Calgary Public Transit II - Page 269

suburbia · #**5361** Posted **Aug 29, 2012, 4:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by yads

How about this terrible opinion piece about how terrible the new extension is
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/let...aren+much+happy+about/7160352/story.html

This type of over the top opinion piece doesn't help create any friends.

Quote:

At Saddletowne, I met a few people just in from Toronto who were unimpressed with Saddletowne and Calgary Transit overall. No one from the city has explained to me what the heck a Saddletowne, Saddlestone or Saddleridge is either, and how they come up with such stupid names.

Quote:

The Martindale station looks like it was designed to funnel the wind directly onto the waiting passengers.

In contrast, it looks like no expense was spared building the unnecessary, expensive, beautiful and overbuilt west LRT line and stations in the richer and more European parts of our city.

A tool indeed.

fusili · #**5362** Posted **Aug 29, 2012, 4:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by yads

How about this terrible opinion piece about how terrible the new extension is
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/let...aren+much+happy+about/7160352/story.html

I love this one:

Quote:

Why don't more Calgarians ask why poorer and visible minority Calgarians in east Calgary and centre north Calgary receive inferior levels of transit and other government services compared to the more affluent, more European northwest, west, south and southwest Calgary?

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/City+b...mplains/7152730/story.html#ixzz24xD2VWwu

How about the NE got their LRT before the other quadrants and have had extensions much to the detriment of SE or NC residents.

yads · #**5363** Posted **Aug 29, 2012, 5:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fusili

I love this one:

How about the NE got their LRT before the other quadrants and have had extensions much to the detriment of SE or NC residents.

Yup, a lot of belly aching not realizing how good they have it.

You Need A Thneed · #**5364** Posted **Aug 29, 2012, 5:17 PM**

And the actual complaints about the station are completely wrong as well.

There are heated shelters on the platform, which are wind breaks, bus shelters are being installed in September, and there are plenty of benches. That "ugly station fence" was probably put there by the strip mall and forces people to walk an extra 50 feet if they want to get to the strip mall. Saddletowne Station got half of it's platform covered, which is the same amount that every new station is getting. Saddletowne station's light towers look really good, especially at night.

Brochures detailing all of the new bus route changes were mailed to everyone in the community, which included two free transit tickets, and the same brochures were available to anyone at the opening event.

I don't know how Martindale station is going to funnel wind any differently then if it had no canopy.

suburbia · #**5365** Posted **Aug 29, 2012, 8:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by suburbia

A tool indeed.

FYI ... that's his name.

I hate it when I have to point out my jokes

Radley77 · #**5366** Posted **Aug 29, 2012, 9:27 PM**

Does anyone here know if there have been any meetings between Transit Camp and Bike Calgary? I'm curious if anyone knows of a primary contact person for Transit Camp and perhaps a lunch meeting about how cycling and transit could be better integrated and practices in other jurisdictions that have been successful.

fusili · #**5367** Posted **Aug 29, 2012, 10:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radley77

Does anyone here know if there have been any meetings between Transit Camp and Bike Calgary? I'm curious if anyone knows of a primary contact person for Transit Camp and perhaps a lunch meeting about how cycling and transit could be better integrated and practices in other jurisdictions that have been successful.

We (TransitCamp) met with a representative from Bike Calgary quite some time ago (last summer I think?), actually when we were also meeting with reps from Calgary Transit. The issue of bicycle racks on buses was discussion. I don't recall if there was a resolution, but Transit did mention that they were really tight on storage space for buses, and including bike racks would be difficult given the space constraints. I forgot what the name was of the person from Bike Calgary. Dave something maybe....

If you want contact details for TransitCamp, just DM me.

fusili · #**5368** Posted **Aug 30, 2012, 4:15 PM**

Newest TransitCamp blog post: Goals, Metrics and Doing the Right Thing.

http://transitcamp.ca/2012/08/30/goals-metrics-and-doing-the-right-thing/

Wigs · #**5369** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 12:42 AM**

Couldn't bike racks be attached on to the front and/or backs of buses? just a thought

example from TriMet of Portland, OR

suburbia · #**5370** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 1:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WIGS

Couldn't bike racks be attached on to the front and/or backs of buses? just a thought

example from TriMet of Portland, OR

Your example answers your question, however, how much time does it add and are there safety considerations? Also, what type of cost would be added, and for those costs, what would the usage be?

Not saying I'd say no, just putting the questions out there. There has got to be a reason they haven't done this yet.

fusili · #**5371** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 3:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WIGS

Couldn't bike racks be attached on to the front and/or backs of buses? just a thought

example from TriMet of Portland, OR

I believe the racks end up adding a few feet at the front or back of each bus. With hundreds of buses parked in storage, those few feet take up a considerable amount of space.

Not trying to argue with you, just letting you know the issues.

Wigs · #**5372** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 4:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fusili

I believe the racks end up adding a few feet at the front or back of each bus. With hundreds of buses parked in storage, those few feet take up a considerable amount of space.

Not trying to argue with you, just letting you know the issues.

true, but if bus parking is anything like your typical parking lot for cars, then spots are made wider/longer than needed. The TriMet example showed the person pulling the bike rack down/out, thus when not in use added length is minimal.

You Need A Thneed · #**5373** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 4:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WIGS

true, but if bus parking is anything like your typical parking lot for cars, then spots are made wider/longer than needed. The TriMet example showed the person pulling the bike rack down/out, thus when not in use added length is minimal.

I think busses are parked with bumpers touching, end to end in a long row.

Wigs · #**5374** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 5:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by suburbia

Your example answers your question, however, how much time does it add and are there safety considerations? Also, what type of cost would be added, and for those costs, what would the usage be?

Not saying I'd say no, just putting the questions out there. There has got to be a reason they haven't done this yet.

I personally don't have those answers, besides the time factor, which is minimal if you watch the TriMet video.
What I can tell you though is that 37 cities in the United States have 100% of their buses (NY is not one of them) with bike racks as found in the 'Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report' p94
Cities such as: Austin, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston (95%), Omaha, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Tucson and colder climate cities such as Denver, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.
When a clusterfuck of sprawl of a city like Houston (they have transit

) can put them on, surely Calgary Transit could put them on a % of buses if not all.

frinkprof · #**5375** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 6:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WIGS

I personally don't have those answers, besides the time factor, which is minimal if you watch the TriMet video.
What I can tell you though is that 37 cities in the United States have 100% of their buses (NY is not one of them) with bike racks as found in the 'Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report' p94
Cities such as: Austin, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston (95%), Omaha, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Tucson and colder climate cities such as Denver, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.
When a clusterfuck of sprawl of a city like Houston (they have transit

) can put them on, surely Calgary Transit could put them on a % of buses if not all.

In speaking with Calgary Transit's fleet manager a year or so ago, there are a couple big obstacles to successfully implementing a bikes-on-buses program.

As fusili mentioned, bike racks increase the length of a bus from a storage perspective. Calgary Transit is currently experiencing an incredible storage space crunch and literally every inch must be accounted for. Transit is currently trying to solve this via several options including multiple site options for new and/or replacement garages, as well as expanding one of the main transit garages - Spring Gardens.

While some buses currently have or have had bike racks, you pretty much need to outfit a large percentage of the fleet in order for any bikes-on-buses program to be effective. Through the nuances of managing the fleet and assigning buses to routes on a day-to-day basis, you don't often get the same bus units on the same routes at the same times of day on a consistent basis. So, if a large percentage of the fleet does not have bike racks, the system becomes unreliable and unpredictable for users. They can't reasonably assume that there will likely be a rack on the bus on the route they are boarding at the time they wish to do so.

RyLucky · #**5376** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 3:45 PM**

A strong alternative to bikes on buses is Bixi. A bike can be waiting for you at the bus stop with zero burden to transit.

Rusty van Reddick · #**5377** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 10:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WIGS

Couldn't bike racks be attached on to the front and/or backs of buses? just a thought

example from TriMet of Portland, OR

Don't we have some buses with bike racks? We did, certainly, at least on the 6.

ByeByeBaby · #**5378** Posted **Aug 31, 2012, 11:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyLucky

A strong alternative to bikes on buses is Bixi. A bike can be waiting for you at the bus stop with zero burden to transit.

It's only a strong alternative for trips made within the area that is well-covered by the bike share. Your starting point and transit access point both need to be covered and your transit egress point right by your destination. (Or, obviously, the reverse, or both ends well covered.)

The proposed Calgary system, concentrated in the Centre City (downtown/Beltline) wouldn't do much to replace a bike-bus combo. Essentially every bus that travels in this area goes within 8 blocks of the area that the bike share covers. So maybe you take the #3 to 17th Ave, and instead of walking from 4th St to 12th St, you can ride a bike. That's a pretty minimal gain in mobility.

An expansive system, like in Montreal, could provide some supplement to transit, but there isn't a lot of the kinds of density that would support that level of bike share in Calgary.

I'm actually not entirely convinced by the idea of bikes on buses, at least using racks like the City has had. For every rider gained by making it easier to get to or from the bus, will there be a rider lost because the bus has to spend a minute sitting there while the rider dicks around getting their bike into/out of the rack?

I think that maybe BRT routes are the most appropriate for bike racks.

Chealion · #**5379** Posted **Sep 1, 2012, 1:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

Don't we have some buses with bike racks? We did, certainly, at least on the 6.

The route 20 is supposed to have bike racks: http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/bike_racks.html

However there's no guarantee the bus you get will actually have a rack. (eg. another bus is covering a bus that broke down)

RyLucky · #**5380** Posted **Sep 1, 2012, 1:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

proposed

The link doesnt work, but I'd be interest to see it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

I'm actually not entirely convinced by the idea of bikes on buses, at least using racks like the City has had. For every rider gained by making it easier to get to or from the bus, will there be a rider lost because the bus has to spend a minute sitting there while the rider dicks around getting their bike into/out of the rack?

I think that maybe BRT routes are the most appropriate for bike racks.

I'm not entirely convinced either. After this post I'll be googling bike-bus to see what the effect in other cities has been. Personally, I can't really think of a situation when I would use it, except if I was caught in a hail storm on my bike.

Bike-on-bus implies to me that the rider would be cycling both before an after the bus ride. If I was in the suburbs destined downtown Calgary, I'd either bike all the way or lock up at the bus stop and ride transit from there. It would be nice during a hailstorm though...

I think Bixi could work well (or atleast as well as Car2Go) in a variety of Calgary locations. I think Train stations, BRZs, TODs, the Beltline, and even suburban areas could work (especially those near Calgary's 700 km of bike paths). Better bike lockers and pathways through a few choke points would help bump cycling ride share. Corporate embrace of cycling would also help. Maybe we need more policies to encourage this.