Quote:
Originally Posted by 1991 Canadian
Unless I am missing something, this train solves the least pressing issue for congestion in Banff, the highway drive between Calgary and Banff. Even at the peak of summer I find the drive relatively free moving.
The bigger issues are a lack of parking, overwhelming amount of people and a lack of tourism infrastructure in Banff and area. A train doesn’t solve any of these issues. It will not displace individual vehicle traffic, it will only displace bus tour traffic between Calgary and Banff.
The problem is the congestion will just be shifted to the Banff train station. Even if you displace all the bus traffic between Banff and Calgary, you now have to get all these people from Banff to the various sites. You also need to get all these people from YYC to the Calgary train station (downtown?).
Don’t get wrong, if there is private money willing to front most of this project, I am all for it. If the tickets are cheap enough, I might even be tempted to use it. I just don’t see the value in it.
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Anecdotally last summer I drove the TCH 4 times. Once on the Monday of a long weekend, twice midweek, and once on a regular weekend. Every trip traffic came to a virtual standstill on #1 several times and traffic was backing up for kilometres. It's true, the biggest issue might be in Banff townsite itself but the highway is turning into a gong show as well. At least in my experience.