Gotcha. Given that I moved here after it was already built, I figured I just missed the public discussion about it at the time. It makes sense I guess, it's still frustrating though. It was such a good system for a while! I don't want to take the bus too and add another 20min to my commute, that's just lame
Been meaning to post this for some time, but here's some information on the upcoming BRT projects around the city.
BUS RAPID TRANSIT
North Crosstown BRT
Route: Brentwood Station to Saddletowne Station via NW Hub (U of C, Foothills Medical Centre, Alberta Children's Hospital), 16th Avenue, Rundle Station, Peter Lougheed Centre.
Stops: 29
Status: Design/Construction
Completion: Fall 2018
Route: Westbrook Station to Douglas Glen Station via MRU, Rockyview General Hospital, Heritage Station, Deerfoot Meadows, Quarry Park.
Stops: 18
Status: Design/Construction
Completion: Fall 2018
Route: Hubalta Road to Downtown via 17th Avenue SE, 9th Avenue Inglewood
Stops: 4 in Phase 1, 3 in Phase 2
Status: Phase 1 (28th Street East to Hubalta Road) - Construction; Phase 2 ( 28th Street East to 9th Avenue SE with transitway across Deerfoot Trail) - Design
Completion: 2018
Basically, because of cost and available funds, the City has decided it must phase in the full length of the Green Line. So at first it would run to Shepard in the SE and Beddington in the North, then expand outward later. Presumably communities further out will have direct feeder buses to the end of the line.
A difficult decision to make, particularly for the SE, where most of the ridership is at the far reaches of the planned line. However, I'm not sure what choice they had, other than perhaps build one full line at a time instead.
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Basically, because of cost and available funds, the City has decided it must phase in the full length of the Green Line. So at first it would run to Shepard in the SE and Beddington in the North, then expand outward later. Presumably communities further out will have direct feeder buses to the end of the line.
A difficult decision to make, particularly for the SE, where most of the ridership is at the far reaches of the planned line. However, I'm not sure what choice they had, other than perhaps build one full line at a time instead.
Wow, that seems incredibly disappointing. I didn't realise that the price tag was getting to the $7bn figure though! I admit I haven't followed this all that closely, but weren't figures of $1.5-$2bn being bandied about just a couple years ago?
Wow, that seems incredibly disappointing. I didn't realise that the price tag was getting to the $7bn figure though! I admit I haven't followed this all that closely, but weren't figures of $1.5-$2bn being bandied about just a couple years ago?
Spanish welders.
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Wow, that seems incredibly disappointing. I didn't realise that the price tag was getting to the $7bn figure though! I admit I haven't followed this all that closely, but weren't figures of $1.5-$2bn being bandied about just a couple years ago?
I don't ever recall estimates like that - perhaps just for the SE leg, excluding downtown.
The high level estimate when the federal election was on was $4.6b, but more extensive tunneling downtown and other things have made the number jump.
It is disappointing, but still a very important project to get moving. The key will be to have really effective feeder (hopefully community to end of the line direct) buses. When I was growing up, the NW end of the line for the longest time was Brentwood (no where near the edge of the city) - about a 15 minute feeder bus from my community. Didn't feel like it was a big deal to do.
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Last edited by Bunk; 02-13-2017 at 09:00 AM.
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Wow, that seems incredibly disappointing. I didn't realise that the price tag was getting to the $7bn figure though! I admit I haven't followed this all that closely, but weren't figures of $1.5-$2bn being bandied about just a couple years ago?
$1.5B from each of the three branches of government, so they were always looking at $4.5B, and that would have been without any tunnels.
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$1.5B from each of the three branches of government, so they were always looking at $4.5B, and that would have been without any tunnels.
Maybe that was why that figure stuck in my head. Like I say, I really have only followed it somewhat passingly. I do think its important and they should get rolling. I guess its mainly disappointing for the deep SE where the transit is most needed.
The entire thing built at once would be amazing but Phase One is massive and the most important section. Nine new stops north of downtown and nine more new stops south from Inglewood to Shepard is a yuge addition to the city. The fact that it's going all the way to the South Health Campus and Seton is astonishing to me.
Maybe that was why that figure stuck in my head. Like I say, I really have only followed it somewhat passingly. I do think its important and they should get rolling. I guess its mainly disappointing for the deep SE where the transit is most needed.
Definitely, but it's incredibly important to do the central part of the line right, despite the high costs.
I'm not familiar with the plans for the Shepard station but unless it has a ton of parking with easy access in/out I really cant see people from the deep south (ie. Seton) going all the way up there. As far as the south goes I'd say the majority of riders would be around 22x or south of it, so this first phase doesn't help them at all.
But at least they're gonna focus on doing the downtown portion correctly - underground. The entire LRT should be underground downtown
Wow -- so that means the North leg of the LRT (including the expensive tunnel up Centre Street) will begin construction in a few years? I thought it was all but decided that the South leg would be completed first, meaning the North leg might not be started for another 10+ years.
Our rapid transit shouldn't be built to the outer edges of the city. All that is doing is inducing demand and catering to a bunch of people not paying taxes in Calgary.
Traffic isn't that bad far out from downtown and efficient feeder buses should be possible. Maximum benefit comes from a bunch of spokes out of the core into medium density areas.
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With the ctrain going all the way south to the Health Campus and way north to 160th ave how ridiculous is it we don't have a zoned pay system?
Same pay as Kensington to Tuscany is bad enough when leaving the core but someone exiting at 9th or 16th ave shouldn't have the same fare as a rider going well past the damn ring road.
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With the ctrain going all the way south to the Health Campus and way north to 160th ave how ridiculous is it we don't have a zoned pay system?
Same pay as Kensington to Tuscany is bad enough when leaving the core but someone exiting at 9th or 16th ave shouldn't have the same fare as a rider going well past the damn ring road.
Zones are always a tricky debate.
I actually favour a single fare for a couple reasons:
1) Simplicity
2) If we consider a major purpose of transit is to reduce vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled (for congestion, cost of infrastructure, environment or other negative externalities of long automobile commutes), we should also consider reducing long vehicle trips an even greater potential benefit. As such, we would want to encourage (through price) long vehicle trips to be replaced by relatively long transit trips. If you price it higher than a shorter trip, you're making harder, not easier to replace vehicle trips/miles.
Rather than thinking of it as more service (long trip) = higher cost, we can think of it as long transit trip = more reduction of negative externality.
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I think something else that might encourage more transit use is actually allowing a child to be on the same fare as a parent, like Translink in BC allows. I rarely see kids on the bus or Ctrain, which is a stark contrast to when you go to Vancouver or Kelowna. Here, the only time you really see kids is during Stampede. This is anecdotal though. Maybe youth ridership is higher than what I see.
I think something else that might encourage more transit use is actually allowing a child to be on the same fare as a parent, like Translink in BC allows. I rarely see kids on the bus or Ctrain, which is a stark contrast to when you go to Vancouver or Kelowna. Here, the only time you really see kids is during Stampede. This is anecdotal though. Maybe youth ridership is higher than what I see.
What age group are you looking for. Under 5 or 6 is free and you see that if you take the train later in the day.
