Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[agulati]

Took the train last night for the first time in a good few months. Things sure have deteriorated fast. It is a really sad situation and the city/province really needs to step up and prioritize the epidemic and help these people

[ajr4013]

Originally Posted by lambeburger

Should we be renaming this thread the Ongoing C-Train platform stabbing thread?

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/violence-...ital-1.6333413

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-p...bing-1.6341707

[FlameOn]

City is stepping up patrols and other measures following the stabbings.
https://newsroom.calgary.ca/the-city...transit-safer/

What would really help is fare gates and addressing the drug use/encampments near stations.

[GirlySports]

removing benches? you might as well remove heaters too

or better yet, remove waiting areas, you need to time the train perfectly.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

City is stepping up patrols and other measures following the stabbings.
https://newsroom.calgary.ca/the-city...transit-safer/

What would really help is fare gates and addressing the drug use/encampments near stations.

For the free fare zone - which I think is an absolute advantage to Calgary's downtown - there's got to be the right strategy for this one. With the open-access platforms then it would stand to reason that more eyes in place would help with the downtown core area, including more intervention teams where needed (not necessarily police).

I wonder if there could be a program that citizens sign up for that pays them a bit of money or some sort of incentive scheme to be 'citizen' ambassadors on the trains that get people trained up on protocol and process for crisis intervention.

[Wormius]

Not keen on the idea of fare gates. Seems very expensive to implement for not much of a useful impact. If people are really bothered by homeless and drug addicts around the transit, all that will likely do is create encampments directly outside the fare gates; for people that are already squeamish about using transit for the aforementioned reasons will now walk a gauntlet before they can get on the station. The extra presence of officers should be sufficient to appease people. Maybe they can even check for fare evaders. I know I haven’t been checked for fare on the train in a year or so. When using the e-tickets, I have even forgotten to activate them for entire trips.

[ajr4013]

The stab streak continues:
https://globalnews.ca/news/9603615/c...oria-stampede/

[The Fisher Account]

So I recently started using Transit to commute to work and have been using the myFare app to buy my tickets.

Anyone else kind of face a moral decision on whether or not to buy a ticket, given how easy it would be to just whip out the app and purchase one if you ever see a Transit cop board your train? It seems like it wouldn't be worth the hassle for a Transit Cop to ask you to pull up the purchase time details..

[ajr4013]

Won't lie, for the train if I have a purchased ticket I won't activate it unless I see transit cops but that's probably why tickets expire after 7 days.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by ajr4013

Won't lie, for the train if I have a purchased ticket I won't activate it unless I see transit cops but that's probably why tickets expire after 7 days.

I haven't seen a transit cop in a while, but would they have scanners that will tag you if your ticket was activated 30 seconds to a minute ago? Technically you're supposed to have a paid ticket as you enter the platform. That is a fare based zone.

[ajr4013]

Originally Posted by Izzle

I haven't seen a transit cop in a while, but would they have scanners that will tag you if your ticket was activated 30 seconds to a minute ago? Technically you're supposed to have a paid ticket as you enter the platform. That is a fare based zone.

As far as I've seen they do a visual check and don't have scanners. And like Fisher Account said it probably isn't worth their time to see when the ticket is activated as long as it's an active ticket. Could also see the "forgot to activate it" excuse working here too.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by ajr4013

As far as I've seen they do a visual check and don't have scanners. And like Fisher Account said it probably isn't worth their time to see when the ticket is activated as long as it's an active ticket. Could also see the "forgot to activate it" excuse working here too.

Fair enough.

It's also happened to me where I have forgotten to activate my ticket (got back from vacations and didn't want to pay for full monthly pass, do individual tickets it was).

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Izzle

Fair enough.

It's also happened to me where I have forgotten to activate my ticket (got back from vacations and didn't want to pay for full monthly pass, do individual tickets it was).

Missed opportunity to use "fare enough" on that one.

But seriously, the 7 day expiry is unnecessary and annoying. A digital ticket shouldn't be limited like that vs. a paper one.

And I haven't used it in a while, but the MyFare app is trash. I was getting constantly logged out for no reason, and it has little quirks like not letting you buy a youth and adult ticket in the same transaction.

The Transit App allows purchasing of tickets now, and while I think that it still uses the same back end as MyFare, the front end is much better. No unnecessary logouts, you can check out with two different types of tickets at the same time, etc. Plus, I actually like the Transit App features, so having it all in one is nice. It still has the 7 day expiry though, but I don't pre-buy until I am practically boarding as it is quick and easy enough.

[Jimmy Stang]

Speaking of fares, I wonder if Calgary Transit would ever adopt a zone or distance-based system? I think that you'd get a few more people utilizing transit for short trips if the cost was variable. Digital ticketing makes it more possible than before, assuming that the old school machines can be programmed to use those extra buttons as well.

I went from Banff Trail to Brentwood while my car was getting an oil change, and while the dealership provided the tickets as a courtesy, that trip is hardly worth nearly $8 return. If I was paying for it myself, I wouldn't have bothered, which would've meant that I wouldn't have visited those businesses in Brentwood and spent some of my money there.

I can go from Tuscany to Somerset for the same price as going from Tuscany to Crowfoot. I understand that the system is based on getting downtown from the 'burbs and to hell with anyone else, but people might use it more if they could pay a reduced fare for short trips.

[GirlySports]

You'd get people standing there staring at a board! Like this on in the DC area!

But you're right, most likely people would load a card that calculates when you scanned it to enter and when you scanned it to exit. But I think that only works with fare gates and scanning out. Would you have the honor system of going 2 stops or 5?

Spoiler!

[Wormius]

I am bit conflicted, cause I do have to transfer to a bus on my way home after the train ride, so if it’s winter and the bus is likely to be late for whatever reason I kind of justify not activating it on until I am about to hop on the the bus. But it’s not like I am never activating it for the commute.

[Amethyst]

I used to think people were just being picky about the trains. But it has gotten bad. Last month, I took the train to Bridgeland and it appeared people are just living in the shelters on the platform there. And the downtown stations are a mess.

They've been talking about increased peace officers for what seems like months now, but they always say it's weeks/months away. And I haven't seen any, except when I assume they were called, because they came to get someone off a train.

I would love a short distance fare. Maybe they could have 30 minute tickets in addition to 90 minute ones? I took the bus to work a few times this winter, when I didn't have a car available, and I would do it more often if the fare was less. The bus ride is 10-ish minutes one way.

[ajr4013]

Not just limited to the train now apparently. Jesus:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...town-1.6808303

Actually had a drugged out guy on my bus home yesterday and he seemed close to escalating things. Very uncomfortable to say the least.

[Ironhorse]

Jesus

It’s getting to the point where my teenager doesn’t even feel comfortable or safe taking the train anymore to meet me after work to go to an appointment. The only thing saving them is the express CT bus to their high school.

[Wormius]

Looks like they finally fulfilled my request of having some cheaper weekend day pass for family. $15 for 5 people.

https://www.calgarytransit.com/conte...-day-pass.html

Hopefully they’ll also do something for non-commute hours, like $2 between 9am and 3pm and after 6pm or something to encourage more riders.