West LRT | 7 Stations | 8.0 KM | In Service

[ByeByeBaby]

I made it out to the opening; saw the first train to 69th Ave, and all four fireworks. The speeches in Ernest Manning were decent; there were signs saying that the speeches had been moved in there, but I have no idea how they would have handled the crowd anywhere smaller than a high school gym. It must suck to be Redford and McIver and hear Nenshi get a louder ovation everytime they share a stage.

I took full advantage of the free ride, as did thousands of other people; I got off at every station (I've been to every station except Saddletowne now), although at Sirocco I just got my "passport" stamped and hopped back on the same train.

Lots of nice moments today:

• Nenshi's speech was really well received. The highlights were: noting that George (Badge #1) was the driver of the first trains down the South, Northeast and Northwest LRTs back in the 80s. Mentioning Route Ahead, and telling Redford it'll cost a lot of money (which it will!) The cheer that went up when he said it would be 12 minutes from 69th to downtown. On time, and within 3% of budget.
• Lots of activity at every station; apparently it was $50K, but you couldn't buy that amount of publicity with so many people riding the train and hanging out at the stations.
• The highlight stations are impressive; 69th is massive from ground level. Westbrook is a decent platform, although in person I'm a little surprised they went with split rather than a centre platform.
• Sunalta's building is massive, and I wonder if it could have been laid out so as to have a cafe or something like that in the middle. I know that kiosks didn't perform well in the past, but they could really only visited by commuters, since they were suspended in the middle of a roadway. A cafe-or-something in Sunalta could be at ground level in a reasonably dense neighbourhood; if the zombies don't get everybody, I think this will kick 10th Ave up to another level 10 years from now.
• The view from Shag Pt and Sunalta into downtown are great; the 202 is definitely the scenic route now. (Before, you could compare the view coming from SAIT versus the one down Memorial -- depends on how big the mountains are.)
• When I was getting on the train at Downtown West later in the day, I saw three hipster-types getting off the train. One of the guys was fiddling with his phone. Just before the doors closed, I heard him announce to his friends "Eleven minutes, fifty-three seconds". Truth in advertising!

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by srperrycgy

Mayor Nenshi and CT Employee George Dorn (Badge #1). George just turned 76 and has worked for the City for 48 years.


WLRTOpening-12082012-4 by srp775, on Flickr

Looks pretty good for 76!

[Ramsayfarian]

The Herald has a bunch of reader's photos online. They included this tweet from Marksuoff: ""Free to 69 for all! Thanks #yyc Transit! I'll stop tittering about the name in a few weeks."

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Your+photos+west+maiden+voyage/7672031/story.html#ixzz2EZwli7Mo

[Wigs]

frinkprof, It was nice meeting you yesterday at the West LRT opening and seeing srperrycgy sporting his CTrain shirt as well

[Wigs]

great photos srperrycgy!

Bigtime, you missed out on quite the event! a great day to be Calgarian.

George Dorn is pretty amazing. Worked for the city for almost 50 years and has driven the CTrain since day 1! He's a Calgary institution himself. kudos Mr. Dorn!

[Wigs]

My friend Aïda was lucky enough to get the opportunity to pose with the Mayor showing off our CTrain shirt at the West LRT opening
MayorNenshi-Aida-WestLRTopening by OneAndOnlyWigs, on Flickr

[RyLucky]

I would just like to add that the WLRT is incredible. I really got the sense that we pulled out all the stops to make a really, really nice LRT line.

Calgary's LRT system is unlike anything in any other city. I've been in a thousand subway/metro systems and they are all a little different but in general feel the same. I've been on a thousand trains and streetcars and they are all a little different too. The Ctrain is greatly different than anything I've seen. Even the stations and station areas are totally unique from one another. Riding the new line yesterday, I tried to picture what Westbrook and Sunalta stations would feel like surrounded by 30-story towers, parks/walkways/bike paths, and future institutions. Both areas are now totally ready for redevelopment. Bring on the TOD!

[bigcanuck]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

When I was getting on the train at Downtown West later in the day, I saw three hipster-types getting off the train. One of the guys was fiddling with his phone. Just before the doors closed, I heard him announce to his friends "Eleven minutes, fifty-three seconds". Truth in advertising!

Our trip was over 15 minutes but we had several small delays loading/unloading the passengers due to the huge crowds - and this was closer to 2:30pm. Still, no complaints about the duration.

[Calgarian]

Anyone take the train downtown today? I'm curious how well it worked during rush hour.

[bigcanuck]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Anyone take the train downtown today? I'm curious how well it worked during rush hour.

It was fine - hopped on at 69th around 7:40am and it took about 16-17 minutes to get to 6th Street. We were slightly past the peak period so it wasn't busting at the seams. Just a handful of standers by the time we reached the core.

[freeweed]

I'm curious how the platform loading is going to be, pretty much specifically when heading home after work. The westbound stations will have quite a lot more foot traffic to contend with after years of "oh, it's just a City Centre train, everyone can ignore than except the 2 lazy people who can't walk 3 blocks".

I suspect the NW traffic will take a few weeks at least to get used to a whole other herd of people who will in fact be boarding those trains. Should be interesting for a while. How do expected ridership numbers compare? I'd think the WLRT would be at least 50% as busy as the NW?

[mersar]

Estimate is 25k/day initially, growing to 35k/day within a couple years I believe. Based on what I saw and head on Saturday, I wouldn't be surprised if it hits the 35 mark faster.

Tons of pictures coming later this week from me, I did a couple trips back and forth on Saturday and have a pile of panoramics, and other assorted photos just needing to be processed and uploaded.

Saw a few different SSP'ers too, didn't get a chance to talk to everyone I saw though

[kw5150]

I love the new west line. No negative comments about anything at all, just the general comment the I prefer the above ground sections.

The subterranean westbrook station is very cool and we went to the mall to browse and pick up a few things which was really efficient. You literally come out of the ground and there is a shopping centre right there. You can expect to see some serious T.O.D investment in this area very soon I think.

One of the best parts of this line is the view as you sweep over sunalta and fly by the beltline. It becomes quiet apparent to how dense the beltline is from up there. A great view.

We took the train from Sunalta to the end of line. We got off and walked to Mucho Burrito and had a late lunch. The view of the mountains is nice from 69th street. We then hopped on the train and rode back downtown and thendown to the Empire theatre at shawnessy for a movie. You can really have a great day in Calgary using only the train now. You could before the west line, but there is now a more complete feeling because you can go in all four directions (with exception to the north central future line being true north)

We are very lucky to have this train. It is scenic and functional.

[Doug]

I doubt the West line ridership will every come close to the NW or S lines simply because the west side of the city is less populous and is closer to buildout. TOD around Westbrook will help, but realistically how many people will ever live along the line? The line is great from a design perspective but dramatically trails the others in terms of capital cost/ridership potential.

A train just went through 26 St and the crossing signals didn't come on until the second car was through the intersection. Whoops.

City/CT guys were there this morning messing with it and just now, as well.

[Doug]

Also concerned that the City is trying to push NC over SE as next line. Using existing transit ridership as a key metric is flawed:

1) Simply replacing bus riders with LRT riders doesn't do much other than lower operating costs which likely won't be sufficient to justify the capital cost

2) What could SE ridership be if truely rapid transit were in place? I suspect very, very high as the driving alternative is nasty and unlikely to improve.

3) The SE line has 2 employment nodes already developing. The NC line has potential nodes in the Center St corridor and maybe Aurora Business Park. Neither are certain.

4) The SE line will take some load off the S line, which will always be the route under the greatest capacity crunch simply because it parallels Macleod.

5) The far suburban SE has the largest land base in the city and will likely be the leading suburban growth area for coming decades.

6) There are possibilities for TOD along the line if the CP Ogden Yard ever becomes an employment hub (CP HQ relocation could kick something off). Longer term, I wouldn't be surprised if the CP Alyth yard relocates.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by Doug

Also concerned that the City is trying to push NC over SE as next line. Using existing transit ridership as a key metric is flawed:

1) Simply replacing bus riders with LRT riders doesn't do much other than lower operating costs which likely won't be sufficient to justify the capital cost. Operator labour is the highest cost for transit agencies in North America. Reducing this cost is fundamental and often justifies the capital cost

2) What could SE ridership be if truely rapid transit were in place? I suspect very, very high as the driving alternative is nasty and unlikely to improve. The same could be said for the NC LRT.

3) The SE line has 2 employment nodes already developing. The NC line has potential nodes in the Center St corridor and maybe Aurora Business Park. Neither are certain. True, and definitely a consideration for rapid transit to the SE

4) The SE line will take some load off the S line, which will always be the route under the greatest capacity crunch simply because it parallels Macleod. True again, but only modestly.

5) The far suburban SE has the largest land base in the city and will likely be the leading suburban growth area for coming decades. The exact same could be said for Keystone Hills

6) There are possibilities for TOD along the line if the CP Ogden Yard ever becomes an employment hub (CP HQ relocation could kick something off). Longer term, I wouldn't be surprised if the CP Alyth yard relocates.There is much more potential for redevelopment along the NC line due to the proximity of residential areas and road layouts. Tuxedo/Highland Park/Mount Pleasant/etc could triple in population with just townhouses instead of singles.

Comments in bold above.

[kw5150]

It already has good ridership on its first day, no?

Originally Posted by Doug

I doubt the West line ridership will every come close to the NW or S lines simply because the west side of the city is less populous and is closer to buildout. TOD around Westbrook will help, but realistically how many people will ever live along the line? The line is great from a design perspective but dramatically trails the others in terms of capital cost/ridership potential.

[Doug]

1) Spending billions to reduce tens of operators wouldn't even come close to making sense.

2) Maybe. BRT and Route 3 are aleady successful. How much time would LRT save over those alternatives?

3) How many jobs could be added along a Center Street routing? Definately not in the same order of magnitude as those being added at Seton and QP

4) Most of the bus routes south of Glenmore feed stations on the south line. Redirecting commuters from Riverbend, QP, Douglasdale, McKenzie etc. could ease capacity to support SW development west of Evergreen.

5) Keystone Hills is big, but eventually development in that direction will run into Airdrie and Bearspaw. The SE is wide open to the east and south.

6) What are the chances of tripling population in those areas given NIMBY push back? Even if the population did triple, what would that add, maybe 15K potential riders? QP alone will be pushing that number. Inglewood and Ramsay also have huge densification potential.The SE line would also service the eastern portion of the Beltline.

Best options for NC would be a street car up Center maybe past 16th Ave and an eventual LRT line following Nose Creek. Blowing its brains out on a multi-billion dollar tunnel up Center Street would cripple the City for decades.

[RyLucky]

A great thing about the SELRT is it will provide an option that is WAY better than current road connectivity. By better, I mean more direct, linear, a right-of-way that goes the right way. It will be more direct and faster than driving for nearly every station.

Compare that to any other C-train line, which essentially all follow arterial roads. The big advantage NWLRT has over cars is how it cuts through Sunnyside going directly downtown. The WLRT has the advantage of a shortcut between 17th Ave and Bow Trail. The SELRT is going to make shortcuts throughout much of it's length. This also means construction wont be as disruptive, with the exception of downtown, where construction will be massively disruptive. My point is, using current metrics to decide which line to build first does not take into account just how poorly connected the communities of the SE are.