Calgary Public Transit II - Page 372

Chadillaccc · #**7421** Posted **Jan 3, 2014, 8:48 PM**

I really think all weekends and drinking holidays should have service with the last trains leaving downtown at 2:15 - 2:30 AM.

DizzyEdge · #**7422** Posted **Jan 3, 2014, 9:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VIce

The overnight service outage is fairly important for maintenance, has the lowest projected ridership, and the highest liability (in terms of vandalism, violence, vomit). However, I wonder if it wouldn't make sense to run regular 40-foot buses on the 201 and 202 routes for late-night service, especially on nights that expect heavy drinking.

Yeah I'm not convinced that the LRT has to run, buses in it's place sounds fine. In Toronto the night schedule is a reduced list of routes so that most of the city is within 2km of a stop. So maybe the existing LRT (as bus) + BRT routes, and then a few other routes to fill some of the gaps as the LRT/BRT fans out away from the innercity.

Also I see that Toronto's regular service hours are pretty similar to Calgary's, I wonder if the usage of the LRT after 12:30 is low enough that the entire system could switch to night schedule at 12:30.

suburbia · #**7423** Posted **Jan 3, 2014, 11:02 PM**

This could be in the pathway network thread as much as public transit ...

"Norman Foster has proposed a network of elevated cycle routes on top of London's railways"
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/01/03/this-week-in-architecture-and-design-foster-skycycle/

Check out that first picture - pretty cool!

Allan83 · #**7424** Posted **Jan 5, 2014, 7:34 AM**

HSR related:
A blogger on why maglev might not be the right thing for the US northwest. I think the reasons highlight why it could well be the right thing for Alberta, however.
http://archplanbaltimore.blogspot.ca/2013/12/why-maglev-may-notbe-answer.html

pulkit10 · #**7425** Posted **Jan 8, 2014, 9:50 AM**

I'm drastically altering the discussion here from HSRs and late night NYE bus service but regarding LRT parking...anyone here from the south that uses the Park & Ride?

Got to Anderson at around 9 am last morning and everything was gone. When's the latest you can find any stalls down there? or any other South LRT station?

CTrainDude · #**7426** Posted **Jan 8, 2014, 3:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pulkit10

I'm drastically altering the discussion here from HSRs and late night NYE bus service but regarding LRT parking...anyone here from the south that uses the Park & Ride?

Got to Anderson at around 9 am last morning and everything was gone. When's the latest you can find any stalls down there? or any other South LRT station?

If you can wait till 10:00 you can take a reserved spot.

MalcolmTucker · #**7427** Posted **Jan 8, 2014, 4:15 PM**

I've heard 7:30 is around the latest time.

I am surprised, since in the mid 2000s there were always plenty of spots. I guess a result of the weird pay parking scheme we have in place.

J-D · #**7428** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 1:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

I've heard 7:30 is around the latest time.

I am surprised, since in the mid 2000s there were always plenty of spots. I guess a result of the weird pay parking scheme we have in place.

There were always hundreds of empty reserved parking spots in the morning when I would get there around 7:15-7:20 as the lot filled up. Irritating to say the least.

Boris2k7 · #**7429** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 4:24 PM**

Not Calgary but it does bring, to my mind, some questions about our own failed attempts at implementing a smart card program.

Quote:

New York Wants to Get Rid of Subway Cards. It’s About Time.

By Will Oremus

New York City officials are celebrating the 20th birthday of the MetroCard this week by calling for its demise.

“I was hoping we wouldn’t have it this long,” an MTA board member told amNewYork.* “I think New Yorkers will be very happy when we put the MetroCard to bed.”

The idea is to replace the iconic yellow-and-blue cards by 2019 with various ways for customers to pay by tapping or waving their own credit cards, smartphones, or other RFID- or NFC-enabled devices. As plans go, that’s a little nebulous, but I suspect that’s on purpose: The city doesn’t want to commit itself to one technology today when a new one might come along tomorrow.

...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/...ditch_it_for_smartphone_apps_credit.html

MalcolmTucker · #**7430** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 4:41 PM**

When Toronto issued its RFP, both Visa and MC proposed proprietary systems at no upfront cost to the TTC, but it would have forced all users onto branded cards.

ByeByeBaby · #**7431** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 6:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

Not Calgary but it does bring, to my mind, some questions about our own failed attempts at implementing a smart card program.

The Metrocard is somewhat different from a smart card; it's a paper magnetic strip thing. A smart card system here would be more like what NYC is going to, and less like what it's coming from.

Boris2k7 · #**7432** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 6:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

The Metrocard is somewhat different from a smart card; it's a paper magnetic strip thing. A smart card system here would be more like what NYC is going to, and less like what it's coming from.

Right. Just pointing out though, NYC is also looking beyond smart cards and onto newer technology, keeping their options a little open. Will be interesting to see what their choice is.

milomilo · #**7433** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 6:28 PM**

AFAIK there's no real reason smartcards cannot coexist with payments done through a mobile phone or credit card, it's all the same NFC technology. I think the biggest barrier would be the mobile phone operators/credit card companies all trying to get a monopoly on the contracts with the customer losing out as a result.

I don't really understand why it has been such a problem rolling out smartcards in Calgary, and I hope it can be sorted out soon. Definitely better than buying pieces of paper from Safeway and will help give the city much more accurate passenger usage data.

MalcolmTucker · #**7434** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 6:34 PM**

It isn't a problem rolling out smart cards, the difficulty is doing so without spending a boat load of money. There are lots of companies that will sell you a system with a 3% processing fee for all your fares ever. Building a system without that leads you to the Presto example which will cost $700 million over 10 years.

MMMBeer · #**7435** Posted **Jan 9, 2014, 7:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-D

There were always hundreds of empty reserved parking spots in the morning when I would get there around 7:15-7:20 as the lot filled up. Irritating to say the least.

So why don't you get a reserved spot? There's 500+ available right now.

J-D · #**7436** Posted **Jan 10, 2014, 12:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMMBeer

So why don't you get a reserved spot? There's 500+ available right now.

Because that's $96 + $70

I just took that and pay for parking downtown instead.

UofC.engineer · #**7437** Posted **Jan 10, 2014, 1:50 AM**

Third Quarter ridership results:

http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2013-q3-ridership-APTA.pdf

Once again ridership increased 7%(YTD) for Calgary.

milomilo · #**7438** Posted **Jan 10, 2014, 2:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

Third Quarter ridership results:

http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2013-q3-ridership-APTA.pdf

Once again ridership increased 7%(YTD) for Calgary.

That's great! What I didn't expect to see was all the negative growth in other cities.

fusili · #**7439** Posted **Jan 10, 2014, 4:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by milomilo

That's great! What I didn't expect to see was all the negative growth in other cities.

Agreed. Notice how much the total US growth is pretty much dictated by how much growth the New York MTA grows. Every US city with heavy rail declined except LA, San Fran, Miami and NYC, yet growth was positive. Maybe this is because NYC makes up 2/3 of heavy rail ridership in the US.

fusili · #**7440** Posted **Jan 10, 2014, 4:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

Third Quarter ridership results:

http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2013-q3-ridership-APTA.pdf

Once again ridership increased 7%(YTD) for Calgary.

Question: Am I correct to assume that "AG" under Burnaby (Vancouver) stands for "Automated Guideway" and refers to SkyTrain?