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Old 10-11-2010, 01:08 AM   #21
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Originally Posted by ken0042 View Post
What are you talking about? The LRT right of way is on the west side of 52nd. There's even a sign that has been there for years: link

Basically the sign says "We are running the LRT through here at some point, so no bitching when your green space here goes away."
Huh, that always looks so narrow from the road. I actually thought it was the city being smart and setting aside future space to make 52nd a 3-lane north/south corridor. Still, level crossings at McKenzie? Prestwick? (next to that school?) 130th? I wonder if people fully realize what they're getting. Ah well, that part's likely years away.
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Old 10-11-2010, 01:47 AM   #22
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The LRT needs ring routes. Not everybody wants to or should go through downtown.
Yeah, but the spokes are still the priority. The LRT doesn't exist by itself, you can fill the gaps to some degree with bus routes.
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Old 10-11-2010, 05:54 AM   #23
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IMO we need the 8th Ave Subway fast. Trains are full and 7th Ave is at capacity. I'd also like to see a connector to the airport, or perhaps even a branch.
Could you explain the 8th Ave subway a bit? This is the first I've heard about it.
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Old 10-11-2010, 06:55 AM   #24
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The lack of a really convenient public transportation system is one reason I think I just couldn't possibly move back to Calgary as it is now. The idea of needing to have a car to get around a city quickly and easily just seems like a massive inconvenience.

It looks by the map as though the transportation system is getting better in Calgary, but I definitely agree in looking at the plans that there should be a ring line in addition to all those spokes. It is ridiculous to route all traffic through a single part of the city.
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Old 10-11-2010, 07:46 AM   #25
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Could you explain the 8th Ave subway a bit? This is the first I've heard about it.
I'll just copy/paste an old post that covers this, as well as the route the future SE line will use downtown.

Underground LRT History

When the LRT was first planned in the early to mid 70s, having it run under 8th Avenue downtown was plan A, and the surface transit mall along 7th Avenue was plan B. When costs started to escalate in the later planning stages, 7th Avenue was chosen, but not before some facilities under City Hall (specifically, the shell of an underground station) had been constructed when the new City Hall was constructed.

In the years since, it was planned that eventually at least one of the LRT lines would have to move under 8th Avenue as 7th Avenue approached capacity. Every new building along 8th Avenue has had to take this into account, and every time there has been utility work in the area, they have moved as many utilities as possible to make way for the eventual 8th Avenue Subway. For example, there is a space in the lower levels of the Banker's Hall complex that is currently being used as an auditorium but is actually a placeholder for the tunnel and/or station.

Underground LRT Future

Fast forward to now. The 7th Avenue transit mall is at capacity and political will and public sentiment has been growing to finally build the 8th Avenue Subway. 2007 mayoral candidate Sandy Jenkins had it in his platform, and others mused about it. A budget was approved after the 2007 election for a preliminary engineering study that will recommend routes, station locations, alignment, platform lengths, construction methods and staging, timeframe, costing, etc.

Also being dealt with will be the SELRT downtown alignment, which will be in its own separate subway. This study is just getting underway now (as far as I understand anyway) and is supposed to be completed next year sometime.

Planning done to date points toward the 201 line (south and northwest legs) using the 8th Avenue Subway with 3 or 4 stations. The SE LRT will enter downtown from the east on 10th Avenue, go underground somewhere east of MacLeod Trail, travel under 10th Avenue to 2nd Street West, turn north, continue underground all the way to Eau Claire. Stations tentatively at 1st Street West, 7th/8th Ave., and Eau Claire.

The 202 line (northeast and west legs) would continue to use the existing 7th Ave. The recommendations in the study may change some of these elements but will probably resemble most of it. After that, it would need approval, to be made a priority, and the biggest hurdle, funding.

This also explains why the current work on 7th Avenue (replacing old stations) does not mean that underground LRT has been abandoned. The two projects are independent of each other.

Last edited by frinkprof; 10-11-2010 at 10:42 AM.
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Old 10-11-2010, 08:18 AM   #26
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Ok it is what i thought is was. I like and i don't like the idea. Getting off one train, having to walk a block to another station to catch a different train can get confusing to first time and/or out of town passengers.

I also think with all these different wings getting built they should change the names of the trains to simply be the direction of the city they head to. I haven't used the transit rail too much lately, but if I recall correctly the trains are simply called what the last stop is going to be. Since the last stop is always changing with expansion, keeping up to date on what train to take can get confusing for out of town and non-frequent passengers.
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Old 10-11-2010, 08:25 AM   #27
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Ok it is what i thought is was. I like and i don't like the idea. Getting off one train, having to walk a block to another station to catch a different train can get confusing to first time and/or out of town passengers.
The good news here is that, where the 8th Avenue Subway and the 2nd Street SE subway meet, there would be a transfer station that would connect both to the 7th Avene line. So you could walk that block underground and surface right at 7th Avenue. Also, north/south blocks downtown are considerably shorter than east/west blocks so the transferring between lines would be easy.

Might not cut down on confusion, but subway lines in other cities are often separated by a few blocks as well.

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I also think with all these different wings getting built they should change the names of the trains to simply be the direction of the city they head to. I haven't used the transit rail too much lately, but if I recall correctly the trains are simply called what the last stop is going to be. Since the last stop is always changing with expansion, keeping up to date on what train to take can get confusing for out of town and non-frequent passengers.
I agree. Something simple like numbers, letters, colours or just directions (south line, west line, northwest, etc.) would be much easier to navigate.
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Old 10-11-2010, 08:38 AM   #28
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Is North Central for the bullet train though?
Guess no one has answered this yet.

There will be a north central LRT line, in addition to the proposed high speed train. As it stands right now, they are proposed to run right next to each other up until where Beddington Trail heads northwest. The C-train will take that route up to Northpointe (Silver City movie theatres at Country Hills Blvd. and Harvest Hills Blvd.) and then continue north from there. The high speed rail would just continue north in the Nose Creek Valley.
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Old 10-11-2010, 08:44 AM   #29
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So the North alignment is still going to uselessly go up Deerfoot instead of Centre Street (ie, where people actually live/work/shop)? Lame.
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Old 10-11-2010, 08:51 AM   #30
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So the North alignment is still going to uselessly go up Deerfoot instead of Centre Street (ie, where people actually live/work/shop)? Lame.
Yes. If this does change, it probably won't be until at least after the SE line is approved and funded and the next line (north central) comes more into the public radar. There was a more formal route study being conducted as of last year, but I'm not sure what's become of that. Centre Street and Edmonton Trail were being explored as possibilities.
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Old 10-11-2010, 04:54 PM   #31
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Here's a video about the 7th Avenue Refurbishment. They mention that the long-term plan for the south and northwest LRT lines is to have 5 car platforms. They will be at 4 car capacity by 2014.

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Old 10-11-2010, 05:07 PM   #32
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Didn't know about the duel stops at 11th st and City Hall, that's good.

Also was unaware of the long term plans for 5 cars on the NW-South line, that could prove to be interesting in terms of re-fitting some stations.
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Old 10-11-2010, 05:10 PM   #33
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IMO, the largest cons and the reasons why I stopped taking transit were:

1.) Too time-consuming
2.) It was too crowded and wet/muddy in the winters
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Old 10-11-2010, 05:31 PM   #34
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Yes. If this does change, it probably won't be until at least after the SE line is approved and funded and the next line (north central) comes more into the public radar. There was a more formal route study being conducted as of last year, but I'm not sure what's become of that. Centre Street and Edmonton Trail were being explored as possibilities.
Naheed Nenshi is a proponent of the Centre Street alignment. Just saying.
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Old 10-11-2010, 07:39 PM   #35
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I still haven't heard anyone give an explanation of why we would even consider putting the North Central LRT that way? What benefits does that have over either Edmonton Trail or Centre Street? Are there any other than a bit of cost savings? The whole corridor up Centre Street has huge potential to become a very livable area, and that would enhance its appeal.

Putting the train somewhere where it is actively impossible to walk to just doesn't make sense. We haven't reduced our reliance on automobiles if you have to drive/bus to the train station.
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Old 10-11-2010, 10:13 PM   #36
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I still haven't heard anyone give an explanation of why we would even consider putting the North Central LRT that way? What benefits does that have over either Edmonton Trail or Centre Street? Are there any other than a bit of cost savings?
I'm just going to take a guess here, but could it be that there is no land going up Centre/ Edmonton Trail? I'm just looking at the map, and I just can't see where they would put it without tearing down hundreds of houses, or making one of those streets an LRT only street.
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Old 10-11-2010, 11:42 PM   #37
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Knowing the City of Calgary, by the time all the new stations and lines are completed:

- Transit will probably be an operations nightmare

- Fare increases will probably be at $5/$5+, and no one will want to ride it

- Service will have probably further declined, and no one will want to ride it
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Old 10-12-2010, 01:52 AM   #38
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IMO, the largest cons and the reasons why I stopped taking transit were:

2.) It was too crowded and wet/muddy in the winters
And I thought I was vain.
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Old 10-12-2010, 02:05 AM   #39
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I still haven't heard anyone give an explanation of why we would even consider putting the North Central LRT that way? What benefits does that have over either Edmonton Trail or Centre Street? Are there any other than a bit of cost savings? The whole corridor up Centre Street has huge potential to become a very livable area, and that would enhance its appeal.
No, that's pretty much just cost. It's much, much cheaper (see below for why).

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I'm just going to take a guess here, but could it be that there is no land going up Centre/ Edmonton Trail? I'm just looking at the map, and I just can't see where they would put it without tearing down hundreds of houses, or making one of those streets an LRT only street.
It would run under Centre Street. It would be cut-and-cover, just like the Canada Line in Vancouver. This means Centre Street would have to be closed or at least would probably lose lanes during construction.
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Old 10-12-2010, 02:53 AM   #40
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IMO, the largest cons and the reasons why I stopped taking transit were:

1.) Too time-consuming
2.) It was too crowded and wet/muddy in the winters
While it would fall under 1, I suppose, the delays the trains have seem to be only getting worse. During University I took the train on average probably 5 times a week for 3 years. The first 2 years were out of necessity really so I got used to it and by the 3 year, despite having a car, I decided just to take it as much as I could, save cost, better for the environment etc. but they implemented the parking fee so to save money I had to take the bus only adding to the commute time.

But this year I took the train 5 times and had 4 delays and said enough was enough. One of the delays was due to an accident downtown, so I realize there's nothing they can really do about that, but because I was on the train that was downtown when the accident occured (not the train involved) we had to wait for 15 minutes before getting to a platform and when we did there wasn't a shuttle bus set up as they shut down the downtown leg or whatever so I just walked and that was like maybe a 45 minute walk, nice day out at least, but took around 3 hours to get home. The other delays were just technical difficulites, that delayed the c-train that varied between 30 minutes and upwards to an hour.

I'm still going to have take transit as I try to carpool as much as possible (stupid parking increases at the U ) but I'm going to be actively trying to avoid the c-train as much as I can.
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