Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[frinkprof]

Some notes:

Apparently 4th Street West Station will not open this Friday (I guessed too early), and the actual opening will be either January 21st or more likely the 28th.

I made some small updates to the first page information. I provided some updates on some of the vehicles that were on order. There are now 11 of the new LRVs that have arrived, with 3 of course being in service now. Also, there is a new set of Nova buses on order, and those have started to arrive. After this order, there will be 79 in the fleet. I gave some updated completion dates to the advanced vehicle arrival information and fare payment systems projects. Both will be done in 2012. I also split the information into 2 posts. I hope to add some BRT information there at some point.

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Has anyone had a chance to ride the new "perimeter seating" LRVs yet? If so, what did you think? I haven't had the chance yet, but have passed by them a few times.

[Sliver]

I have no interest in public transit as I only use it about once/year so my kids can go on a train ride, which they love. But I really like reading your posts on it frinkprof.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Also, there is a new set of Nova buses on order, and those have started to arrive. After this order, there will be 79 in the fleet.

So is Nova their new vendor of choice? Why the switch?

[stevinder]

Originally Posted by Madman

So is Nova their new vendor of choice? Why the switch?

Cost, quality, availability perhaps....no one really knows why.

[MrMastodonFarm]

I finally got a chance to ride the new ctrain cars on the way home this evening, and I was going to complain about the seats, nothing is more comfortable (transit wise) then those nice plush blue seats... until I realized that the seats in the new cards are heated. Classy Calgary Transit, classy.

I was skeptical about the amount of room that would open up by having all sideways seating, but there certainly was a lot more room then the old ones.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by Madman

So is Nova their new vendor of choice? Why the switch?

Well a lot of these orders of buses go out to tender, so I presume Nova just happened to be the best choice given the specifics given in the tender. CT could be just trying a different direction though. New Flyer (the manufacturer for almost all CT's orders of 40 and 60 foot buses for the last 20 years) has lost business from a few cities recently, so I'm not sure what the full story is there.

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Some news:

- Finally found an official opening date for the 4th Street West Station. It will open a week from tomorrow. Friday the 21st.

- Here's the comments that were compiled during the open houses for the Southwest BRT functional study: http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/al...ouses_2010.pdf

Apparently the study will be reported back to city council on January 19th, and the study (or just a summary, not sure) will be posted to Calgary Transit's website. I'm not sure what the outcome of the council presentation will be. My guess is that it will just be reported, but there won't be a vote on actually doing it unless one of the council members moves to do so, which would likely come later.

CT link on the SW BRT for reference: http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/sw_brt_2010.html

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Madman

So is Nova their new vendor of choice? Why the switch?

Might have something to do with the old ones spontaneously iginiting?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

- Complete dual platforms at 11th Street West (being done as part of WestLRT)

- Remove 10th Street West Station (will be done when 11th Street is open)

11th Street will be starting soon, latest by spring I would think.

10th Street West will have to be removed before 11th Street opens, due to the requirement to realign the tracks so that they are parallel with each other in that block. I'm not sure how that will work, or whether they may need a weekend (or longer) shutdown.

11th Street station has a slight curve at the west end of each platform, due to the need to get the line south of the science centre.

[fundmark19]

The 302 has been packed everyday. What is going on! I miss when there was only 12 people on it

[SebC]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

The 302 has been packed everyday. What is going on! I miss when there was only 12 people on it

Theory: people don't want to drive in this weather.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by SebC

Theory: people don't want to drive in this weather.

I disconcur with said theory, way more people are driving this week due to the freakish cold.

[fundmark19]

I am real worried that next week the bus will be even more packed! I am going to have to start leaving at 6 am again to get a quiet bus since 6 20 on its always full

[Russic]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

I finally got a chance to ride the new ctrain cars on the way home this evening, and I was going to complain about the seats, nothing is more comfortable (transit wise) then those nice plush blue seats... until I realized that the seats in the new cards are heated. Classy Calgary Transit, classy.

I was skeptical about the amount of room that would open up by having all sideways seating, but there certainly was a lot more room then the old ones.

Still not sold on them, but that is pretty awesome.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

I finally got a chance to ride the new ctrain cars on the way home this evening, and I was going to complain about the seats, nothing is more comfortable (transit wise) then those nice plush blue seats... until I realized that the seats in the new cards are heated. Classy Calgary Transit, classy.

I was skeptical about the amount of room that would open up by having all sideways seating, but there certainly was a lot more room then the old ones.

I road one yesterday and it is fantastic. Even just the extra legroom for the seats is worth giving up the cushy seats. It is a little harder to nap on the train though. The interesting thing is that each train car only gives up 4 seats. The old trains have 6 benches on each end for a total of 24 seats per train end. The new trains have 11 seats on each side for 22 per train end. The centers of the cars are the same.

So at the price of 4 seats a train you probably double the standing room on train. Also they have 3 prong poles so more people can hang on at a comfortable level.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I disconcur with said theory, way more people are driving this week due to the freakish cold.

Actually I believe SebC is probably more correct. The colder it gets, the less people bike or walk. Also, there are fluctuations in ridership due to when people are more likely to take vacation and also school schedules. University is back in this week which usually means a spike across-the-board in terms of ridership.

Here's a graph of the last 15 years of transit ridership for Calgary transit:



While some of the annual patterns aren't consistent, there's always a big drop-off in April when post-secondary school is out and then again in June when K-12 school is out. Then there is a huge spike at the start of the school year. There's also a drop-off over Christmas.

The big drop in 2001 is due to a transit strike.

All data from APTA

[frinkprof]

Good and thorough article on the C-Train in today's Herald.

Calgary's C-train at 30

Skepticism met people-mover plan

By Jason Markusoff, Calgary Herald January 15, 2011 9:00 AM

Crammed. Feels like a sauna. Winter coats, wool scarves and coffee breath emit more heat.

Newspaper pages rustle loudly. Smartphone buzzes. Can't answer it, or even scratch an elbow, without getting five people to move one step over.

Finally, the doors slide open and the rats spill out into the concrete canyon. Free from the C-Train, and off to another holding cell known as the office cubicle.

Cities with light-rail systems all over North America experience varying degrees of the morning rush, but for the past 30 years, only few know the morning crush like users of Calgary's busy system.

Those who have long boasted that it's the busiest LRT system in the continent overlook the heavier ridership of the Metrorrey system in Monterrey, Mexico. But second ranking is little to be ashamed of in a city notorious for the car's dominance.

[...]

It would roll along the roads, just like the streetcars Calgary had scrapped, rather than the big eastern cities' full-fledged subway systems? When Edmonton's system opened in time for the 1978 Commonwealth Games with stations smartly burrowed underneath its downtown?

But flash forward to the present, when Calgary's 38-station system boasts 268,000 riders on an average weekday and Edmonton's newly expanded 15-stop LRT moves around 74,000 people daily.

Staying above-ground let Cowtown do more by spending less building the initial 13-kilometre Anderson-to-downtown stretch for $175 million, opening in May 1981. By contrast, the 1980s extension of the Edmonton LRT by less than two kilometres and three downtown subway stations cost $160 million.

[...]

New cars finally have air conditioning -- the same new-style cars Edmonton has, Mandryk notes -- and platforms this year will tell riders how many more minutes they have to wait. That might bode for a slower system, but not necessarily a less successful system. North America's No. 1 LRT system in Monterrey runs sleek-looking cars on lines that are fully underground or elevated, not on the road like some lowly streetcar.

And for those wary of that morning crush, stay tuned for longer, four-car trains. In 2014.

Link to rest of article

The C-Train turns 30 on May 25th, 2011

[frinkprof]

^To accompany the above article, here is a Calgary Herald video of Mayor Nenshi speaking about the future of the C-Train, with emphasis on the north-central line and airport service:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/videos/...GSanHiQRZZtXUT

[RW99]

Does Southland station have a pedestrian overpass at the south side of the station that goes both West and East towards Superstore? I was on a packed train one day going down there and barely noticed something. There's a house I'm thinking of renting in the area and being able to walk over to the C-Train and Superstore would be nice

[frinkprof]

^Not sure what you mean by "both west and east" since I can't think of a one-directional pedestrian overpass.

However, there isn't currently one, but I keep hearing that one is planned/soon-to-be-built. Southland Station is next on deck for being extended to 4-car capacity, and I think the pedestrian overpass was included in the tender for the project. I think it was You Need A Thneed that posted that he had seen the tender so maybe he could chime in on that.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

^Not sure what you mean by "both west and east" since I can't think of a one-directional pedestrian overpass.

However, there isn't currently one, but I keep hearing that one is planned/soon-to-be-built. Southland Station is next on deck for being extended to 4-car capacity, and I think the pedestrian overpass was included in the tender for the project. I think it was You Need A Thneed that posted that he had seen the tender so maybe he could chime in on that.

Just to clarify, by "both west and east" I think he meant one overpass taking you to the MacLoad side, with another overpass taking you to the residential side.