THIS ARTICLE provides an explanation of the Calgary LRT situation
The original $700 million estimate, while it did not take into account the additional levels of grade separation and other project scope changes, also did not take into account work done to surrounding roads, the high school, etc.
It's kind of like how the primary contractor's Evergreen Line work amounts to some $900 million to $1 billion, and the $1.4 billion budget accounts for other works such as that on North Road, power lines, the CP rail relocation, etc., as n-name posted on the other page. I went to Connect2Edmonton and requested that this email be forwarded to me actually (I was once called by a project manager at Evergreen Line who made it seem as if this wasn't the case, but this email would contradict that if from someone his senior), but no response yet.
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Now, let's get that out of the way and move back to some Broadway corridor discussion.
Huge analysis was outed this morning by SkyTrain for Surrey Initiative, examining the feasibility of a SkyTrain extension to Arbutus only (first) in favour of a more balanced regional rapid transit investment plan that includes Surrey in case of limited funding (and without excluding a full UBC SkyTrain solution later).
An interesting key point is the recommendation of a reintroduction of the non-stop 99 Special/Express (i.e. the 2003-2006 UBC to Broadway peak-hour nonstop service) but between Arbutus and UBC instead, on top of the 99 & 9.
Some key points:
Quote:
Evening the Scales: Exploring the feasibility of Broadway SkyTrain to Arbutus only (first) [LINK]
- ...........the debate has moved to the point where many have considered the high expenses of a bored SkyTrain tunnel all the way to UBC (the only option currently supported by the City of Vancouver) or the potential that a SkyTrain extension would only be funded to Arbutus (halfway) as a justification to start advocating for LRT as an option that would create a full east-west non-stop option to UBC with somewhat improved capacity, despite the tradeoffs that would make such a system inferior and infeasible.
- By extending higher-capacity SkyTrain service to Arbutus, travellers to UBC and students will still enjoy major benefits, as they will be ensured a reliable public transit service to the lower-demand areas of Arbutus where they can then more easily get onto a bus to UBC, without facing the hassle of Central Broadway riders – who would have already gotten off, and would have been easily accommodated by the superior capacity of SkyTrain service.
- While a major rapid transit expansion to SFU had been proposed [CLICK HERE], it is not expected to be delivered in the same time frame and is not a priority [CLICK HERE]. To this, we would like to raise an important point regarding regional prioritization of rapid transit investments. Some regional transit advocates are arguing that UBC should receive priority over the transit-shorthanded City of Surrey for rapid transit investments; but if UBC needs be prioritized for rapid transit investment before the City of Surrey, then so does SFU’s Burnaby Mountain Campus.
- Limited-stop express services are more efficient – they can complete more trips with less service hours and annual operating costs, because the removal of stops shortens travel time, increases overall speed, and increases service hour efficiency. A non-stop peak hour express from a future Arbutus SkyTrain station to UBC will maximize capacity for travellers from Arbutus and from all new and existing SkyTrain stops east heading into UBC. Such a combination would make sense, as 50% of UBC commuters come from outside the City of Vancouver – but the service would not restrict the non-stop express benefit to travellers from Commercial-Broadway only, as did the previous implementation of the 99 Express.
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A non-stop peak-hour only (or all day?) nonstop from Arbutus to UBC would create a balance between the somewhat superior time of a single LRT ride (26 minutes, assuming no disruptions) and the need for reliability/capacity of SkyTrain to service Central Broadway, without the megamassive initial capital cost bill and without excluding the future potential of a SkyTrain into UBC (by way of putting an LRT there instead).
Broadway is less busy west of here (i.e. less traffic disruptions, less volume in general, and less leapfrogging busses) and a non-stop bus would remove dwell times at 4 stops. By my calculations, the average SkyTrain dwell time is some 52 seconds from (decleration start to acceleration finish)... so the travel time would be similar to taking the UBC Rapid Transit Study Combo 2 alternative but with Combo 1-like travel times? (And operating cost benefit). In any case this'd be way more reliable in a way - considering that SkyTrain is out of the way completely, and that buses unlike a fixed-rail service can reroute around closed sections of the corridor - than LRT.
Just taking the assumption of a 4 minute savings per trip from Arbutus (at some stops it might not even be close to this, but I'd think that that's balanced with more difficult boarding onto buses vs. trains, i.e. what if the wheelchair ramp needs to go down), that releases an additional service hour for every 15 one-way trips - and each service hour can fit some 3-extra one-way trips. So, one extra trip for every five. Assuming the existing 2-minute peak frequency, if every second trip were revised into a non-stop express... that could be some 5-6 extra bus loads - between 600 to 720 people - a ~20% increase to some 4320 pphpd from 3600, during the peak hour. Let's say 99 frequency west of Arbutus is improved to every 90 seconds after 99 service stops east of there. 40 trips an hour or 4800 up from 3600 pphpd with the existing 99. Change every second trip into an express = 8 extra trips. Instantly, could be above 5000 and up to 5760 pphpd - a 60% net improvement from existing B-Line service - and without the lag from Central Broadway ridership to delay buses and cause leapfrogging & delays.
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