Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by boogerz

Thank f***** god Southland reopens in a week. That closure is ridiculous.

Between the Heritage-Southland shuttle that comes every half an hour, and the lack of a Southland-Anderson shuttle, it's incredibly inconvenient for carless people whose main station is Southland.

Transit sucks

Yeah I bet it has been a pain.

Chinook will probably be worse for a lot more people though, due to it being a higher traffic station with quite a few busy bus routes stopping there.

[HeartsOfFire]

Heads will roll at Calgary Transit if Chinook station has to be closed for its 4-car upgrade.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

Heads will roll at Calgary Transit if Chinook station has to be closed for its 4-car upgrade.

No they will not. If it shuts down, it will be a necessary measure in order to complete the work required to deliver an infrastructure improvement that has been funded and promised to Calgarians. It would absolutely cause varying degrees of inconvenience to lots of people over the course of a few weeks, but it wouldn't be happening if it weren't necessary to allow for an improvement that, on balance, will provide a greater future convenience to most of those people.

On that note, the south LRT line is closed between Heritage and Anderson this weekend as a part of the Southland work. My guess is it is to work on signals that have to be moved to the new end of the platform. There will be shuttles running between Anderson and Heritage stations.

[ken0042]

Would some kind of temporary platform be put into place while Chinook is being done? Like maybe just south of the station? Or would that be too costly?

Of course- I'm also assuming there is room between the LRT and CP tracks.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Would some kind of temporary platform be put into place while Chinook is being done? Like maybe just south of the station? Or would that be too costly?

Of course- I'm also assuming there is room between the LRT and CP tracks.

It wouldn't be between the LRT and CP tracks, but between the LRT tracks and the CP right of way, since there's no way from both a legal and practical sense to infringe on the CP right of way, even if only for a few weeks, without CP being willing to reducing their operations along the line and jumping through the hoops to do so, which they wouldn't. Either that or somehow put it on the west side of the LRT tracks.

Honestly I don't think it would be possible to erect any sort of temporary platform that would be safe enough for lots of people to use and access for a few weeks. There are a couple of small, thin metal platforms along the system that operators use to switch directions of travel. There's one just south of the Haysboro storage facility in the middle of the tracks, you can see it if you know what you're looking for as you speed by on the train. Trains come out of storage southbound, they stop at the little platform, and there is an operator waiting there, he gets on the north end of the consist, and then it heads into service northbound. Anyway, something like that platform would be easy enough to set up, but it just wouldn't be safe to use for large numbers of the general public.

Maybe if the closure were going to be 6 months or something, and that was going to be happening at most stations, they could justify building something a little more robust, then transfer it between the various stations as they close for work. But there's only a couple or three stations needing closures of a few weeks.

[HeartsOfFire]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

On that note, the south LRT line is closed between Heritage and Anderson this weekend as a part of the Southland work. My guess is it is to work on signals that have to be moved to the new end of the platform. There will be shuttles running between Anderson and Heritage stations.

My guess is because the Southland upgrade is falling behind schedule due to inclement weather and the hassle it is to get off the tracks every time a train goes by in either direction.

Of course, it could also be the pedestrian bridge is getting in their way. That thing is closed too, and it's not even expected to re-open until mid end of June.

Either way, a clusterfata.

Personally, I fail to see why a station outside of downtown would need to be completely and utterly closed down to facilitate the construction of a 4-car upgrade. Why can't the just cut off the existing handicap access ramp and rebuild another full car length section of concrete in place and add the handicap ramp back on later?

This, to me, makes the most sense and reduces the inconvenience for Transit customers. It was what I believed the original plan to be, I just figured they ran into difficulties due to the pedestrian bridge.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

Why can't the just cut off the existing handicap access ramp and rebuild another full car length section of concrete in place and add the handicap ramp back on later?

This, to me, makes the most sense and reduces the inconvenience for Transit customers. It was what I believed the original plan to be, I just figured they ran into difficulties due to the pedestrian bridge.

I agree with this. Of course, that's without knowing why this idea was rejected to begin with. Because I think it's reasonable to assume that someone at CT thought of this, but it was rejected.

This leads me to another thought: whose idea was it to make those ugly, over the tracks stations to begin with? I can think of a dozen reasons why they're ridiculous, starting with cost, moving on to lack of handicap access, and ending with sheer ugliness. Seriously, why weren't the platforms built as nice, simple open ended platforms to begin with? If they were, extending them would be as simple as closing one end of the platform, and extending it.

[HeartsOfFire]

When you say 'over the tracks' stations, are you referring to ones like every station in the Northeast? Or are you talking about stations like 39th avenue?

[4X4]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

When you say 'over the tracks' stations, are you referring to ones like every station in the Northeast? Or are you talking about stations like 39th avenue?

Anderson, Southland, Heritage, Chinook... The ones that have you go upstairs and then downstairs to clear the tracks. Just seems like a whole lot of extra construction for no reason at all.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Anderson, Southland, Heritage, Chinook... The ones that have you go upstairs and then downstairs to clear the tracks. Just seems like a whole lot of extra construction for no reason at all.

I think that the argument is that if you give people the opportunity to walk in front of a train, someone will take it. Personally, I have always thought that the lights and bells were enough, and those stations (Banff Trail, Lions Park 39th Avenue, etc.) must be substantially cheaper than building stairs, elevators, and bridges.

[HeartsOfFire]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Anderson, Southland, Heritage, Chinook... The ones that have you go upstairs and then downstairs to clear the tracks. Just seems like a whole lot of extra construction for no reason at all.

It SEEMS like a whole lot of extra construction... until it's -30 degrees C outside with a strong north wind blowing you in the face, and a voice over the PA announces there's a 15 minute extra delay due to 'mechanical problems.' Then you're fataing glad they built them like that.

The stations are old. Older than the ones in the Northeast, I'm sure. The ones in the Northeast have elevators built in for handicap access, whereas the ones in the South from Stampede to Southland do not. It's like handicap access was an afterthought there.

[getbak]

The first generation of C-Trains weren't wheelchair accessible and neither were their stations. Accessibility on the south leg looks like it was an afterthought because it was.

The access ramps that exist were built sometime in the mid-90s. Prior to that, the only way to access the station platform was through the station buildings.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

It SEEMS like a whole lot of extra construction... until it's -30 degrees C outside with a strong north wind blowing you in the face, and a voice over the PA announces there's a 15 minute extra delay due to 'mechanical problems.' Then you're fataing glad they built them like that.

For the most part, it seems like the stations are designed to help you keep warm, but not too warm. They don't want to attract loiterers.

[Barnes]

And they used to have stores in them. Those were the days.

[stampsx2]

Is Chinnok still going to build that +15 pathway from the LRT to the mall or is that off the table?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I think that the argument is that if you give people the opportunity to walk in front of a train, someone will take it. Personally, I have always thought that the lights and bells were enough, and those stations (Banff Trail, Lions Park 39th Avenue, etc.) must be substantially cheaper than building stairs, elevators, and bridges.

Exactly, that is one of many reasons why they're back to at-level access for all the at-grade stations on the WestLRT.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Is Chinnok still going to build that +15 pathway from the LRT to the mall or is that off the table?

It won't be a part of this project (4 car platform extensions), but it is still in plans. It's more a part of future planned transit-oriented development. The Station Area Plan calls for it to be paid for by Chinook Centre, the City, and through development levies in the Chinook TOD. It also won't go all the way to the station, just from Chinook Centre over MacLeod Trail.

For those who weren't aware of this, here's a couple concept renderings of the bridge.





From the Chinook SAP: http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/...ooksap_one.pdf

[stampsx2]

^^^ How do you find all this information???

[CrusaderPi]

He's Calgary Transit Jesus. You shall not question it.

[You Need a Thneed]

West LRT
Bus Route Planning
Public Information Sessions

For residents west of Sarcee Trail:
• Wednesday, 2011 June 1 from 5:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Strathcona Community Association 277 Strathcona Dr. S.W. (Upstairs Loft)

For residents east of Sarcee Trail:
• Thursday, 2011 June 9 from 5:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Glenbrook Community Association 3524 - 45 St. S.W. (Main Hall)

For Beltline Residents:
• Thursday, June 16,11 from 5:00-8:30 p.m.
South Calgary Community Association 3130 - 16 St. S.W. (Main Hall)

For Lakeview Residents:
• Thursday, 2011 June 23 from 5:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Lakeview Community Association 6110 – 34 St SW (Main Hall)

Transit staff will be available to answer questions. If you cannot come to the open house, visit www.calgarytransit.com to review the information and to provide comments.