HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Alberta & British Columbia > Calgary > Transportation & Infrastructure


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #1  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2011, 12:02 AM
M II A II R II K's Avatar
M II A II R II K M II A II R II K is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Toronto
Posts: 52,200
Policy makers get creative on moving people

Imagining the future of transit


December 20, 2011

By Tony Seskus



Read More: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Imagini...951/story.html

Quote:
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.

- Consider GO Transit, which has been operating in the Toronto area since 1967. The regional commuter rail service began as government-funded experiment in commuting. But the system has grown into a vital, rail-and-bus network that connects several suburban centres with the Big Smoke. When Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths looks at the success of the GO service, he wonders whether a similar approach could work here by using existing infrastructure. What Griffiths finds intriguing is how the Ontario transportation strategy developed, with government and industry making arrangements so commuter trains could operate on heavy rail lines owned by major railways.

- "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.

- A Canadian Pacific spokesman, Ed Greenberg, says the Calgary-based railway is open to working with the various partners involved in any potential commuter train service. "Our priority is to respond to our customers freight shipping needs; at the same time we've had success in other major centres in using our tracks for commuter rail," he says. "We're open to continuing to discuss the potential with the city and the Calgary Regional Partnership and the provincial government." 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.

- 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.

.....



The Go Transit system in southern Ontario began as a collaboration between private industry and government.

__________________
ASDFGHJK
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #2  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2011, 12:59 AM
freeweed's Avatar
freeweed freeweed is offline
Home of Hyperchange
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Dynamic City, Alberta
Posts: 17,566
Speaking as a hated (around these parts) suburbanite who lives in a the smouldering remnants of a farmer's field, I can tell you why I chose to live in Calgary as opposed to Airdrie - lack of transit.

Build a "GO" train, and watch this city sprawl like you've never imagined.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #3  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2011, 2:40 AM
earl69's Avatar
earl69 earl69 is offline
BANNED
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 433
As long as they would foot the entire bill - then sure. I bought my car there earlier this year and would never go back.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #4  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2011, 4:18 PM
sim sim is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 863
Quote:
Originally Posted by freeweed View Post
Speaking as a hated (around these parts) suburbanite who lives in a the smouldering remnants of a farmer's field, I can tell you why I chose to live in Calgary as opposed to Airdrie - lack of transit.

Build a "GO" train, and watch this city sprawl like you've never imagined.

Agreed.

I'm not so sure what is creative about this either.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #5  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2011, 4:27 PM
Calgarian's Avatar
Calgarian Calgarian is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Calgary, AB
Posts: 24,072
How sucessful are the street cars in Toronto?
__________________
Git'er done!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #6  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2011, 4:39 PM
niwell's Avatar
niwell niwell is offline
sick transit, gloria
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Roncesvalles, Toronto
Posts: 11,025
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgarian View Post
How sucessful are the street cars in Toronto?
It depends on who you ask, but generally I would say they are pretty successful. Probably moreseo when new, larger trainsets start arriving in the next few years. Yes, they can be slow, but that is the nature of traffic and the street layout in central Toronto. Rider comfort is far superior to that of bus routes in the central city and streetcars can acommodate significantly more passengers.

The biggest complaint people tend to have is that streetcars impede traffic, and cannot weave to avoid left-turning vehicles. While this is true, having 1.5x the number of buses on streets probably wouldn't help traffic matters any.

As for GO style commuter rail I really don't think Calgary is big enough for such a system at this time, and as mentioned above would simply lead to a shift in growth to places like Airdrie. Plus, Toronto and Montreal are made up of multiple municipalities with their own local transit and have a need for a higher level of regional transit. Calgary's uni-city structure pretty much negates this need. Besides, the new LRT extensions pretty much act as commuter rail already.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #7  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2011, 5:01 PM
M II A II R II K's Avatar
M II A II R II K M II A II R II K is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Toronto
Posts: 52,200
Smaller cities would benefit from Commuter BRT.
__________________
ASDFGHJK
Reply With Quote
     
     
End
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Alberta & British Columbia > Calgary > Transportation & Infrastructure
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 12:07 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.