Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Wormius

An East-West path between future Blue and Green line end-points along Airport Trail could hit the airport.

It's almost like there is a long term plan...



https://www.calgarytransit.com/conte...gic-plans.html

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Wormius

An East-West path between future Blue and Green line end-points along Airport Trail could hit the airport.

There's been recent studies done on this exact idea. I've even seen a conceptual rendering of the connector station.

[TorqueDog]

"Proposed BRT" blech. I hate BRT so much.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

"Proposed BRT" blech. I hate BRT so much.

I think those are in service now, at least the North crosstown is, I think it's the Orange line? Not a lot of options for some routes, and it is a cheap solution to fill in the system gaps. They should call it an Express Bus though, the BRT name should be reserved for fully dedicated lanes.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I think those are in service now, at least the North crosstown is, I think it's the Orange line? Not a lot of options for some routes, and it is a cheap solution to fill in the system gaps. They should call it an Express Bus though, the BRT name should be reserved for fully dedicated lanes.

Don't they call those routes MAX here in Calgary?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Wormius

An East-West path between future Blue and Green line end-points along Airport Trail could hit the airport.

In Vancouver last weekend - it was so easy to take the Canada Line from the airport to downtown. What a concept!

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by troutman

In Vancouver last weekend - it was so easy to take the Canada Line from the airport to downtown. What a concept!

I used the Canada line for the first time a few weeks ago and it was truly amazing. We stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront and being able to hop on the train and pay $4 or $5 for a ride to the airport in under 30 minutes was really eye-opening. The only other airport/city that I've experienced better access at was ICN/downtown Soeul.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I used the Canada line for the first time a few weeks ago and it was truly amazing. We stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront and being able to hop on the train and pay $4 or $5 for a ride to the airport in under 30 minutes was really eye-opening. The only other airport/city that I've experienced better access at was ICN/downtown Soeul.

BART in San Francisco isn't terrible either.

[GirlySports]

That's why the north line should go to the airport, it's good for tourists.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I used the Canada line for the first time a few weeks ago and it was truly amazing. We stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront and being able to hop on the train and pay $4 or $5 for a ride to the airport in under 30 minutes was really eye-opening. The only other airport/city that I've experienced better access at was ICN/downtown Soeul.

Originally Posted by DoubleK

BART in San Francisco isn't terrible either.

SFO wouldn’t be bad if it weren’t so clunky to use.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Muta

Have we not learned our lessons from 7th Avenue, the LRT stretch from downtown to the south side of Cemetery Hill, and the stretch from Westbrook Station to 45th St. Station? These are all projects that should have been completely tunneled to open up proper TOD infrastructure development on the surface. Now, we get to wonder 'what if', and now have to consider spending even more money to rectify these problems because we couldn't properly plan for future growth and density. There was already discussion about tunneling 7th and the Stampede Station-Erlton stretch, and now we can't because it's simply too much now.

The downtown portion of the Green Line should be tunneled as much as possible, and this shouldn't even be up for debate. Do this project PROPERLY from the start, spend the money, and you'll be completely thanking yourself later. We are a cold-climate city and underground rail is essential for year-round usage, and we dually need the space at-grade for other transporation connections.

Value engineering is NOT what we should be doing here for this project. We ALWAYS, ALWAYS fall for this and then continually ask ourselves later 'why did we do that...'.

I’d argue the lesson learned was value engineering to build more track of increases ridership and future investment as a result of demand more than spending the same money on a more future proofed system.

The LRT ridership numbers per capita are competitive world wide when comparing similar sized Centers. Calgarys historical lrt decisions have been pretty good. I’d question going west before North but it fits the concept of build what you can with money available.

[Fuzz]

Know what is fun? Team-building paintball afternoons, like the one Smith organized for her UCP caucus days after becoming premier.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...641581?cmp=rss

I find it kind of amusing one of the first things Smith does with her new "team" is to have them go shoot each other.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...641581?cmp=rss

I find it kind of amusing one of the first things Smith does with her new "team" is to have them go shoot each other.

I can’t ####ing stand Smith, but I don’t see the big deal in picking paintball as a team builder

[Roughneck]

What kind of mask mandate did the paintball place have, I wonder?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...641581?cmp=rss

I find it kind of amusing one of the first things Smith does with her new "team" is to have them go shoot each other.

Exactly, Team Building? It should have been a fundraiser.

I'm sure there are people in this Province who would pay real money to chase UCPers down and shoot at them.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Locke

Exactly, Team Building? It should have been a fundraiser.

I'm sure there are people in this Province who would pay real money to chase UCPers down and shoot at them.

I'm too far and old to run. I'll pay for an execution style, shooting gallery setup.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

That's why the north line should go to the airport, it's good for tourists.

How many tourists arriving at YYC have DT as their destination? Business travellers are not going to use transit either. And unless the service runs 24/7 it’s useless for airport workers. Push the green line North but I’m not sure I’m sold on an airport connection.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

How many tourists arriving at YYC have DT as their destination? Business travellers are not going to use transit either. And unless the service runs 24/7 it’s useless for airport workers. Push the green line North but I’m not sure I’m sold on an airport connection.

YYC to downtown on LRT, downtown to Banff on the new rail line. Ridership would be huge.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

How many tourists arriving at YYC have DT as their destination? Business travellers are not going to use transit either. And unless the service runs 24/7 it’s useless for airport workers. Push the green line North but I’m not sure I’m sold on an airport connection.

Airport connections have a big benefit for workers at the airport

As far as passengers go in North America 5-15% of passenger trips take transit typically with rail connections. Vancouver is at 21% leading in North America.

Vancouver also has poor road infrastructure so the fastest way to go downtown to airport is the train whereas in Calgary in almost all scenarios car/taxi will still beat train.

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

YYC to downtown on LRT, downtown to Banff on the new rail line. Ridership would be huge.

The rail line already has a proposal to go downtown with or without LRT. It'd probably be faster for travellers too because you wouldn't have as many stops.

Just another example of why we need a government that stops fighting yesterday's conservative causes and instead looks to the future.