Calgary Public Transit II

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

Providing a U-Pass for their academic- and non-academic- staff would be a start. I take transit more than I drive there but it's no cost savings for me and neither is it more convenient- I do it for the exercise, walk from home in Bankview to DT and back to take the LRT.

I find mellbell's comment interesting- since my office is in SocSci (9th floor) and faces east, I can see the station from my desk and have for almost 14 years now. So I don't find the LRT station difficult to find, obviously, but it does occur to me that it's SO far from the centre of campus and if one has a class in, say, KN, that can be a solid kilometre.

When I lived in residence, no one took the LRT when we had to go somewhere. We usually traveled in groups, so it was cheaper to take a cab downtown. The farthest res building is 1.2km away.

[VIce]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

Providing a U-Pass for their academic- and non-academic- staff would be a start. I take transit more than I drive there but it's no cost savings for me and neither is it more convenient- I do it for the exercise, walk from home in Bankview to DT and back to take the LRT.

I find mellbell's comment interesting- since my office is in SocSci (9th floor) and faces east, I can see the station from my desk and have for almost 14 years now. So I don't find the LRT station difficult to find, obviously, but it does occur to me that it's SO far from the centre of campus and if one has a class in, say, KN, that can be a solid kilometre.

I recall the walk to Brentwood was often faster than to University from much of the Engineering complex (esp. the Mechanical building, which is on the other side of 32nd ave), simply because the path there was straight.

Right now my office is in EEEL, which is a fairly short walk to University. That is, in the summer when I don't mind walking on grass. In the winter my options are a meandering path that's twice as long as it needs to be, or trudging through parking lots and walking on Campus Drive. It's a little silly.

[Boris2k7]

I fondly recall my days of sprinting across campus from the University station to a class in Craigie Hall...

[freeweed]

The LRT stop not being dead-centre on Campus is a travesty that should never have been allowed. You longer-timers have talked about this in the past - from what I recall, the blame lies squarely at the feet of the Uni administration of the day.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by freeweed

The LRT stop not being dead-centre on Campus is a travesty that should never have been allowed. You longer-timers have talked about this in the past - from what I recall, the blame lies squarely at the feet of the Uni administration of the day.

Compared to the U of A where the transit hub (busses AND LRT) lies right in the middle of campus. PLUS another LRT stop at the south end of Campus (hospital) AND another LRT / transit centre located a few km south at the South Campus.
While the LRT did not exist when I attended, taking transit to/from the university was still incredibly easy. Now it's even easier.

[MalcolmTucker]

Here is an article citation that alludes to it edit:an issue with vibration in labs)/edit, but it is missing from the database at the University. Anyone have an infomart account to try to see it?

Calgary's rapid transit running more smoothly: [All Edition]

Phillips, Frances. Financial Post [Toronto, Ont] 27 Sep 1986: 40.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by lubicon

Compared to the U of A where the transit hub (busses AND LRT) lies right in the middle of campus. PLUS another LRT stop at the south end of Campus (hospital) AND another LRT / transit centre located a few km south at the South Campus.
While the LRT did not exist when I attended, taking transit to/from the university was still incredibly easy. Now it's even easier.

I only know transit at a tiny handful of universities, but at the UofM (Manitoba) the buses came very much into the heart of campus. It was so damned convenient. When they had to avoid that due to construction or other issues, you really hated just how far you had to walk to them.

It just seems so bleeding obvious that of all places, universities should have perhaps the best and most convenient transit access. What is SAIT like, from a campus perspective? The LRT station always seems a bit... off-centre to me, but I guess the campus is small enough that it works well?

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

When I lived in residence, no one took the LRT when we had to go somewhere. We usually traveled in groups, so it was cheaper to take a cab downtown. The farthest res building is 1.2km away.

There could be any number of thing the university would do. Bike paths, connections to surrounding areas. The Charleswood / Banff Trail area is largely students that walk or take the train, this is prime cycling area. If only there was ever a push to do it as opposed to a shrugging indifference by U of C administration.

Sometimes I get the feeling that U of C forgets that it is a crucial part of Calgary. It's huge in size, students and employment; but seems like it lacks the confidence or organization to demand / promote anything on the city level. Where is our 99B - Line?

Along with Calgary Transit, the U of C seems to punch a bit lower than it should as a heavy-weight player in the development of Calgary.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by freeweed

I only know transit at a tiny handful of universities, but at the UofM (Manitoba) the buses came very much into the heart of campus. It was so damned convenient. When they had to avoid that due to construction or other issues, you really hated just how far you had to walk to them.

It just seems so bleeding obvious that of all places, universities should have perhaps the best and most convenient transit access. What is SAIT like, from a campus perspective? The LRT station always seems a bit... off-centre to me, but I guess the campus is small enough that it works well?

It's no were near as bad as the UofC (a 3-5 min walk inside to the center of campus) but it is kinda on the one side and has a convoluted path to get to there through the campus center. Going from the Ctrain to the Thomas Riley or the new trades building is a bit of hike (~500m). Its ~600m from the farthest NE building (crandell) to the west end of the platform it'd be a little shorter if you cut through a couple buildings though. Given that much of the land south of tracks is SAIT land as well it is positioned relatively well within the campus.

[Socguy]

My current beef with Calgary transit is that Bow Valley college is not offered the U pass. The explanation I've been told is that since ~90% of their students already take transit that would just be lost revenue to them.

In regards to the U of A LRT link it is convenient where it's located but I don't think that had as much to do with planning as by accident. My understanding was that the University didn't particularly want the line that badly and definatly did not want in running through campus. The only way they allowed the thing anywhere near campus was when the city agreed to bury it.

When you compare the placement of the UofC station to the UofA it's not a huge difference to me in terms of time. This is because the UofA campus is so big that relativly speaking many of the UofC's buildings are still closer to the train than many of the UofA's buildings, despite it being smack in the middle.

On a side note, if anybody has ever used Edmonton's university LRT station, the first thing you will notice is how blasted far underground that thing really is. It wouldn't surprise me if it was 8 stories down. In the end, that was one of the reasons it cost Edmonton ~300m to bring it back above ground.

[VIce]

Originally Posted by Socguy

My current beef with Calgary transit is that Bow Valley college is not offered the U pass. The explanation I've been told is that since ~90% of their students already take transit that would just be lost revenue to them.

In regards to the U of A LRT link it is convenient where it's located but I don't think that had as much to do with planning as by accident. My understanding was that the University didn't particularly want the line that badly and definatly did not want in running through campus. The only way they allowed the thing anywhere near campus was when the city agreed to bury it.

When you compare the placement of the UofC station to the UofA it's not a huge difference to me in terms of time. This is because the UofA campus is so big that relativly speaking many of the UofC's buildings are still closer to the train than many of the UofA's buildings, despite it being smack in the middle.

On a side note, if anybody has ever used Edmonton's university LRT station, the first thing you will notice is how blasted far underground that thing really is. It wouldn't surprise me if it was 8 stories down. In the end, that was one of the reasons it cost Edmonton ~300m to bring it back above ground.

The U of C's main campus is substantially larger than the U of A's North campus, even excluding the undeveloped West Campus land, McMahon Stadium, the University Research Park (which hosts a number of University buildings, albeit on leased land), and the Alberta Children's Hospital (which sits on U of C land). The Child Development Centre is 1.6 km from the University train station. Every point on the U of A's North Campus is closer to the LRT station than that - even if you ignore the Health Sciences stop.

I think it's silly to say that the U of A and U of C are comparably connected to their respective transit systems.

[ByeByeBaby]

Originally Posted by Socguy

My current beef with Calgary transit is that Bow Valley college is not offered the U pass. The explanation I've been told is that since ~90% of their students already take transit that would just be lost revenue to them.

In regards to the U of A LRT link it is convenient where it's located but I don't think that had as much to do with planning as by accident. My understanding was that the University didn't particularly want the line that badly and definatly did not want in running through campus. The only way they allowed the thing anywhere near campus was when the city agreed to bury it.

When you compare the placement of the UofC station to the UofA it's not a huge difference to me in terms of time. This is because the UofA campus is so big that relativly speaking many of the UofC's buildings are still closer to the train than many of the UofA's buildings, despite it being smack in the middle.

On a side note, if anybody has ever used Edmonton's university LRT station, the first thing you will notice is how blasted far underground that thing really is. It wouldn't surprise me if it was 8 stories down. In the end, that was one of the reasons it cost Edmonton ~300m to bring it back above ground.

That's not particularly true. Here's 400m / 800m / 1200m circles (red/yellow/white) around the respective LRT stations, to the same scale:

U of C:


U of A:


UBC (main bus loop, for fun):


The majority of the U of A campus is within 400m; only a small portion of the U of C is within 400. The entire U of A campus is within 800m; the U of C's residence complex, the Oval and the entire Children's hospital complex is over 800m.

[WaitWhat?]

Completely off topic but I really wish Nenshi would stop saying that switching to four car trains will add 25% capacity. He taught me finance at the UofC and I know he has a great math mind. He should know it's a 33% increase in capacity.

[Bassic Lab]

Originally Posted by WaitWhat?

Completely off topic but I really wish Nenshi would stop saying that switching to four car trains will add 25% capacity. He taught me finance at the UofC and I know he has a great math mind. He should know it's a 33% increase in capacity.

Except it really wont't. Four car trains will take longer to clear intersections and 7 Ave is currently full. We won't be able to put as many four car trains through as three car trains.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by Bassic Lab

Except it really wont't. Four car trains will take longer to clear intersections and 7 Ave is currently full. We won't be able to put as many four car trains through as three car trains.

• Video Link

[MMMBeer]

Originally Posted by Socguy

In that case there is the airport shuttle for $20. Functions like transit as it's cheaper than a cab and you have some riding buddies but has the best traits of a taxi where it basically takes you directly to the airport and you can lug all your luggage with you.

I worked at a major hotel downtown for the past year and I actively promoted transit to the airport whenever a guest wasn't sure how they wanted to get there. In a years time absolutely no one took me up on it. Frankly, travelers in a strange city have too much else going on to put up with the nonsense involved in taking a bus to the airport. Maybe I could have convinced a few to take the LRT if it ran there but I strongly doubt enough would to justify the cost.

+1 exactly my point.

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

Many business travellers are also working as independent contractors, or for very small businesses, or for some governments and public agencies; in all 3 cases, costs are very important to the bottom line. Even if a cab can be expensed, if a reasonable alternative can be taken for much less money, why not? I expect that someone working for a big 4 bank or a major oil company won't care as much.

There are tradeoffs between cost and convenience for transit and taxis, and the user will weigh cost and convenience differently depending on factors such as:

• Who is paying for the ticket
• Amount of luggage
• Total price for the travelling group
• How convenient and legible the transit trip is
• How accessible the transit stop is, both at the airport and to their destination
• How long the relative travel times are

In any case, the airport transit market will always be relatively small.

+1. Plus if you're traveling for business I'm betting your time is worth something - my employer certainly wouldn't want me burning 30-60 mins extra on travel just to save 40 bucks. Heck I was in YXE for work yesterday and the cab from the airport is like $17 - I would never take transit even for leisure trips for those kinds of prices.

Originally Posted by artvandelay

I disagree with this (in the case of YVR). I take it downtown every time I'm there on business, even though I could expense a cab. With the traffic in Vancouver, it is usually a faster way to get downtown and even with no traffic it's comparable. Most business travellers pack light and it is a short walk to the main hotels from Waterfront Station or Van Centre. I'd also say that business travellers would tend to be more familiar with the city and therefore more comfortable taking transit. In fact I'd say that most people I see on the trains to the airport are either business types or YVR employees.

I agree with your thoughts about leisure travellers and tourists though.

I'll take your word for it on the travel times (and I'll keep it in mind if work ever sends me out to YVR, I've wanted to try it out since it opened). However I doubt a YYC line would ever be as quick and direct. Plus I don't see the YYCAA opening its wallet anytime soon - hell they hardly support the existing transit service as it is.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by MMMBeer

I'll take your word for it on the travel times.

Take everyone's word for it. Cab from YVR to downtown is a nightmare the best of days. The Canada Line is an absolute godsend that by itself has motivated me to visit Vancouver more often. You'd be an idiot not to use it.

[WaitWhat?]

Originally Posted by Bassic Lab

Except it really wont't. Four car trains will take longer to clear intersections and 7 Ave is currently full. We won't be able to put as many four car trains through as three car trains.

Ah, that might explain it. I thought he was referring to each individual train but maybe he's referring to the system as a whole.

[Joborule]

Since they're back to the drawing board on the Crowchild corridor, something I think they should consider is the possibility of the LRT along the route between University Drive and Bow Trail.

Reason being that if the crosstown Bowness/COP-17th SE route ever evolves into become an LRT, it may not be a bad idea having the LRT ride along 16th ave from Montgomery to the Foothills Hopsital, where it'll then dip south on University Drive to Crowchild Trail, and then connect with the WLRT line before Sunalta station.

[You Need A Thneed]

This is the site for the new bus storage/maintenance/refuelling facility.