Bus transit to Airdrie, Cochrane and others coming soon?

[fredr123]

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...84506-sun.html

Commuters living in Calgary's outlying communities could soon be able to access the city via Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), says the head of the Calgary Regional Partnership's transportation committee.



Truper McBride, who is also the mayor of Cochrane, said a bus extension of Calgary Transit could be in place by early 2010 and would act as a stepping stone for heavy rail transit.

Local communities that could be part of the BRT include Cochrane, Airdrie, Okotoks, High River, Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Chestermere and Strathmor. Rail transit between Calgary and these communities could come around 2019.

Groups have mused about a local rail transit system connecting nearby communities for some time now but the BRT looks to be closer to reality. A good first step, in my opinion, provided the ridership is there and the service operates at reasonable times (the last express bus for my community leaves downtown at 5:10... that's kind of early to be taking off on most days).

I'm guessing the buses from Cochrane and Airdrie will just drop people off at the first C-train station in the NW and NE respectively. Will those stations have the capacity to handle all those extra riders? Will the new four-car trains be ready in time?

[Resolute 14]

Airdrie already has transit to downtown via Red Arrow, but integrating it into Calgary Transit's would be a great idea.

[The Ditch]

Can we also put toll booths coming in from Cochrane, Airdrie and the outlying satellite towns that escape for the lower taxes but help destroy the infrastructure?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by fredr123

I'm guessing the buses from Cochrane and Airdrie will just drop people off at the first C-train station in the NW and NE respectively. Will those stations have the capacity to handle all those extra riders? Will the new four-car trains be ready in time?

Into the NE, any express buss would probably go to Whitehorn. McKnight/Westwinds (or the Saddleridge station, which is approved) would be too difficult to get to. And Whitehorn has the capacity - a lot of the buses that used to stop there now go to the McKnight station. So Whitehorn currently only has 1/2 the volume it used to handle.

[Ducay]

Woop! Let make the C-trains more packed by the time they reach the 3rd stops on the way to downtown

[iggy_oi]

YAY!!!

now calgary transit has a reason to raise fares yet again. how about imroving the existing service rather then making less buses available for the already overfilled routes.

when are they gonna do something that will actually help make it so you don't have to worry about a bus not stopping for you because its full, or not being able get on a train because it's full after stopping at the first 2 stations on its way to downtown. really all they do is make these big new plans without offering any ideas to fix it's current problems.

am i the only person still wondering why they haven't made the necessary renovations to add a fourth car to the lrt trains? they only have 1 station that can't accomodate it and that alone would make a huge difference to the congestion.

edit: btw..i don't regularly use calgary transit, but i would if it were a half decent service, as is you are just throwing your money away. we pay about the same as vancouver for their public transit and the service is leaps and bounds better.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Woop! Let make the C-trains more packed by the time they reach the 3rd stops on the way to downtown

Guess where commuters from these areas are already going? Yup, the C-trains. The trains themselves wont be any more packed, but you might get a few more parking spaces at stations.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Guess where commuters from these areas are already going? Yup, the C-trains. The trains themselves wont be any more packed, but you might get a few more parking spaces at stations.

the lack of foresight by the city planners is baffling. The 3 train car limit is brutal. Anyone who doesn't live at the last two stations is guaranteed to stand the entire trip.

[vanisleflamesfan]

In typical Calgary Transit reactionary type planning, they have now spent quite a bit of money getting the train platforms ready for 4 car trains and we could probably use 5 car trains.

[Resolute 14]

Five car trains wouldn't fit downtown though.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Five car trains wouldn't fit downtown though.

there's that awesome planning thing again. Should have buried the damn thing 25 years ago.

[KTown]

The bus thing sseems like a great idea but it doesn't work for me. I live in Chestermere and the issue is I work different hours. I don't always finish at a certain time, some days I leave earlier and some days I leave later.

The c-train to Chestermere would be golden. I'd totally love to see that. I've always thought there was room to do it as they could just send the train down the middle of 16th avenue. Kind of like how its doens with crowchild.

With a train to Chestermere I think you'd see it as a busy stop because everyone east of Chestermere such as Strathmore would probably benefit using it. I for one would use it.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by habernac

there's that awesome planning thing again. Should have buried the damn thing 25 years ago.

couldn't agree more, do these city planners not stop and think "why has every other major city(with good public transit) in the world either put their rail transit below ground or elevated above the ground?".

they should also have a pretty good view from city hall of all the morons crashing into trains downtown every couple of weeks too.

and those same clowns at city hall might also think to themselves when they are stuck in gridlock downtown on their way home "hmm... maybe if we put the train underground we'd have an extra road to drive on and i'd be home by now?" (you know they are all driving, because not one person in charge of planning public transit would use this service as is)

[DESS]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Guess where commuters from these areas are already going? Yup, the C-trains. The trains themselves wont be any more packed, but you might get a few more parking spaces at stations.

Not always. Southbound Deerfoot is completely gridlocked and usually at a virtual standstill before the first Calgary exit at Country Hills BLVD in the North because of people coming into the City from Airdrie.

I'm working on a petition to charge Airdrie drivers a $15 toll per trip into Calgary made between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday - Friday. If they choose to exit Calgary between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., it's another $15. It is obsene we let people from another city obstruct our roads while dodging our civic taxes and hampering our own citizens' abilities to travel freely.

I have to do more research on the subject, as I'm not sure what proportion of Deerfoot trail is paid for by Calgary municiapl taxes (I'm assuming some, but I could be wrong). Regardless, there are solutions to the Airdrie problem, and I think they need to be persued aggressively.

Sounds like there may be similar problems with Okotoks, Chestermere and Cochrane, which I had assumed, but as I said I'm still at the early stages of putting my proposal together. I'll make an effort to draft my petition to incorporate these parisite cities/towns as well.

The toll should be fairly economical to enforce. I'm thinking a multi-nova sort of system that can flag license plates from these satellite communitites. The commuters would receive a bill at the end of each month.

The goal of this plan is to encourage these people to take one or more of the following steps:

• adjust their work hours out of peak times
• work from home
• carpool to share costs

If you guys are interested, I'll post my petition package here in a few weeks for comments/feedback. I will also be circulating petitions for people to sign and send in to the appropriate authorities once my research is complete. Normally I wouldn't have posted this on here as I don't have all my information straight, but I see no harm in letting you guys know that there are people looking seriously at this issue in hopes of coming up with an immediate (relatively speaking, we are talking about government lol) fix.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

couldn't agree more, do these city planners not stop and think "why has every other major city(with good public transit) in the world either put their rail transit below ground or elevated above the ground?".

they should also have a pretty good view from city hall of all the morons crashing into trains downtown every couple of weeks too.

and those same clowns at city hall might also think to themselves when they are stuck in gridlock downtown on their way home "hmm... maybe if we put the train underground we'd have an extra road to drive on and i'd be home by now?" (you know they are all driving, because not one person in charge of planning public transit would use this service as is)

Why don't you guys shut the hell up with the complaining about putting the LRT below ground. Why don't you educate yourself on why they didn't go underground.

[St Loomis]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

couldn't agree more, do these city planners not stop and think "why has every other major city(with good public transit) in the world either put their rail transit below ground or elevated above the ground?".

they should also have a pretty good view from city hall of all the morons crashing into trains downtown every couple of weeks too.

and those same clowns at city hall might also think to themselves when they are stuck in gridlock downtown on their way home "hmm... maybe if we put the train underground we'd have an extra road to drive on and i'd be home by now?" (you know they are all driving, because not one person in charge of planning public transit would use this service as is)

Let me think, I can put up a few good reasons of the top of my head:

1) Capacity - Subway systems typically hold huge capacities of people, something around 45000 people per direction per peak hour. Whereas LRT holds 30000 per direction per peak hour. Calgary does not have the population density or density of jobs (except for downtown) to support the larger capacity. Definitely in 1980 when the downtown track was completed they did not have the capacity and we still do not.

2)Cost - Subway systems typically cost about 100 million dollars per kilometer of track and then another 4-8 million for each car. LRT costs Calgary 15 million per kilometer of track and 4 million per car.

3)Downtown traffic - it has been city policy to not increase downtowns capacity for cars since 1960s. Opening up a road on 7th ave would have done exactly that and then further reduced reliance on transit....however if it were made a pedestrian street it would be a different story.



Regardless, the Calgary Regional Partnership is doing some really interesting work right now. Calgary's Plan-it initiative is calling for densification and increased transit and active modes of transportation. The planners appear to be worried about outlying communities just going with a business as usual approach and creating further sprawl. This would really just push the sprawl problem outward. A challenge is convincing the outlying communities that they would have to change development standards along with the city to ensure we are not jsut moving the problem. I would bet that initiation of transit service to those communities is just a part of those negotiations.

[lambeburger]

Originally Posted by DESS

I'm working on a petition to charge Airdrie drivers a $15 toll per trip into Calgary made between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday - Friday. If they choose to exit Calgary between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., it's another $15. It is obsene we let people from another city obstruct our roads while dodging our civic taxes and hampering our own citizens' abilities to travel freely.

Why don't we just eliminate all Airdire drivers?

[DESS]

Originally Posted by lambeburger

Why don't we just eliminate all Airdire drivers?

Um, that's a bit extreme.

[St Loomis]

Originally Posted by DESS

Not always. Southbound Deerfoot is completely gridlocked and usually at a virtual standstill before the first Calgary exit at Country Hills BLVD in the North because of people coming into the City from Airdrie.

I'm working on a petition to charge Airdrie drivers a $15 toll per trip into Calgary made between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday - Friday. If they choose to exit Calgary between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., it's another $15. It is obsene we let people from another city obstruct our roads while dodging our civic taxes and hampering our own citizens' abilities to travel freely.

I have to do more research on the subject, as I'm not sure what proportion of Deerfoot trail is paid for by Calgary municiapl taxes (I'm assuming some, but I could be wrong). Regardless, there are solutions to the Airdrie problem, and I think they need to be persued aggressively.

Sounds like there may be similar problems with Okotoks, Chestermere and Cochrane, which I had assumed, but as I said I'm still at the early stages of putting my proposal together. I'll make an effort to draft my petition to incorporate these parisite cities/towns as well.

The toll should be fairly economical to enforce. I'm thinking a multi-nova sort of system that can flag license plates from these satellite communitites. The commuters would receive a bill at the end of each month.

The goal of this plan is to encourage these people to take one or more of the following steps:

• adjust their work hours out of peak times
• work from home
• carpool to share costs

If you guys are interested, I'll post my petition package here in a few weeks for comments/feedback. I will also be circulating petitions for people to sign and send in to the appropriate authorities once my research is complete. Normally I wouldn't have posted this on here as I don't have all my information straight, but I see no harm in letting you guys know that there are people looking seriously at this issue in hopes of coming up with an immediate (relatively speaking, we are talking about government lol) fix.

As far as I know the entire thing is provincially owned and operated.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by DESS

Um, that's a bit extreme.

Missed joke of the day goes to ______!