New Calgary transit fees.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I keep hearing on the news that it's to make sure parking is available; what they didn't say was if they did a survey to see how many of the vehicles have out of town plates on them. My guess is a significant percentage of the cars parked there are from out of town.

Over the yerars i've known a lot of Calgarians that park in these lots because the feeder bus service is so crappy. One friend said that the wait for the bus when he gets off the train is so long that he found he would be home, if he drove, by the time that bus arrived. The situation is made worse when you have to wait in the bitterly cold to catch that feeder bus.

[calgaryrocks]

Originally Posted by Dion

Over the yerars i've known a lot of Calgarians that park in these lots because the feeder bus service is so crappy. One friend said that the wait for the bus when he gets off the train is so long that he found he would be home, if he drove, by the time that bus arrived. The situation is made worse when you have to wait in the bitterly cold to catch that feeder bus.

absolutley, if you dont get to your station (going either way) during rush hour, the bus service is somewhere between 30min to an hour, waiting for a bus for 25 min when its minus 20 sucks! not many people take the bus to a station, understandably, but maybe its because the bus system is so inconsistent that people dont take the bus, not because there aren't people who could. ive had some days waiting for the bus, where you show up 10 min before the bus is supposed to arrive, and 10 min after it was supposed to arrive...its still not there!
im not sure what the fix is, but maybe a gps system or something so we can actually tell how far away a bus is. i know its a different place but i was in Hong kong for 2 weeks and took transit everywhere, it was always on time. everyday, within 2 minutes.
but maybe thats too much to expect.
the park and ride pay system will raise the city some serious money, but it will annoy people in the nieghbourhoods and malls nearby when everyone just parks there (south center, south fish creek rec center)

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by calgaryrocks

absolutley, if you dont get to your station (going either way) during rush hour, the bus service is somewhere between 30min to an hour, waiting for a bus for 25 min when its minus 20 sucks! not many people take the bus to a station, understandably, but maybe its because the bus system is so inconsistent that people dont take the bus, not because there aren't people who could. ive had some days waiting for the bus, where you show up 10 min before the bus is supposed to arrive, and 10 min after it was supposed to arrive...its still not there!
im not sure what the fix is, but maybe a gps system or something so we can actually tell how far away a bus is. i know its a different place but i was in Hong kong for 2 weeks and took transit everywhere, it was always on time. everyday, within 2 minutes.
but maybe thats too much to expect.
the park and ride pay system will raise the city some serious money, but it will annoy people in the nieghbourhoods and malls nearby when everyone just parks there (south center, south fish creek rec center)

Bus service is (obviously) worse when the weather is bad.

There are going to be a lot of people who say "I'll just take the bus to the station" when the weather is good and say "I'm not standing out there for 20 minutes in the dark after work, I'll pay the three bucks".

So on the worst days the bus service will be terrible, the roads will have added traffic and the lots will be full when people get there. It'll be a lot of fun when cars are pulling off Macleod Trail into a lot that says "FULL".

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Anyone know of a station that has open spots at say 8am-9am?

.

I get to Whitehorn around 8am and it is usually less then half full. But before the Westwinds opened, this would be packed and people were parking on residential streets. This will happen again once Westwinds starts charging for parking

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I don't think that is a fair arguement Joborule. In fact they have been free for ~25 years; now it's more than the cost of a fare. So the cost of taking the train to work will instantly go up by 60%.

I keep hearing on the news that it's to make sure parking is available; what they didn't say was if they did a survey to see how many of the vehicles have out of town plates on them. My guess is a significant percentage of the cars parked there are from out of town.

I'm not sure if I said this earlier in the thread, but they could have done this in 2 parts- $3 per day for parking, and city of Calgary taxpayers can by a yearly pass for $25. Then have parking authority patrol the lots and check for out of town plates using a person's pass. (To avoid people in Okotoks getting a buddy in Calgary to get a pass for them.)

You mean like Saskatchewan?!?

I'm pretty sure the folks in Okotoks have the same plates as the guys in Calgary (unless you want to start pulling plate numbers)

[ken0042]

Yes, pulling plate numbers would be how you would determine if somebody is from out of town.

Calgary parking authority already does this- so it's not like they would be doing anything different.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by calgaryrocks

absolutley, if you dont get to your station (going either way) during rush hour, the bus service is somewhere between 30min to an hour, waiting for a bus for 25 min when its minus 20 sucks! not many people take the bus to a station, understandably, but maybe its because the bus system is so inconsistent that people dont take the bus, not because there aren't people who could. ive had some days waiting for the bus, where you show up 10 min before the bus is supposed to arrive, and 10 min after it was supposed to arrive...its still not there!
im not sure what the fix is, but maybe a gps system or something so we can actually tell how far away a bus is. i know its a different place but i was in Hong kong for 2 weeks and took transit everywhere, it was always on time. everyday, within 2 minutes.
but maybe thats too much to expect.
the park and ride pay system will raise the city some serious money, but it will annoy people in the nieghbourhoods and malls nearby when everyone just parks there (south center, south fish creek rec center)

I've been taking the bus to the train station for the past couple months now. It's been nothing but consistent. Even in bad weather it's been good. Perhaps it's different where you live, but the bus being inconsistent is not an excuse where I am.

[Russic]

I take the bus to the train everyday and it's great for me. Sure there are days when I'm delayed 15-20 minutes, but no more often than if I were driving. That being said I am in a really good location for it (2 buses that go to the station stop by me). It's extra noticeable now because of all the cold snaps and snow we've had over the past few months. Once the snow leaves the system becomes more predictable (not Japanese predictable, but predictable).

[tvp2003]

Bump.

Just curious how parking has been affected by the new fees -- all of the C-Train stations are now charging for parking, and the last of the Park & Ride lots (that will be charging) will begin next Monday.

Any reductions in parking at the stations? Any increases in neighborhood street parking nearby? Any noticeable increases in parking/traffic from people avoiding transit (i.e. downtown)? Any increases in cleanliness and/or security?

Also, are CP'ers paying the fee? How is it being enforced? Anyone reversing into stalls?

[Bill Bumface]

Brentwood never fills up anymore and it used to be full by 7:30-8ish.

There is definitely more security. I pay the fee and love that I can park several kilometers closer to home now. It's probably pretty much a wash for me in saved gas.

People that back in are doing such a good job of protesting the system

Making it take longer to check the lots will surely help with the $3 going to the labor for the guy to get out and look at your plate instead of putting it to security/repairs

[Peanut]

It blows my mind that people complain about a transit pass for $80/month and $3/day parking when parking downtown is $30/day?!?! I guess it's cheaper if you go on a monthly pass, but in my building (underground & heated) it's over $500/month now. Plus you use extra gas to get downtown and back vs. parking at a c-train station close to your 'burb.

Depends where you work I guess (if you don't work downtown then yeah, it's crappy they are charging for parking now), but it doesn't make sense to me that people who work downtown could complain about this. Still gotta be saving >$300/month by taking transit vs driving.

Edit: Oh yeah, and your transit passes are also a tax deduction so... more transit $$ savings through that.

[Envitro]

Well, my wife and I basically are rebelling now.

I parked at West Side and our vehicle got towed out of what I thought was overflow parking of the Park & Ride. I guess it wasn't and I didn't even get a ticket; my vehicle got towed right away.

So, we figured it out that it costs us $90 x 2 for our bus passes, plus $60 / month on average for Park & Ride now, that's $240 / month. I signed a parking agreement today for secured, underground heated parking for $250/month downtown and now I can drive in every day instead of driving to the park & ride, hoping to catch the right bus then toil on there for 20-30 minutes every morning and afternoon.

The City is ######ed. This is no way to increase ridership and they're just pissing us loyal CT customers off to the point that we're not going to use Transit at all.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Envitro

Well, my wife and I basically are rebelling now.

I parked at West Side and our vehicle got towed out of what I thought was overflow parking of the Park & Ride. I guess it wasn't and I didn't even get a ticket; my vehicle got towed right away.

So, we figured it out that it costs us $90 x 2 for our bus passes, plus $60 / month on average for Park & Ride now, that's $240 / month. I signed a parking agreement today for secured, underground heated parking for $250/month downtown and now I can drive in every day instead of driving to the park & ride, hoping to catch the right bus then toil on there for 20-30 minutes every morning and afternoon.

The City is ######ed. This is no way to increase ridership and they're just pissing us loyal CT customers off to the point that we're not going to use Transit at all.

That is a good deal!! Our building just went up from $275ish to $500+/month this year. Ouch. I guess the numbers also do start to look better for driving when you're carpooling.

[habernac]

I can see the southland Ctrain parking lot from my office and it's now half full. Before they charged, it was full by 8am.

[tvp2003]

Interesting. With lots at less than capacity, are these extra cars just staying at home? Or finding their way into side streets and neighboring parking lots (as was initially feared)? Parking fees where I live (North Central) don't kick in until next week, so I'm curious what is happening elsewhere.

Oh, and I hope City Council/CT budgeted for "less than full" capacity... otherwise, all of that lost revenue must be hurting that so called maintenance and security budget (which was such a big issue when they got rid of evening/weekend fees)

[The Goon]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Interesting. With lots at less than capacity, are these extra cars just staying at home? Or finding their way into side streets and neighboring parking lots (as was initially feared)? Parking fees where I live (North Central) don't kick in until next week, so I'm curious what is happening elsewhere.

Last week in our neighbourhood near Westside Rec we noticed some bright orange "Resident Parking Only" signs. I wondered what the heck that was about until I went to work out at Westside Rec and saw that parking will be $3.00 starting today. I will have to check if there's any new vehicles on our street.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Envitro

Well, my wife and I basically are rebelling now.

I parked at West Side and our vehicle got towed out of what I thought was overflow parking of the Park & Ride. I guess it wasn't and I didn't even get a ticket; my vehicle got towed right away.

So, we figured it out that it costs us $90 x 2 for our bus passes, plus $60 / month on average for Park & Ride now, that's $240 / month. I signed a parking agreement today for secured, underground heated parking for $250/month downtown and now I can drive in every day instead of driving to the park & ride, hoping to catch the right bus then toil on there for 20-30 minutes every morning and afternoon.

The City is ######ed. This is no way to increase ridership and they're just pissing us loyal CT customers off to the point that we're not going to use Transit at all.

You forgot to factor in the cost of gas and the wear and tear on your vehicle driving to and from work. That said i'd send an email to your alderman and let them know the reasons why you are now chosing to drive to work.

[albertGQ]

I'm not paying the $3 parking fee, but I'm definately validating my ticket more often now that there are more peace officers checking tickets. So they are making money off me, just not from parking

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Interesting. With lots at less than capacity, are these extra cars just staying at home? Or finding their way into side streets and neighboring parking lots (as was initially feared)? Parking fees where I live (North Central) don't kick in until next week, so I'm curious what is happening elsewhere.

Oh, and I hope City Council/CT budgeted for "less than full" capacity... otherwise, all of that lost revenue must be hurting that so called maintenance and security budget (which was such a big issue when they got rid of evening/weekend fees)

From what I've heard, there is a large increase in street parking at the southern stations. CT's greed just inconvenienced thousands of home owners who have nothing at all to do with the issue.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

From what I've heard, there is a large increase in street parking at the southern stations. CT's greed just inconvenienced thousands of home owners who have nothing at all to do with the issue.

Really, you think it's CT "greed"?? I studied Transportation Eng during university, and from what I can tell, public transit is never a money-making venture. It's always subsidized by other tax income/revenue areas in municipalities. I think they've built around 10 new stations (if you include all legs - S, NW and NE and also the new downtown stations) since the late 90's/early 2000's, and bought a ton of new LRT cars and I think new buses as well. These things aren't free. Plus they've now also started work on the West LRT leg at an estimated cost of over $1 billion by the time it's all said and done I think?? (I could research the exact numbers but I'm sure they're available somewhere on the calgary.ca website).

You could argue it's the City's own damn fault that they allowed so much sprawling development that they cannot keep up with their expanding transit needs, but that's probably another discussion for another time. Also the Mayor uses new transit stations and new LRT cars as an election/popularity tool. Anyways, we are each entitled to our own opinions but I personally would not call CT greedy. Bronco, yes. CT, no.

Edit to add: as for the homeowner inconvenience, I feel for them. But the same thing happens in inner city neighbourhoods with random people driving in from further out, parking, then taking a short bus ride downtown or walking (I used to live in Mt Pleasant and saw it all the time there). Also there is a reason communities surrounding SAIT, U of C, etc all have parking restrictions - to stop students from parking for free a little further away and just walking to school. Also, around the Saddledome during Flames games, Stampede, around McMahon during Stamps game, etc etc. It happens all over the city for a variety of reasons - people park in communities to avoid paying parking fees. Maybe the people taking transit and trying to avoid the $3 parking fee are the greedy ones and should stop inconveniencing the homeowners.