Calgary Public Transit II

[Bassic Lab]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Makes sense. Looks like by their criteria it shouldn't be there though since the legend mentions "Dedicated Busways"

It's entirely possible that when the creator saw that we had a BRT line they assumed we meant something more than a limited stop bus that gets to use a mile long HOV lane.

Then again google maps uses the same tram icon for our LRT system and about half of our busses. They are visible at the 1000 ft/200 m scale, while the rest of our bus stops uses a bus icon that is visible at the 200 ft/100 m scale (two further magnifications). I have no idea why the LRT doesn't get the same train icon as Vancouver's Skytrain, which is visible at the 5000 ft/1 km scale. Subway stations in other cities, like Toronto (Where the train icon used for Skytrain is used for commuter/intercity rail and is visible at a bigger scale and the tram icon used for the C-Train is used for streetcars), have a different Metro icon seen at the same scale as Vancouver's. I have no idea what kind of information google is trying to get across with the different icons (presumably something to do with frequency/capacity along with other factors) but it would really make sense to differentiate between the C-Train and various bus routes, even if they want to emphasize the importance of high frequency mainline bus routes.

[Radley77]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Except if you compare where the line going west ends it's comparable to crowfoot, ie they've included the WLRT. And not of our busways are dedicated, use of "BRT" notwithstanding.

But still cool!

I looked at Detroit and was wondering why they even bothered putting it on there... until I zoomed in to a factor of 5x. Bah!

[Radley77]

Originally Posted by Bassic Lab

It's entirely possible that when the creator saw that we had a BRT line they assumed we meant something more than a limited stop bus that gets to use a mile long HOV lane.

Then again google maps uses the same tram icon for our LRT system and about half of our busses. They are visible at the 1000 ft/200 m scale, while the rest of our bus stops uses a bus icon that is visible at the 200 ft/100 m scale (two further magnifications). I have no idea why the LRT doesn't get the same train icon as Vancouver's Skytrain, which is visible at the 5000 ft/1 km scale. Subway stations in other cities, like Toronto (Where the train icon used for Skytrain is used for commuter/intercity rail and is visible at a bigger scale and the tram icon used for the C-Train is used for streetcars), have a different Metro icon seen at the same scale as Vancouver's. I have no idea what kind of information google is trying to get across with the different icons (presumably something to do with frequency/capacity along with other factors) but it would really make sense to differentiate between the C-Train and various bus routes, even if they want to emphasize the importance of high frequency mainline bus routes.

I think you might be able to edit this now in Google Maps. I am registered with Google Mapmaker & when I click on the station icon, it is currently categorized as (S-Bahn Haltestelle, Tram Stop, arrêt de tramway). My guess is that the classification is a lower priority than whatever Vancouver's is...

Edit: just checked and Vancouver's is classified as (Train Station)

[DizzyEdge]

One thing I never really thought about, until spending a lot of time on Toronto transit (I've spent about 23 days in Toronto in the past 6 months), is how downtown centric our transit is. In Toronto if you jump on a bus on an east-west or north-south road, you can more or less safely assume it's going to stick to that road and if you're in the SW and you need to get to the NE, you'd take a N bus up to the E-W road that crosses your destination, and then take another line east on that E-W Road. (I'm exaggerating a bit) Here, if you get on a bus without knowing where it's going, there's probably a 50% or better chance that it will get you downtown, but otherwise who knows. Transit would be very different if say a bus far up centre took you all the way down to the south end of MacLeod, and one that was at say 16th ave and 68 st NE took you to COP.

EDIT: I should probably add "LRT station centric" as well, as many routes are community ones which take you to an LRT station.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Bassic Lab

It's entirely possible that when the creator saw that we had a BRT line they assumed we meant something more than a limited stop bus that gets to use a mile long HOV lane.

Then again google maps uses the same tram icon for our LRT system and about half of our busses. They are visible at the 1000 ft/200 m scale, while the rest of our bus stops uses a bus icon that is visible at the 200 ft/100 m scale (two further magnifications). I have no idea why the LRT doesn't get the same train icon as Vancouver's Skytrain, which is visible at the 5000 ft/1 km scale. Subway stations in other cities, like Toronto (Where the train icon used for Skytrain is used for commuter/intercity rail and is visible at a bigger scale and the tram icon used for the C-Train is used for streetcars), have a different Metro icon seen at the same scale as Vancouver's. I have no idea what kind of information google is trying to get across with the different icons (presumably something to do with frequency/capacity along with other factors) but it would really make sense to differentiate between the C-Train and various bus routes, even if they want to emphasize the importance of high frequency mainline bus routes.

I've noticed that, I have no idea why they would put a tram/streetcar icon next to half our bus stops

[Radley77]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

One thing I never really thought about, until spending a lot of time on Toronto transit (I've spent about 23 days in Toronto in the past 6 months), is how downtown centric our transit is. In Toronto if you jump on a bus on an east-west or north-south road, you can more or less safely assume it's going to stick to that road and if you're in the SW and you need to get to the NE, you'd take a N bus up to the E-W road that crosses your destination, and then take another line east on that E-W Road. (I'm exaggerating a bit) Here, if you get on a bus without knowing where it's going, there's probably a 50% or better chance that it will get you downtown, but otherwise who knows. Transit would be very different if say a bus far up centre took you all the way down to the south end of MacLeod, and one that was at say 16th ave and 68 st NE took you to COP.

EDIT: I should probably add "LRT station centric" as well, as many routes are community ones which take you to an LRT station.

I've only started using a bus once in awhile since google maps, and a bit more since I got google maps on my Blackberry. Otherwise I'd be totally screwed. Wayfinding in Calgary public transit is tricky.

[DizzyEdge]

^^ admittedly mobile google maps makes even the most convoluted transit system easy to navigate.

[UofC.engineer]

This document was recently released on the transit website

http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/Northw...-Tuscany-Station-Summary-of-Benefits.pdf

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

This document was recently released on the transit website

http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/Northw...-Tuscany-Station-Summary-of-Benefits.pdf

Kind of strange without knowing the context. My guess is it is an attachment to LPT committee or council meeting item, but I don't have the time right now to scour through those agendas to find out.

I guess the question is - who are they trying to convince?

[MalcolmTucker]

Someone who wants to mothball the capital spending methinks.

[You Need A Thneed]

Prequalification for Chinook Station is out. The Station will be closed to the public from January 2013 to June 2013. Construction is supposed to start in May 2012. The new utility building and Bus Shelter will be completed this year.

A few things are being reused (concrete grade beams under the platform, canopy truss), but the majority of the station is being demolished, and being rebuilt.

[freeweed]

Wow, is this the first (mostly) complete station demo/rebuild on the system? I mean besides 7th Ave, those weren't "buildings" in the same sense. Seems pretty intense - and optimistic considering how long the 7th Ave stations took, and those were merely aprons and roofing.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

Prequalification for Chinook Station is out. The Station will be closed to the public from January 2013 to June 2013. Construction is supposed to start in May 2012. The new utility building and Bus Shelter will be completed this year.

A few things are being reused (concrete grade beams under the platform, canopy truss), but the majority of the station is being demolished, and being rebuilt.

I never understood why Chinook couldn't have been grade crossings only. It would have saved a lot on escalators (that are broken half the time) that could have been either been raw savings or used for better shelter on the station.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by fusili

I never understood why Chinook couldn't have been grade crossings only. It would have saved a lot on escalators (that are broken half the time) that could have been either been raw savings or used for better shelter on the station.

The new station will be only at grade crossings from what I've seen of the early design.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by mersar

The new station will be only at grade crossings from what I've seen of the early design.

Yup, the platform is going to be extended on both sides to get to the new length (105m), with level crossings for pedestrians, likely heated shelters on the platform and a heated bus shelter.

[frinkprof]

Mersar and I have had a peek at the design. It looks good. There will be a new bus shelter building separate from the station itself as YNAT mentions.

[5seconds]

Is the new Chinook station an attempt to better integrate it into the location (future TOD etc)? Or is it just the end of the current station's life cycle and they are using the opportunity to do something different?

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by 5seconds

Is the new Chinook station an attempt to better integrate it into the location (future TOD etc)? Or is it just the end of the current station's life cycle and they are using the opportunity to do something different?

Both, but the first determining factor on doing it at this time is to extend the platform to 4 LRV length as part of the program to have the whole system done by 2014.

Those monolithic up-over-down-again station heads were really a poor idea, especially for the busier stations like Chinook and Anderson. It will be good to see this one go.

[5seconds]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Both, but the first determining factor on doing it at this time is to extend the platform to 4 LRV length as part of the program to have the whole system done by 2014.

Those monolithic up-over-down-again station heads were really a poor idea, especially for the busier stations like Chinook and Anderson. It will be good to see this one go.

Good to know, thanks. Seeing as anyone who is going to head east along 58th will have to cross the tracks at-grade anyway, it makes sense not to force people up-and-over.

When will designs be released to the public?

[frinkprof]

I found some more information on the sign at the U of C. It was installed by and also programmed by the University of Calgary, since it is on their land and was wired/powered by them.

Calgary Transit's bus arrival information program is about to be rolled out and the data will be open sourced to the public (and private institutions) in the same way that the schedule information currently is, but of course on a realtime basis. So, it's possible the U of C could then take that information and populate this information board with it once it becomes available.