Calgary Public Transit II

[suburb]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Edmonton had spent way less by the time the expansion again started in both Edmonton (to Health Sciences) and Calgary (to Fish Creek).

$446.2 year 2000 USD for 18.2 miles in Calgary and $319.0 in Edmonton for 7.6 miles. http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/calgary_ctrain_effective_capital_utilization_TRB_paper.pdf

Calgary invested in expanding the LRT beyond the first leg by using debt, Edmonton was unwilling to. To this day Edmonton carries less debt, and in exchange they have less recreation facilities (first new pool in 25+ years opened recently iirc) and way less investment in park infrastructure.

The councils Klein led made tough calls that really changed the city in important ways.

20/20 hindsight would suggest Calgary had the better plan, as construction costs skyrocketed way faster than inflation and interest rates, so carrying debt to construct early was a very good way to go from a dollars perspective, while at the same time allowing us to have more infrastructure earlier.

[lightrail]

Originally Posted by suburb

The frequency is based on the length of the route divided by number of buses. They can modulate a bit depending on how long the bus needs to remain as the time check point (IE they can make it a longer period by making the bus wait at various points, but they cannot make the period shorter). Other considerations would likely include things like when the trains arrive and/or other connections. The size of bus and/or number of buses are dictated by number of passengers, and sometimes by the nature of the road. On longer routes, they could consider adjusting the route length, making it shorter, to get you to 15 minutes, but I don't think this particular route could get much shorter than it already is. It is an efficient route.

Can't speak to your claim that Edmonton routes all had frequencies of 5/10/15/20/25/30 minutes - I would doubt that, but I could be wrong.

It's generally true. Edmonton tries to run its routes on a 5, 7.5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 or 60 schedule (with 10, 20 and 45 rarely used).

The reason: Edmonton invented to the hub and spoke method of handling a transit system. The Edmonton system is built on major terminals all connected by main routes, with feeder routes from those terminals to the neighbourhoods. To make it work you need to have a gaurenteed timed transfer system. So the mainlines run every 15min in the daytime (and every 7/8 minutes in the peak) with the feeders running every 30 or 60 minutes.

This system is also known as a "pulse network" - all the buses leave the terminals at the same times, a pulse.

The advantaqe is the timed transfers; the disadvantage is the bus frequency might not be perfect for the loads and so costly to add (double the freqency) to keep to the pulse. Another distadvantage is the buses end up waiting at terminals for the next pulse before departing, costing more in bus hours.

Victoria uses a system like Calgary with buses running on various frequencies - we have 24 minutes, 22 minutes, 13 minutes, 9 minutes, etc.

Vancouver runs some suburban routes on the pulse system, but most mainlines run on the best schedule to maximise the use of the equipment.

[DizzyEdge]

Can anyone tell me why Calgary has never tried to integrate the LRT stations with the buses like this, so you don't have to be outside in the elements to wait for a bus?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=toronto&hl...WFStycoc8FmbljNVoA&cbp=12,94.68,,0,-2.29

It's always a bit bizarre to me that CT doesn't seem to do better design to keep people comfortable while they wait/transfer.

[MalcolmTucker]

It is expensive, and then you need better security to stop loittering. Also, when so many stations have acted as termini at different points in time, would had led to massive overbuilds.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

It is expensive, and then you need better security to stop loittering. Also, when so many stations have acted as termini at different points in time, would had led to massive overbuilds.

The moving ends of the lines is a good point.

I'm not impressed about the other one, although I'm sure it's true. It seems to fall into the pattern of "people will take transit because parking is so expensive", "people won't loiter because there's no heat", etc. I'd prefer a mindset of "people will take transit because it's great".

[suburb]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

"people won't loiter because there's no heat".

I don't think that would be much of an issue in the suburbs though IE if there was heat, you still wouldn't get too many just hanging out. I think transit has caught on to that - I believe more shelters are getting heat.

[frinkprof]

Chinook Station will be rebuilt next year and there will be a new passenger waiting building in the bus loop that will be heated.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Chinook Station will be rebuilt next year and there will be a new passenger waiting building in the bus loop that will be heated.

Excellent news.

[suburb]

Originally Posted by suburb

I don't think that would be much of an issue in the suburbs though IE if there was heat, you still wouldn't get too many just hanging out. I think transit has caught on to that - I believe more shelters are getting heat.

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Chinook Station will be rebuilt next year and there will be a new passenger waiting building in the bus loop that will be heated.

Yeah - that is part of the move I mentioned above (and it is not just Chinook). They are reviewing and creating better and heated spaces in many of the suburan areas, where there shouldn't be the issue of people loitering because of no where to go. Looking forward to it!

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by suburb

Yeah - that is part of the move I mentioned above (and it is not just Chinook). They are reviewing and creating better and heated spaces in many of the suburan areas, where there shouldn't be the issue of people loitering because of no where to go. Looking forward to it!

There are also heated shelters on some (all?) of the new 7th ave platforms. They are the plain glass shelters, but have a button in them that turns on a heater to warm them up, based on a timer. When the time runs out, you press the button again (similar to a hand dryer I suppose).

The shelters' glass doesn't go all the way to the ground, leaves a few inches of exposed air to prevent people from sleeping in them, as it would be pretty cold to lay down on the ground, despite the heater.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

There are also heated shelters on some (all?) of the new 7th ave platforms. They are the plain glass shelters, but have a button in them that turns on a heater to warm them up, based on a timer. When the time runs out, you press the button again (similar to a hand dryer I suppose).

The shelters' glass doesn't go all the way to the ground, leaves a few inches of exposed air to prevent people from sleeping in them, as it would be pretty cold to lay down on the ground, despite the heater.

At McKnight Westwinds the heated shelters originally only had glass that came down to about 6 inches off of the ground, as you mentioned, but not to lang after they opened, they were extended down to the ground. Still, it doesn't get "warm" in there.

MKWW has a heated bus shelter, and I believe the Saddletowne will as well. Whitehorn Station now has heated shelters on the LRT platform, something which all the newest stations are getting.

[kw5150]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

There are also heated shelters on some (all?) of the new 7th ave platforms. They are the plain glass shelters, but have a button in them that turns on a heater to warm them up, based on a timer. When the time runs out, you press the button again (similar to a hand dryer I suppose).

The shelters' glass doesn't go all the way to the ground, leaves a few inches of exposed air to prevent people from sleeping in them, as it would be pretty cold to lay down on the ground, despite the heater.

I thought that was a self-destruct button.

[DizzyEdge]

Now if we could change Anderson station so that waiting on the platform doesn't feel like being in a bombed out WWII submarine pen

[kw5150]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Now if we could change Anderson station so that waiting on the platform doesn't feel like being in a bombed out WWII submarine pen

Or get some serious condo/townhome/commercial development around it........

[kw5150]

This is from the "end of line" at 10th st west. I swear this train station gets busier everyday! Good to see lots of healthy people walking.


By kw5150 at 2012-02-22

[5seconds]

The covering came off of the platform extension work on Centre Street station. The entire length of the platform extension is installed from the edge to about 5 feet back, but still more to do on the side closest to the convention centre.

[TransitSupporter]

I've always wondered where CT gets all the shuttle buses + operators when the C-Train goes suddenly out of service. The backup buses seemingly appear magically, but I somewhat doubt that's how it works. I can't imagine CT keeps that many vehicles and drivers on "standby" just in case?

[mersar]

Originally Posted by TransitSupporter

I've always wondered where CT gets all the shuttle buses + operators when the C-Train goes suddenly out of service. The backup buses seemingly appear magically, but I somewhat doubt that's how it works. I can't imagine CT keeps that many vehicles and drivers on "standby" just in case?

Depends on the time of day. But they don't have a pile of drivers just waiting around. Usually they'll first ask for drivers who have finished their scheduled runs (its quite common for drivers to radio in after they've finished to see if theres any overtime work available even when there isn't a ctrain disruption), then if they still need more they'll start re-allocating drivers from scheduled runs to provide enough service. This is part of the reason it can take 20-30 minutes to get shuttle service in place after a disruption.

[DarkKeyo]

Calgary Transit has posted their spring schedule revisions on their site. They've included their incredibly bad idea of cutting the first and last trips on the 201 and 202...

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by kw5150

This is from the "end of line" at 10th st west. I swear this train station gets busier everyday! Good to see lots of healthy people walking.


By kw5150 at 2012-02-22

Lol @ guy on the right jumping off