Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by woob

Aren't these awful works going on downtown all for the Green Line? The road "repairs" they do after are driving me mad.

The kind of work that they are doing means that they have to repeatedly tear out the same place, then patch for traffic again, etc.

This generally means temporary patches that aren't great, then when ALL the work is done, they go back and redo the whole area more permanently.

[sleepingmoose]

Originally Posted by toonmaster

Does anyone know how they count ridership? If it's solely based on ticket sales, how do they count monthly pass holders or the un-paid riders? Does transit run a counting algorithm off video feeds?

All newer trains have automatic passenger counters at each door. But Transit also still has data collectors to do counts until all the trains have that technology.

[Jimmy Stang]

If train ridership has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, why are there only 3-car trains on the red line still? Is increased frequency the trade off?

I don't ride the train often, so I'm not sure if things are bursting at the seams during rush hour. 4-car trains seemed like a necessity before Covid, and if ridership has fully recovered, maybe something else has changed like time of day, trip length, etc. that has made 3-car trains "good enough" for now.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

If train ridership has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, why are there only 3-car trains on the red line still? Is increased frequency the trade off?

I don't ride the train often, so I'm not sure if things are bursting at the seams during rush hour. 4-car trains seemed like a necessity before Covid, and if ridership has fully recovered, maybe something else has changed like time of day, trip length, etc. that has made 3-car trains "good enough" for now.

It is the working going on at the storage barns that has required them to run 3-car trains on the Red line. It isn't going to be completed until early 2025. See the last paragraph at this link:
https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans...Expansion.html

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Flacker

It is the working going on at the storage barns that has required them to run 3-car trains on the Red line. It isn't going to be completed until early 2025. See the last paragraph at this link:
https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans...Expansion.html

Interesting - thank you for the info. That makes sense. I could've sworn that they were rolling 4-car trains post-Covid for a while, so it wasn't just my imagination.

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by Flacker

It is the working going on at the storage barns that has required them to run 3-car trains on the Red line. It isn't going to be completed until early 2025. See the last paragraph at this link:
https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans...Expansion.html

Yes thanks. To be fair to CT, I have noticed more frequent Red Line trains which does help.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Flacker

It is the working going on at the storage barns that has required them to run 3-car trains on the Red line. It isn't going to be completed until early 2025. See the last paragraph at this link:
https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans...Expansion.html

Part of me would rather just have more frequent 3-car trains than less frequent 4-car trains. Don't know how viable that is in the long term though.

[ken0042]

That only makes sense. For the rider seeing four of the 3 car trains per hour instead of three of the 4 car trains means less wait time. (Yes, there should be more per hour but keeping the math simple.) However that also means hiring 33% more drivers.

[Weitz]

Are the trains even full? I haven’t been on a full 69th street train (3 car) since pre covid.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Are the trains even full? I haven’t been on a full 69th street train (3 car) since pre covid.

Someone is riding them if traffic is at all time high. But I don't take the train so have no point of reference.

[Shazam]

69th Street never seem to be packed, but they're certainly "full" downtown.

I was in Montreal the past week. I am now 100% pro-subway. Hell I'll double my goddamned property taxes to have this in Calgary.

Montreal actually isn't all that "walkable" per se. It's all sprawled out. But you can get anywhere via Metro, and easily. Having underground stations means that you can just pop a station anywhere.