Calgary LRT Map

[Jeffsey500]

Sooo..... guess I've been a little lax at updating my LRT map on Wikipedia...

Any suggestions for the next update (aside from putting the correct info on it)? It's starting to feel a touch dated.

Here's the last iteration if you haven't seen it in a while:

[Wooster]

I'd suggest sending it to Calgary Transit for their consideration. This is better than their current maps. I can accomodate that.

[Rusty van Reddick]

This might be a dumb question, but does the free fare zone now extend to "Downtown West/Kerby"?

[Doug_Cgy]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

This might be a dumb question, but does the free fare zone now extend to "Downtown West/Kerby"?

It's extended to Downtown West/Kerby. Was just on the new leg tonight, what a great addition to our transit system.

[tmjr]

Great map!

I suggest making the ancillary stuff a little less faint. No biggie though!

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Doug_Cgy

It's extended to Downtown West/Kerby. Was just on the new leg tonight, what a great addition to our transit system.

MAN that's a long strip of free fare! From DW/K to City Hall (is the the zone terminus?) is at least a mile.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

MAN that's a long strip of free fare! From DW/K to City Hall (is the the zone terminus?) is at least a mile.

I'm sure the moochers will be offended by this sentiment, but given financial constraints and the city searching for dollars to improve transit, should the free fare zone be abolished? I don't recall such a zone in any of the "world cities" I've been to.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by suburbia

I'm sure the moochers will be offended by this sentiment, but given financial constraints and the city searching for dollars to improve transit, should the free fare zone be abolished? I don't recall such a zone in any of the "world cities" I've been to.

Definitely not. It takes cars off the road, makes networking easy, and is extremely accessible. 7th ave should be a model for how mass transit can interface with a city.

[Wooster]

Up until recently Portland had a large downtown free-fare zone. Also extended across the river to the arena and convention centre. Had to cut it due to a serious drop in revenue from sales and payroll taxes in the recession.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Wooster

Up until recently Portland had a large downtown free-fare zone. Also extended across the river to the arena and convention centre. Had to cut it due to a serious drop in revenue from sales and payroll taxes in the recession.

Holy crap. But I can see the problems- the fareless square (which had been around a LONG time- I was in college in Portland from 1982-86 and it was a great thing that came before me, I know) comprised buses as well as the MAX and later streetcars- and it was a massive area; you could go from the Pearl district to Lloyd Center for free. People working downtown and living in the inner NE never had to pay for transit- ever. That's going a bit far but it was great when you were visiting!

[Policy Wonk]

Originally Posted by suburbia

should the free fare zone be abolished?

It should be, but not for that reason. It should be eliminated so that vagrants can be removed from the LRT downtown.

[Chadillaccc]

We should also post a future LRT map on Wikipedia as well. Edmonton has one, I think we should too.

[SubwayRev]

Originally Posted by suburbia

I'm sure the moochers will be offended by this sentiment, but given financial constraints and the city searching for dollars to improve transit, should the free fare zone be abolished? I don't recall such a zone in any of the "world cities" I've been to.

Many cities have a bus route around their downtown which is free. Included are Denver, Oakland, San Jose and Sydney.

Also, Miami and Jacksonville have free people movers downtown, which serve the same purpose as our free fare zone; a quick way to get from one part of downtown to another. New York also doesn't charge for the Staten Island Ferry either, which carriers over 50,000 people a day and is a vital part of their transit network.


Abolishing the free fare zone wouldn't lead to any financial windfall for the city, as the relatively short distances covered can be made on foot in a reasonable time; so the people using the free fare zone would just walk instead; or if there are more than two in their party, probably take a cab, especially non-peak times when trains aren't as frequent.

[kw5150]

Getting rid of it would not help the homeless riding situation either. They would just ride for free anyway and then cause an altercation when getting booted off. Getting rid of it wouldn't do anybody any good. I suggest that calgary transit has a way to donate to transit (besides buying a ticket?). I ride the free line now and then and would have no problem shelling out some money on a yearly basis to ride. Maybe I will just pay for a pass now and then when I am on the free line?

They should just announce again that fare dodgers will be prosecuted if found. That always seems to work.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by kw5150

Getting rid of it would not help the homeless riding situation either. They would just ride for free anyway and then cause an altercation when getting booted off.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner!

The only way to deal with this "problem" would be to spend the money making the stations inaccessible without payment. And I can't see that being done for less than a few millions, based on what these stations cost.

Personally, I find the CTrain the most commuter friendly transit system I've ever ridden on (and while I haven't exactly been EVERYWHERE in the world, I've been on several dozen metro/LRT systems). It's so damned awesome to just be able to walk up, board a train, and go when you have a pass. No futzing around with machines, no missing the train because the guy in front of you can't figure out which way the ticket goes, no dealing with turnstiles that just don't want to read your slightly bent magstripe. And the stations on 7th Ave are just so welcoming and inviting. They really are part of the downtown landscape in a way that's not always common.

[DizzyEdge]

I wonder how much it would cost to have LRT security in teams of 3 enter each car at city hall (one person each) and then get off at Kerby, and then catch the next train back, etc all day. A lot less than turnstiles of course.

[RyLucky]

Maybe I'm a socialist or something, but I'd be happy with bus passes free to all tax payers. Like how it is in University or high school. No turnstiles, no checking... Just modest security. Of course, they arent really free, their just imposed. Bulk discount though. Per person the cost would go down, and I bet most people will still drive.

In the past, at times when I didn't have a pass, sometimes not having a pass was enough to make me choose driving. Now that I have a pass I almost never drive except for certain kinds of trips. Even when I was driving every day, I wouldn't mind paying a couple bucks per commute to have fewer drivers on the road.

The main problem with this approach is that busses and trains would probably be more crowded. However, CT would be raking it in if passes were imposed through taxes. With all that revenue they could probably improve frequency. I guess what I'm talking about is making transit an imposed socialized public good, like education or health care. I'm aware that this kind of policy could be extremely unpopular to every-person-for-themselves type thinkers, but I really think the economic benefit of having to build/repair fewer road, saved commute time, improved air quality, health benefits of walking/less pollution, blah blah blah, etc. Congestion is massively expensive to our economy. People ought to not only demand more transit, but be willing to fund it as a city.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

I wonder how much it would cost to have LRT security in teams of 3 enter each car at city hall (one person each) and then get off at Kerby, and then catch the next train back, etc all day. A lot less than turnstiles of course.

I guess what I mean to say is that the goal of public transit is to move people. Giving tickets to the poorest demographics of the city is not an effective way to recoup fares. The cost of constant checking of tickets would be better spent on putting maps and schedules in bus stops or GPS technology.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

I wonder how much it would cost to have LRT security in teams of 3 enter each car at city hall (one person each) and then get off at Kerby, and then catch the next train back, etc all day. A lot less than turnstiles of course.

3 reasonable salaries, plus salary and administrative overhead - I'm gonna go with $150,000 each, so $450,000 per year for a single "team". At any given time (at its busiest) there are 2-3 trains on 7th Ave in each direction, let's be conservative and go with 2, so that's 4 trains at a time. 4 x $450,000 = $1.8 million. Per year.

While I think turnstiles will cost a lot, they'd also last a long time - decades, perhaps - let's go with 20 years before major refurbishment is required. 20 x $1.8 = $36 million. Now, what do we have, 45 stations in the system? Would it cost a million dollars to enclose each station, and set up turnstiles etc?

Damn, at first I was going to pick apart your suggestion, but I think you may be right. It might be cheaper to just pay people to be on fulltime train patrol.

The irony is, it would be most effective (cost and otherwise) to have turnstiles only installed on 7th Ave, and let the rest of the stations work on the honour system.

[monocle]

I think he's talking about an "authority presence" to deter mischief.