MF YYC Politics - there, I mega did it

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Looch City

$4 and with more 4 car trains or $4 with same level of service?

That's the detail I need before I flip tables.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Wormius

$4 for an adult ticket seems absolutely insane.

Going from Surrey to Downtown Vancouver on the Skytrain costs $6.60.

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Figuring that out would take a decade and probably cost $100M

Why? As per above, Vancouver does it with the skytrain. Here it's easy, you have 5 zones: West, NW, NE and SE, plus the downtown free fare zone which is the ending spot for the other four. A one zone pass costs $X, 2 zones $X+1, three $X+2, etc. It's not complex at all.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Going from Surrey to Downtown Vancouver on the Skytrain costs $6.60.

It’s worth it. It’s also very robust and reliable service and good fare structures.

Every 6 min outside of core commute times is a dream. Meanwhile in Calgary, if it actually arrives it is like you won the lottery.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Yea if I were to move to the GVA, proximity to a Skytrain station would be a huge priority, whereas in Calgary I'd almost view proximity to a C-Train station as a negative due to the increase in crime rates around them. It's weird looking back at my recent trips to Vancouver and seeing less junkies around transit stations there than you see here in Calgary, you'd think it'd be the opposite

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Looch City

$4 and with more 4 car trains or $4 with same level of service?

That's the detail I need before I flip tables.

Nope, $4 for this level of service. Commence table flipping.

https://bsky.app/profile/chealion.ca/post/3m6xsxaae2k2g

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Looch City

$4 and with more 4 car trains or $4 with same level of service?

That's the detail I need before I flip tables.

That's not how shrinkflation works. You'll pay $4 and you'll maybe get 1 car train now.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Why? As per above, Vancouver does it with the skytrain. Here it's easy, you have 5 zones: West, NW, NE and SE, plus the downtown free fare zone which is the ending spot for the other four. A one zone pass costs $X, 2 zones $X+1, three $X+2, etc. It's not complex at all.

There's a track record of struggle here:

https://newsroom.calgary.ca/calgary-...ection-system/

[Table 5]

On one hand, it makes sense to pass the cost increase on to the actual people who use a service. At the same time, I imagine it will most likely affect people who are already most sensitive to any price increases.

This also definitely won't help with incentivizing more people to use public transit. The value proposition for the casual user like me is already fairly suspect. Even with one kid riding free, and the other getting a lower fare ($2.55), with this increase it would cost $21.10 for me to take my family of 4 somewhere and back. 99% of the time that's gonna be a "no thanks, we're driving".

[Fuzz]

Every driver in Calgary "uses" the service, so I think it's OK to be well funded. More people on transit means fewer cars, which shortens your travel time and reduces road costs by decreasing needs to manage capacity.


I get that's not unlimited, but I do think we need to be a careful putting the price too high, for reasons explained. For me, if I do have to drive downtown it's so cheap to park on the west side that for shorter stays it is almost always just makes sense to drive.


I know we have day passes, but they should have a return trip pass that's 1.5x a regular.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Table 5

On one hand, it makes sense to pass the cost increase on to the actual people who use a service. At the same time, I imagine it will most likely affect people who are already most sensitive to any price increases.

This also definitely won't help with incentivizing more people to use public transit. The value proposition for the casual user like me is already fairly suspect. Even with one kid riding free, and the other getting a lower fare ($2.55), with this increase it would cost $21.10 for me to take my family of 4 somewhere and back. 99% of the time that's gonna be a "no thanks, we're driving".

Precisely. I know they have to fund it, but really, you're screwing the people most sensitive to costs. And what are they doing with the extra money?

And frankly I'm not Calgary Transit's biggest fan after the last few snowfalls and their shockingly glaring incompetence.

I wouldnt give those guys $4 for anything.

[Muta]

One way to increase ridership, as obvious as it is, is to increase medium and high density developments within Calgary's targeted TODs (Transit-Oriented Developments). Calgary currently does this, but could be doing more IMO. More people living within walking distance of a train station (the current estimate of a TOD's radius that you can reasonably project in Calgary is about 800m, but I think it should be around 500-600m) means higher ridership. Not sure if the city does it already, but perhaps their Council should look at unique development incentives within TOD radii.

Here's an example of a proposed new LRT station (Midtown Station) that is being planned for just SE of Chinook Centre, guided in relation with TOD objectives. (CBC Link)

Calgary's train system is far from perfect. Like, very far. But ridership can increase with the right development strategy, incentives and partnerships with the private sector in combination with the right supporting public infrastructure (parks, main streets, recreation facilities, etc.).

[curves2000]

Off topic but has anybody else noticed that our mayor literally wears the same red tie a huge portion of the time? A lot of interviews, a lot of photos and it's mostly the same tie.

Just an observation

[Faust]

See How Calgary City Council Voted On 2026 Budget Decisions:

https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/calgar...he-2026-budget

[Faust]

Council approves $9 million to increase CTrain security patrols during afternoon rush:

https://calgaryherald.com/news/counc...ctrain-network

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Faust

See How Calgary City Council Voted On 2026 Budget Decisions:

https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/calgar...he-2026-budget

Those of us in Ward 14 really got a special one... I'm not surprised Johnston was opposed to every single motion that would add funding or support for more vulnerable people cause that seemed like how he was when he campaigned. I didn't expect him propose completely stupid things though:

Johnston: Cut $10M from city $24.6M software licensing budget
DEFEATED 1 - 14
“I'm not suggesting we remove the entire budget ask, but I'm saying let's reduce it a little bit so that we can have some time to investigate the subscriptions that we're being asked to fund,” said Councillor Landon Johnston. Admin told council “essentially we can't run the organization” without the software: “If you'd like to be able to purchase things to build our capital projects, if you’d like to run budget week, if you'd like to pay our employees, we need these licenses.” Councillor Rob Ward said the cut “is nearly impossible—at the very least, very risky.” However, after this vote, council voted 13 - 2 to direct administration to report back with further details on software subscription costs in early 2026.

FOR: Johnston

AGAINST: Farkas, Tyers, Wyness, Yule, Kelly, Dhaliwal, Pantazopoulos, Atkinson, Schmidt, Clark, Chabot, Ward, Jamieson, McLean

But maybe I shouldn't be surprised: https://livewirecalgary.com/2025/11/...me-councillor/

Ultimately, the motion failed 0-15. One long-term councillor said never seen a unanimous decision against something, including the original amender.

[PepsiFree]

Cutting something preemptively so you can then investigate how much of it you could stand to cut is so uniquely and entertainingly dumb.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Cutting something preemptively so you can then investigate how much of it you could stand to cut is so uniquely and entertainingly dumb.

"I have a computer at home, how hard can this be?"

He is probably also the guy who clicks on all of the links in emails no matter how phishy they look.

[TorqueDog]

Rob Ward is from the tech industry so he would know how stupid an idea Johnston is pitching. Yeah, let's cut the software budget *and then* evaluate its impacts. Feck me.

[topfiverecords]

Does every employee even need a computer? Couldn’t some just share? What about chairs too? One chair per two employees. It’s good for them to alternate standing half the day.

There, I’ve just reduced taxes by a ton and I’m not even elected yet.

[Looch City]

Johnston, next week:

Spoiler!