WestLRT Construction Transgression thread

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Nope they're still around.

It's really just the Bow Trail ones they are being turfed.

101, 104, 179 mostly.

301 is being turfed as well.

The only bus option left for downtown service is the 70. If you normally go down Bow Trail.

[Freeway]

I get why they're doing this, but I would've kept one Bow Trail to downtown route, at least for the first few months.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

301 is being turfed as well.

I think it will probably just be shortened as is also the BRT route for North Central Calgary. If anything, maybe they could combine it with the SEBRT.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Dislike that 420 of the ~750 stalls @ 69St. Station will be reserved stalls. Sirocco surface lot will end up having similar # of un-reserved stalls, which is odd considering it's half the capacity of 69th.

That is my biggest beef. The city is slowly expanding the reserved parking making it very difficult to find parking. It is rather annoying when the lots are completely empty when I go by them. I almost preferred the 3 dollar parking, at least you could go to a nearby station and find parking.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Well the West LRT opened up today. Went, saw, rode. I wish i had a camera so i could take pictures but it was really nice. This should really help out a lot of Calgarians get around. Did any of you guys ride the train?

[stampsx2]

Really hoping someone will post some pictures soon. I'm guessing some of the sightlines would be incredible.

[Clarkey]

Originally Posted by Robbob

That is my biggest beef. The city is slowly expanding the reserved parking making it very difficult to find parking. It is rather annoying when the lots are completely empty when I go by them. I almost preferred the 3 dollar parking, at least you could go to a nearby station and find parking.

Driving is immoral, must tax. Shark Fin soup bad, must bann.

[FurnaceFace]

Rode it, happened to get on the first train.

For the far westers 69th to the 10th street station was literally 12 minutes. I'd guess its probably another 10 to get through downtown to City Hall but the entire trip was fast. My friend who lives in Siena West said it was about 15 min or less walk to 69th. He's seriously considering giving up his downtown parking. Score one for the city.

For me, I'm inbetween the Westbrook and Shag stations but I work north of the university. Given how quick it is into downtown for me I'm considering taking the west line and then switch to the NW. I can drive to work in half the time the train would take but I have to get to work by 7 to get parking. This would open up options for me if I want to go in later. The 72 bus has always been an option but that takes well over 30 mins. The train is intriguing to me.

Regarding the view, the elevated part by Sunata has a great view of the downtown skyline. I expect to see some architecture pictures in the photo thread from the station.

[frinkprof]

I went but I didn't really take any photos.

[Joborule]

Rode it. So cool having the Westbrook and Sunalta stations in our system now.

[Muta]

Westbrook station was hella cold! Brrrrrrr.... they need some heaters in there, haha.

[Youzit]

Originally Posted by Addick

I think it will probably just be shortened as is also the BRT route for North Central Calgary. If anything, maybe they could combine it with the SEBRT.

That would be so awesome if they combine the SE BRT with the 301 coming from the north!!! Right now it is horrendous trying to get from the north to the deep SE....perchance to dream.....

[frinkprof]

SSP user "Ferreth" has some photos posted of the opening.

Originally Posted by Ferreth on SSP

Sunalta Platform in the Sky i7591 by ferreth, on Flickr


Sunalta South Entrance i7589 by ferreth, on Flickr


Sunalta Copper Inside i7592 by ferreth, on Flickr


Sunalta 15 Level i7588 by ferreth, on Flickr


Sunalta Platforms i7586 by ferreth, on Flickr


Sunalta Outbound view i7584 by ferreth, on Flickr


Westbrook Stairs to Outbound Platform 7599 by ferreth, on Flickr


Westbrook Platform i7594 by ferreth, on Flickr


69th St Station Platform LRT i7602 by ferreth, on Flickr

[frinkprof]

Some issues that will be brought up in the first week or so (aside from scheduling and operations hiccups, and general confusion):

1. Coach Hill bus issue.

2. Lack of pedestrian bridge from park & ride area at Sirocco Station

3. Traffic and walk/don't walk timing at 26th Street for Shaganappi Point Station access.

[GirlySports]

2 and 3 are definitely concerns that have to be ironed out.

I don't think the Coach Hill thing will be too bad. Sure there was a bus straight from Patterson to 9th Ave but it took 30 minutes on a good day. Any snow or black ice and that bus was dead.

The new 93 doesn't have to go down the hill, it cuts right across to 69th Street Station, hop on the train and zoom 15 minutes downtown, I think it'll be much better!

[Hockey_Ninja]

When exactly does the 101 get discontinued?

[frinkprof]

^Its last run will be tomorrow.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

2 and 3 are definitely concerns that have to be ironed out.

I don't think the Coach Hill thing will be too bad. Sure there was a bus straight from Patterson to 9th Ave but it took 30 minutes on a good day. Any snow or black ice and that bus was dead.

The new 93 doesn't have to go down the hill, it cuts right across to 69th Street Station, hop on the train and zoom 15 minutes downtown, I think it'll be much better!

I just think that it will be something that comes up and will get some media attention.

To be honest though, I think there's some legitimacy to the Coach Hill issue. The transfer at 69th Street will of course be far and away a better solution on snow days, but there's a whole lot of the year that isn't a snow day, and in those cases, there is certainly an argument for something else.

The issue revolves around this concept: the scale of the portion of the trip spent heading away from the direction of the destination (i.e. from Bow Trail to 69th Street Station) is comparable to the trip that would otherwise be traveled in the direction of the destination (downtown). Unlike the deep south, the far northeast and the far northwest, the west side communities that use feeder buses to the furthest-out west LRT stations are close to downtown. The feeder bus model model starts to break down once you get further from the station, which is the case for Coach Hill.

I think that if there is to be a change, it will be that a Coach Hill feeder bus will make its transfer at Westbrook Station instead. Therefore, once it gets out of the (terribly-and-embarrassingly-designed-and-located sprawl suburb - sorry had to take the shot) community, it will travel primarily in the direction toward the destination until it hits the higher-order level of transit - which is at Westbrook Station. Not that I think this will happen for sure of course - we'll have to see how the thing works in real life and what the trade-offs are.

[GirlySports]

But then on days the coach hill to westbrook bus can't get down the hill, people will whine some more.

People just like to whine.

[frinkprof]

^That's a significant element to this. So what if on snow days it skips the hill and goes to 69th Street, but on every other day (most of the year), it goes to Westbrook. Sounds good until you really confuse people on snow days and the route/schedule is looked at as unreliable and chaotic. What about when Bow Trail gets more congested approaching Sarcee Trail over the years (and it will), and the bus going to Westbrook is stuck in ever-increasing traffic and the trip to 69th Street starts to look better?