT extension. In the big scheme of things, the communities west of 14th Street aren't very far from the South LRT line, either by feeder bus or vehicle, so any gains in trip time by adding the BRT wouldn't justify the expense I don't think. There may be an argument to be made about it acting as a relief for the over-capacity south LRT line, and also for service gains for Rockyview Hospital and/or MRU. However, the benefits as compared to the costs for the project, when weighed against other projects I might question.