Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[GirlySports]

Any word on when trains will run, i can't get onto the calgary transit site.
I'd like to catch one at around 2:30.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Trains running now.

Though I have completed confidence in someone getting ran over and the whole thing shutting down again sometime soon.

[ken0042]

Watching a single train car slowly go back and forth along the same stretch of track just south of the river along 9th street. It doesn't look good for full service being available by 4:00.

Glad I drove today.

[Rathji]

Looks like I am going to use some flex time and get out of DT before any insanity hits.

[GirlySports]

I ended up using the shuttle service at 2:30

[Regular_John]

Here's hoping this evening's commute is easier than this morning's:

@calgarytransit
Calgary Transit
Train Service has resumed PLEASE NOTE:3St W station still closed(due to debris from yesterday)/Shuttles will continue to pick up passengers
1 minute ago via HootSuite Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

[frinkprof]

Yup. Looks like downtown train service resumed just before 4 PM. Not sure what the wrinkles in the schedule have done to frequency, nor how much pent up demand needs to be alleviated for the rest of the rush.

Interesting day anyway.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Rough day for Calgary transit. The back up for the commute home was interesting to say the least.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by Super_Jason

At least they wouldn't have to walk too far to catch public transit!

Yeah, and you can forget about sleeping. Do you know how loud those c-train crossing bells are? I could hear them at my place at night and I lived a half kilometer away.

[NSFL]

Just wondering if someone could explain reserved park and ride spots to me. I was just a little curious. I rarely use park and ride and it's probably been a couple years since the last time. Who are they reserved for? Do they pay? Thanks!

[TurnedTheCorner]

People pay a monthly fee for a reserved spot. This doesn't guarantee the same parking spot every day, or even a parking spot. It allows you to park in the reserved zones before 10 AM. I believe they open up for all parking after 10 AM.

[frinkprof]

Starting on 2011 December 9, new bus-only lanes will be introduced in Inglewood on 9 Avenue between 8 Street and 15 Street S.E.



9 Avenue SE is a key connection to the east side of the city and it will see increased bus service along the corridor in the coming years. With much feedback from the communities during the recent Transportation Planning Study on 17 Avenue and Inglewood, there was a recommendation to have peak period, peak direction bus-only lanes along 9 Avenue.



This was approved by Council, and we are now proceeding with implementing the bus-only lanes.



Each weekday, 9 Avenue S.E. carries eight bus routes including the 301and 302 BRT routes, carrying about 6,500 passengers at a rate of approximately 25 buses per hour during peak periods.






The design of the bus lanes follows the Council approved 17 Avenue S.E. Transportation Planning Study, Part B: Inglewood.





Source: S.E. 17 Avenue Project – Inglewood 2nd Open House Boards:
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...venue-S.E.aspx


For the morning peak hours, the west-bound curb lane will be a bus-only lane.
During the afternoon peak hours, the east-bound curb lane will be a bus-only lane.



The new bus-only lanes will improve transit trips for the buses servicing the area, while increasing connectivity and transportation choices for Calgarians.

Cyclists are welcome to use the bus lane. Motorists are allowed to enter the bus lane in order to access driveways and alleys and to turn right at the next intersection.


There will be no changes to parking.



Traffic signal timing modifications are planned along 9 Avenue to improve the flow for motorists.

Link for more information


Related:


SE 17 Corridor Plan


Possibly coming next:


Bus-only bridge (busway) over Deerfoot Trail and Bow River connecting 9th Avenue in Inglewood with International Avenue (17th Avenue SE).

[Bill Bumface]

That seems like a fantastic idea. For areas with tight ROW like that I think combined bus/bike lanes are perfect and get excellent usage out of the asphalt they are taking up. Making trips faster for cyclists and transit users is the right approach to encourage people to leave their cars at home. Artificially putting parking rates through the roof downtown does work, but this seems like a more sound strategy.

[frinkprof]

Winter Service Revisions information is up. Changes take effect December 26th.

Nothing really remarkable overall. No new routes, no deleted routes, and not really much service added. Looks to just be a few scheduling changes, some to help schedule adherance. 19 routes affected.

http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/w...ions_2011.html

[frinkprof]

From Ald. Shane Keating's blog regarding the SE Transitway.

The City of Calgary is planning to hold three Public Information Sessions from January 24 – 26. These sessions will include a series of information boards/panels that citizens can read and study, and then have opportunity to ask questions or make comments to the various project team members in attendance.


The feedback that the City receives will be incorporated into the study's reports.


Here are the confirmed dates, times and locations for these public sessions.


January 24, 2012
Riverbend Community Hall
19 Rivervalley Drive SE
4 – 8 pm

January 25, 2012
Ramsay Community Hall
1136 – 8 Street SE
4 – 8 pm

January 26, 2012
McKenzie Towne Hall
40 McKenzie Towne Blvd SE
4 – 8 pm

http://shanekeating.blogspot.com/201...dy-public.html

[frinkprof]

Imagining the future of transit



Policy-makers get creative on moving people



By Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald December 20, 2011


Imagine hopping aboard a train in Airdrie to get to work in Calgary. How about a trip for milk by streetcar? Or maybe avoid traffic altogether with a gondola ride to university.


For the past few days of Project Calgary, the Herald has looked at the state of public transportation in the city. But observers also cast an eye to what the future could hold.


Nobody is talking Disneyland-style monorails, but some of the ideas may strike Calgarians as fanciful. Others may sound surprisingly familiar and - possibly - within reach.

[...]

"I'd really like to see the discussion start to evolve about a GO Train for Calgary to help with some of those mass . . . transit issues, especially during those rush-hour times," says Griffiths, who is MLA for Battle River-Wainwright. "What excites me the most about projects like that is when multiple partners come together understanding the solution is all of their responsibility."
Griffiths isn't the only one with an eye on commuter rail.


The Calgary Regional Partnership has a transit plan that includes a long-term goal of rail transit links (commuter rail or LRT) to Airdrie, Chestermere, Cochrane, Okotoks and High River.


"We're probably still a ways away from being at the capacity levels to warrant introducing a (commuter rail) system like that," says Truper McBride, Cochrane's mayor

and chair of the regional partnership.


But the region is working to establish a transit market using commuter buses. An Airdrie service connecting with Calgary is already in operation and others will follow.

[...]

There are other transit ideas out there, too. Although it might seem strange to look back to a commuter train started in 1967, Canada's centenary year, for a discussion about the future of public transportation, this next suggestion dips even further back in the history books.


That's right, streetcars.


It's an idea that keeps bubbling back up in Calgary, decades after the last one was shut down.

[...]

Some believe the city should explore a return of the streetcars in pockets of the city.
Noel Keough, an assistant professor of sustainable design at the University of Calgary, says streetcars could be a way to intensify service in some areas of the city and create neighbourhoods with excellent transit.


Streetcars are less expensive than LRT, more comfortable than a bus, they are efficient and a proven magnet for business investment, Keough says. In fact, a number of North American cities are exploring a return of streetcars.


"It's not just a commuter system, it's a daily use kind of system, so you have more hop-on, hop-off," Keough says, suggesting the old Beltline loop running to the downtown as one possible route.


There may even be an opportunity to put them in new communities where there are significant jobs, services and housing, he says.


Ald. Brian Pincott also likes the idea of streetcars. "We had better open up our eyes to a whole bunch of different transit options."

[...]

It may sound fanciful, but gondolas are being put to good use in some of South America's megacities.


Rio de Janeiro's gondola opened this year. In Caracas, a Metrocable connects 15,000 people from the slums to the Venezuelan city's metro system.


"I don't know that there's a lot of stuff in heavy use right now, but there's a lot of stuff being contemplated in that field," Nenshi says.

[...]

Link to full article

[SebC]

I hope regional transit doesn't come at the expense of city transit, where I'm pretty sure we get more bang for the buck.

Those pods are really cool. They solve the problem Calgary has of infrequent, inefficient routes supressing off-peak ridership.

Fixed link:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Imagining+future+transit/5885951/story.html#ixzz1hFTy5SqQ

[littlereddevil]

It bothers me how after midnight today, there are almost no busses running. The train is still running, but I live on the west end of the city, so I'm confined to bussing home. Add in the fact that it's going to be impossible to get a cab tonight, and looks like I'll have to cancel my New Year's Eve plans this year.

[GirlySports]

$94 bus pass

[You Need a Thneed]

Also, as of today, no discount for buying books of 10 tickets.