Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Usually how these routes serving new communities work and progress is as follows:
...
...
This all depends on how fast the community is built out and how ridership improves, and can all happen over the course of a year or so, or can take a few years.

It definitely took a few years for Panorama Hills.

I remember when I first moved in and it was the 400 series number (425 I believe) when Harvest Hills and Coventry were running the 88 and 86 respectively. It already had midday service but no evening service or weekend service. This was very late 90s (Jul/Aug 98 if memory serves me right).

From there, it wasn't until about 03-04 (I think) that they changed the route number and had weekend service.

So that process could potentially take a while.

[frinkprof]

Just a brief news story that gives some more information on the timeline for the real-time arrival information:

Calgary Transit working on bus locator app

Aaron Burnett Mar 08, 2011 06:52:04 AM

[...]

Calgary Transit is working with the developers of a new smartphone app that uses GPS to find the next bus headed to a user's stop or LRT platform.

Transit tells The Calgary Herald they will be adding signs to LRT platforms this summer telling passengers how long it will be before the next train arrives.

Buses should start getting outfitted with GPS to power the transit app by next year.

Link to full article

[SebC]

Not sure if it's been noted in this thread, but the Skyview Ranch bus service is being paid for by the developer.

[frinkprof]

Southland Station is going to be closed for 6 or 7 weeks starting March 19th. This is part of the work needed to make the station capable of handling 4 LRV trains.

http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/s...n_closure.html

[frinkprof]

The APTA ridership report is out for 2010 Q4.

Average weekday ridership for LRT is up about 6% to 267 500. Bus ridership also up to 246 900.

http://www.apta.com/resources/statis...rship_APTA.pdf

(Data for Calgary is on page 31)

[Madman]

Anyone you know frinkprof?



http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Ph...855/story.html

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Tr...295/story.html

[frinkprof]

^I don't really know any operators personally. I don't work at Calgary Transit.

At any rate, a bit of a black eye. I don't have much of an opinion on it without some context (was he only working on it while stopped at stations or on long monotonous stretches like Crowfoot-Dalhousie, for example). Poor optics either way and I hope something comes of it.

[frinkprof]

Airdrie's Transit system, including the Intercity Express (ICE) routes will be making some service changes in April. Perhaps the biggest change is that there will now be a shared Park and Ride facility at the Rob Ebbeson arena that the 901 ICE route will service. Changes to the 3 local routes and 2 ICE routes are detailed here:

http://www.airdrie.ca/transit/PubCon...d_All_web2.pdf

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, don't forget that Calgary's own Spring Service Changes take effect tomorrow (March 14th):

http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/s...ions_2011.html

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Madman

Anyone you know frinkprof?



http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Ph...855/story.html

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Tr...295/story.html

This fellow got himself fired due to that.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/colum.../17617226.html

[SebC]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Airdrie's Transit system, including the Intercity Express (ICE) routes will be making some service changes in April. Perhaps the biggest change is that there will now be a shared Park and Ride facility at the Rob Ebbeson arena that the 901 ICE route will service.

They call that ICE? This is what I call ICE!

[frinkprof]

News and notes:

Apparently reservations for park and ride spots (up to 50% will be reservable) are being taken for some stations. I think that reservations at other stations will happen later. So far, you can reserve spots at:

Crowfoot
Dalhousie
Brentwood

Somerset-Bridlewood
Fish Creek-Lacombe

McKnight-Westwinds
Barlow-Max Bell

Information and online reservations here: http://www.calgarytransit.com/parkandride/

------------------------------------------

Also, as posted previously, Southland Station will be closing for 6-7 weeks starting today, Saturday, March 19th. The closure is to accommodate the partial replacement of the existing platform and extension to four LRV length.

http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/s...n_closure.html

[greaser4life]

For those wanting to know, these are the slow orders every day now with no end in sight of the slow downs, especially after the Rail Grinder blew a hose last week.:

1. Area of Haysboro Interlocking, both directions, both tracks: 40 km/h

2. Inbound on the Outbound in the area of Southland: 20 km/h

3. Inbound on Henry Kruger Bridge (when leaving Bridgeland): 30 km/h

4. Inbound at Deerfoot crossing: 40 km/h

5. Inbound in the area of Southland: 40 km/h

6. Inbound area of 58th Ave: 40 km/h (this one has been around over a year already)

7. Inbound area of 50th Ave: 40 km/h

8. Restricted Speed coming into Whitehorn Outbound. Restricted Speed is open to interpretation of the operator. Anywhere from 1 to 60 km/h in this stretch of track.

9. Outbound area of Signal C100 (underneath Shaganappi Tr): 40 km/h

10. Inbound area of Signal C117 (underneath 53rd St): 30 km/h

11. Inbound area of Dalhousie (when you leave the platform to just past the switches): 40 km/h


- Any crossing gates that are stuck up or broken or struck down: 20 km/h (RULE 405).

-There is a dip in the tracks outbound as you arrive at Sunnyside station when the train is at the 2nd car marker or just past the shelter on the platform. Noticeable on every stop on every type of train CT has in service. So far no repair and no slow order.

- Other problems have been reported at: Fish Creek outbound going over the switches and Anderson outbound going over the switches. So far no slow orders there, but they are coming.

[frinkprof]

^Just to decipher a little and provide some context:

-Inbound means the side of the tracks in the direction toward downtown when travelling on any of the LRT lines, while outbound means the side of the tracks in the direction travelling away from downtown.

The slow orders are necessary due to various issues with the tracks, or with the traction power subsystems in the area. Just like roads experience this time of year, a lot of it is due to frost heave. Some will be fixed during weekend track closures, while some are more serious or are harder fixes and will persist for awhile. The ones due to power system issues should be addressed within the next few years as the substations are upgraded to handle 4 car trains.

This list was also posted at CPTDB which is another forum which has quite a few CT operators and employees as members. I get a lot of my information from there. "greaser4life," would appear to be someone who browses that forum as well or the actual CT operator that posted that list originally.

[You Need a Thneed]

The slowdown order at Whitehorn station outbound is due to their often being construction workers working within feet of the tracks, even sometimes right on the tracks.

The inbound side is being worked on too, but the train is already going slow, since it has just left the station.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Jesus H Christ I hate Calgary Transit drivers.

Some ####### driving an off service bus decided to almost hit me today.

I was crossing 4st on 40th ave in the NW today on my way to work. Right by the Tims.

So I'm in the left lane, bus is in the right lane. All the cars ahead of me were going straight. All the cars in the right lane were turning right, or so it seemed. I didn't know the bus was out of service and assumed it was going to stop after the light or turn right.

Sure enough he goes straight thru. He then proceeds to literally just cut into the left lane with no signal and I actually had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid being run into oncoming traffic. Luckily they saw what was happening and swerved out of the way themselves.

So after we cross Edm Trail I end up passing the bus. When I proceed to finger the driver of the bus on my way by I realize that he's ####ing filming me (or at least taking pics of me) WHILE DRIVING HIS BUS!!! And I didn't pass on his left, I passed on his right so he was practically leaning into the doorwell to film me!

Typical sort of disregard for public safety and incomepetant driving that I've come to expect of the POS's that work at and run CT. Not only does the dbag nearly cause a multicar pile up with his lack of use of traffic signals but he then was presumably taking a pic so he can show his fellow incompetant ahole buddies who like to do crosswords while they opperate public vehicles and endanger the lives of this city's citizens.

Sorry to all the competent bus drivers and C Train drivers but you're incompetent bretheren are ruining it for the rest of you.

[frinkprof]

^Yeah some out-of-service transit drivers do some dumb things while on the way to or from the garage or on their way to the next "fill" route during the morning or evening peaks. I've heard about or seen lots of things like that (not the filming), espeially in the areas near the Spring Gardens (32nd Ave. connector NE) or Anderson garages.

[HeartsOfFire]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Southland Station is going to be closed for 6 or 7 weeks starting March 19th. This is part of the work needed to make the station capable of handling 4 LRV trains.

http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/s...n_closure.html

This made me furious.

Southland LRT is my station. It's a ten minute walk from where I live. I knew something was up when they first made it inaccessible to the handicapped a few weeks back. As far as I can recall, this was done with no (or very little) prior notice.

Then the notice comes out that the entire station is being temporarily closed for the upgrade, for a minimum of 6 weeks, starting on the 19th. The notice was given on the 13th, I believe.

I'm not certain of the exact numbers, but given the two apartment buildings nearby, the office complex AND the houses in the vicinity, the shutting down of Southland must have had quite an impact.

But what really angers me is the uselessness of the backup plan.

A shuttle bus drives between Anderson/Southland/Heritage and back, ferrying riders to and from each station. It arrives, according to the schedule I saw, every 30 minutes. But it doesn't start until 6:07 am.

When I work day shift, I start at 6:00 am. I can't use the shuttle. I'm late for work before it even starts. I have to wake up 30 minutes earlier (3:30 am), leave my apartment at 4:30-4:45, walk to Heritage to arrive by 5:00-5:15, and catch the train there to arrive at work on time.

I can't wait to see them try and pull this fiasco at the Chinook station. Heads would roll.

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

This made me furious.

Southland LRT is my station. It's a ten minute walk from where I live. I knew something was up when they first made it inaccessible to the handicapped a few weeks back. As far as I can recall, this was done with no (or very little) prior notice.

Then the notice comes out that the entire station is being temporarily closed for the upgrade, for a minimum of 6 weeks, starting on the 19th. The notice was given on the 13th, I believe.

I'm not certain of the exact numbers, but given the two apartment buildings nearby, the office complex AND the houses in the vicinity, the shutting down of Southland must have had quite an impact.

But what really angers me is the uselessness of the backup plan.

A shuttle bus drives between Anderson/Southland/Heritage and back, ferrying riders to and from each station. It arrives, according to the schedule I saw, every 30 minutes. But it doesn't start until 6:07 am.

When I work day shift, I start at 6:00 am. I can't use the shuttle. I'm late for work before it even starts. I have to wake up 30 minutes earlier (3:30 am), leave my apartment at 4:30-4:45, walk to Heritage to arrive by 5:00-5:15, and catch the train there to arrive at work on time.

I can't wait to see them try and pull this fiasco at the Chinook station. Heads would roll.

Transit put up this schedule for the Southland/Heritage shuttle. It's apparently coming every 15 mins

http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/s...n_closure.html

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Jesus H Christ I hate Calgary Transit drivers.

Some ####### driving an off service bus decided to almost hit me today.

I was crossing 4st on 40th ave in the NW today on my way to work. Right by the Tims.

So I'm in the left lane, bus is in the right lane. All the cars ahead of me were going straight. All the cars in the right lane were turning right, or so it seemed. I didn't know the bus was out of service and assumed it was going to stop after the light or turn right.

Sure enough he goes straight thru. He then proceeds to literally just cut into the left lane with no signal and I actually had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid being run into oncoming traffic. Luckily they saw what was happening and swerved out of the way themselves.

So after we cross Edm Trail I end up passing the bus. When I proceed to finger the driver of the bus on my way by I realize that he's ####ing filming me (or at least taking pics of me) WHILE DRIVING HIS BUS!!! And I didn't pass on his left, I passed on his right so he was practically leaning into the doorwell to film me!

Typical sort of disregard for public safety and incomepetant driving that I've come to expect of the POS's that work at and run CT. Not only does the dbag nearly cause a multicar pile up with his lack of use of traffic signals but he then was presumably taking a pic so he can show his fellow incompetant ahole buddies who like to do crosswords while they opperate public vehicles and endanger the lives of this city's citizens.

Sorry to all the competent bus drivers and C Train drivers but you're incompetent bretheren are ruining it for the rest of you.

I believe you can post/leave complaints on the Calgary Transit website.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

This made me furious.

Southland LRT is my station. It's a ten minute walk from where I live. I knew something was up when they first made it inaccessible to the handicapped a few weeks back. As far as I can recall, this was done with no (or very little) prior notice.

Then the notice comes out that the entire station is being temporarily closed for the upgrade, for a minimum of 6 weeks, starting on the 19th. The notice was given on the 13th, I believe.

I'm not certain of the exact numbers, but given the two apartment buildings nearby, the office complex AND the houses in the vicinity, the shutting down of Southland must have had quite an impact.

But what really angers me is the uselessness of the backup plan.

A shuttle bus drives between Anderson/Southland/Heritage and back, ferrying riders to and from each station. It arrives, according to the schedule I saw, every 30 minutes. But it doesn't start until 6:07 am.

When I work day shift, I start at 6:00 am. I can't use the shuttle. I'm late for work before it even starts. I have to wake up 30 minutes earlier (3:30 am), leave my apartment at 4:30-4:45, walk to Heritage to arrive by 5:00-5:15, and catch the train there to arrive at work on time.

I can't wait to see them try and pull this fiasco at the Chinook station. Heads would roll.

Dude, I don't live anywhere near this station and I'm pretty sure I've known about this closure for at least a few weeks already.

Also, apparently you didn't check the schedule very closely, becasue according to this one: http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/s...n_closure.html
busses leave Southland Station for Heritage Station every 15 minutes starting at 3:40.