Quote:
Originally Posted by accord1999
There hasn't been any growth in a decade, and 3-car trains at 5 min frequency was being done in 2006 and probably earlier.
Well, at the 1.25M population level the NC was supposed to need a LRT too, but there's absolutely nothing for it. With the current Green Line planning to spend a lot on a tunnel, the farther north like Panorama might not see LRT service until Calgary was over 2M population.
At least for the Skytrain, those high frequencies are needed because some segments can only be served by shorter trains that have limited passenger capacities.
From my previous post here https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpo...postcount=4380, the APTA numbers show that typical weekday ridership is still lower than in 2014. Total ridership is comparable or higher due to increased ridership on weekends but that doesn't matter for peak hour capacity on 7th Av. The fact that Transit can run with 3-car trains with the system not falling apart and allows bicycles on during peak hours also supports this. |
The numbers don't support your statement though. Based on the City's data from the open data portal, monthly transit ridership may have peaked in November 2014 at 8.54 million passenger trips, but annual ridership actually peaked in 2019 with 92 million total passenger trips. Both 2018 and 2019 had higher annual ridership than 2014.
Based on the first six months of 2024, the C-train hit a new record for monthly ridership with 8.8 million monthly passenger trips in March and the system is on track to hit a new record for annual ridership (~93-94 million passenger trips)
Monthly Ridership
Annual Ridership
Calgary is a resilient city that has quickly recovered after every economic setback to date. We need to assume that the need for the LRT will continue to grow, which means building infrastructure that's future-proofed from the start of the project.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame
I was in downtown Calgary in August early on a Wednesday. After not working there since before the pandemic (and haven't lived in Calgary in years), I noticed the train, train platforms, and the general hustle and bustle was much less than five years ago, and dramatically less compared to 10 years ago. And that's even with a huge increase in population.
I would definitely say that hybrid and remote work is affecting those numbers. Theoretically this should reduce the amount of traffic and train occupancy, although because of the population increase it might be a moot point.
Felt very different since my working days there though. Much quieter.
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It does feel quieter than pre-2015, but people are still piling into downtown between Tuesdays to Thursdays, parkades are still filling up, and restaurants are still full.
It's just no longer the case where everyone gets on the C-train between 7:30-8:45 to get to work or between 3:45-5 to head home; start and end times are a lot more staggered these days. For example, people at my work will often leave earlier than normal when they're in the office (e.g. lunch or 2-3pm) to beat rush hour and then continue working from home for the rest of the day. It also feels like more people are cutting back on coffee breaks, bringing lunch from home, or getting lunch/snacks at off-peak hours to avoid the lunch rush.
Presumably, downtown C-train ridership has been stable or maybe a little less than pre-Covid and all growth is from off-peak and non-downtown ridership.