Calgary Public Transit II

[suburb]

Kazakhstan's new subway:

"In Photos: In Kazakhstan, A Beautiful, Futuristic New Subway System"
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute...tans-subway-system-opens-its-doors/1061/

[jeffwhit]

Originally Posted by suburb

Kazakhstan's new subway:

"In Photos: In Kazakhstan, A Beautiful, Futuristic New Subway System"
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute...tans-subway-system-opens-its-doors/1061/

Wowa weewa, it's a very nice.

High Five.

[You Need A Thneed]

Tonight,I had my ticket checked both going to the Flames game, and coming home from the same. I think I've had my ticket checked 4 times at least in the last 10 rides that I've taken.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by suburb

Kazakhstan's new subway:

"In Photos: In Kazakhstan, A Beautiful, Futuristic New Subway System"
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute...tans-subway-system-opens-its-doors/1061/

Thought it would be interesting to compare:

Almaty
- 22 billion GDP
- 1.4 million people
- 16k GDP per capita
- 4150 residents per sq km

Calgary
- 52 billion GDP
- 1.1 million people
- 47k GDP per capita
- 1360 residents per sq km

[freeweed]

Calgary: 0 Borats per sq km.

[fusili]

Does anyone have a good quality photo of an LRT at night I can use, preferably with a slow shutter speed? I am using it for a non-profit event advertising. DM me if you do. Thanks.

[kw5150]

I regards to Mackenzie Town(e), There are a couple good things about it.

1. Compact houses and lots
2. Cool Roundabouts
3. Good use of storm water.
4. Central main street.
5. Connectivity to adjacent community.
6. Grid streets!
7. Tonnes of trees.


What it is missing:

1. A central connective pathway, 5 metres wide for pedestrains.
2. The downtown area needs more patios
3. The downtown area needs more private businesses, the typical ones are getting tiring.
4. A C-train station in the downtown!
5. I'm sure others can point out more

[PPAR]

Buses stuck all over the West Hills tonight, heading up Bow Trail, 17 Av. etc.

Don't they put winter tires on?

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by PPAR

Buses stuck all over the West Hills tonight, heading up Bow Trail, 17 Av. etc.

Don't they put winter tires on?

Nope, the cost/benefit for large vehicles is not there as it is with passenger vehicles

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by PPAR

Buses stuck all over the West Hills tonight, heading up Bow Trail, 17 Av. etc.

Don't they put winter tires on?

Plus the storage of the thousands of winter tires would be expensive, not to mention the time it would take to switch out the regular for the winters. Doesn't seem worth it for a few bad hours a year.

[kw5150]

The train should help out a bit!

[suburb]

Gondolas for Calgary touted as cost effective

Toronto-based Creative Urban Projects made a pitch for the idea at Fort Calgary on Wednesday.

Steven Dale, who works with The Gondola Project — which does consulting projects on cable-propelled transit (CPT) systems — said gondolas make sense.

“It’s a cost effective technology. You have less than one minute wait times ... and you have no traffic 25 feet in the air,” he said.

So who went to the presentation at Fort Calgary. Any thoughts?

[fusili]

Originally Posted by suburb

Gondolas for Calgary touted as cost effective



So who went to the presentation at Fort Calgary. Any thoughts?

I went. Informative presentation and the speaker was very knowledgable. Discussed different implementations, limitations, criticisms and different technologies used (mostly aerial tram vs. gondola). Also examined integration of systems and fare structure. Most recent examples are from Latin America, but Germany, Switzerland and the US have recent projects. Also some very interesting examples, like a sauna gondola in Finland and a gondola carry cars between two factories over a freeway in Romania (IIRC). Looks like a technology that may be taking off.

Greatest advantage: low capital costs. Travel speeds are about 28km/hr max, but when there is no intervening traffic, that actually preforms fairly well compared to other transit systems.

Most interesting were the cool technologies implemented, such as evacuation procedures. In some systems if the cable stops, a car will be sent out from the station, grab a gondola car, unhook it from the cable, and pull it back to the platform and repeat. Very cool. Also discussed technologies to deal with privacy where windows are fitted with an electric circuit, so when travelling over residences, the circuit is activated and the windows become translucent, so no one can see into your yard.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by fusili

I went. Informative presentation and the speaker was very knowledgable. Discussed different implementations, limitations, criticisms and different technologies used (mostly aerial tram vs. gondola). Also examined integration of systems and fare structure. Most recent examples are from Latin America, but Germany, Switzerland and the US have recent projects. Also some very interesting examples, like a sauna gondola in Finland and a gondola carry cars between two factories over a freeway in Romania (IIRC). Looks like a technology that may be taking off.

Greatest advantage: low capital costs. Travel speeds are about 28km/hr max, but when there is no intervening traffic, that actually preforms fairly well compared to other transit systems.

Most interesting were the cool technologies implemented, such as evacuation procedures. In some systems if the cable stops, a car will be sent out from the station, grab a gondola car, unhook it from the cable, and pull it back to the platform and repeat. Very cool. Also discussed technologies to deal with privacy where windows are fitted with an electric circuit, so when travelling over residences, the circuit is activated and the windows become translucent, so no one can see into your yard.

Do you mean the gondola windows become opaque?

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Do you mean the gondola windows become opaque?

Not quite opaque, but translucent meaning light can get through them, but you can't see through them. Kind of like frosted glass.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Do you mean the gondola windows become opaque?

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Not quite opaque, but translucent meaning light can get through them, but you can't see through them. Kind of like frosted glass.

Exactly. Its a technicality. When we refer to opaquing a residential window, it essentially means frosting, so light penetrates, but images don't. But in this case, I think translucent fits better.

[halifaxboyns]

I helped organize the session with Steven Dale - was glad we had such great attention to it and that those of you who attended enjoyed it.

The privacy glass that fusili mentioned is a very interesting way to deal with the overlooking issue. We had done a video on Portland and it's transit oriented development (which talked about the aerial tram) and painted it as a wonderful thing, I was glad he throw in the infamous photo of the 'f&ck the tram sign on a guy's house' - shows that overlooking and not dealing with the privacy issue is a huge problem.

The media coverage was certainly surprising - as are some of the comments in the CBC forum. There will be something on the CBC news tonight, along with CTV, something in the Herald and I believe the sun.

[suburb]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

The media coverage was certainly surprising - as are some of the comments in the CBC forum. There will be something on the CBC news tonight, along with CTV, something in the Herald and I believe the sun.

Good to see three media outlets, as well as the Sun, covering this topic.

I really do believe the merits are such that a proper due diligence report should be completed. Hopefully it can be kept over top of roads and the like, such as to limit the need to do things with glass, etc. save for a few spots where there is no choice. Most of the path is public and/or university lands, I think.

[halifaxboyns]

We were very pleased at the turn out and we have some very interesting events planned for upcoming lunch sessions, which are open to the public ($30 for non Alberta Professional Planners Institute Members), which includes your lunch. The media attention was certainly not expected; but hopefully it will provide some interest in this project as I know a number of Calgary Transit staff were there, as was one of the Alderman.

March will be a discussion on dealing with public engagement and how each generation communicates differently; so our speaker will talk about the different generations and how we (as planners) can gear our public engagment to their needs.

April will be really interesting. The Calgary Stampede Archivist will be coming to speak about the history of the Stampede from it's origins and then will talk about the upcoming events.

Btw, the pod cast of Steven's interview this morning is now up here.

[halifaxboyns]

I thought I'd also post the link to Steven's website - here. The video section is quite interesting.