Calgary Public Transit II

[MalcolmTucker]

Given low demand levels and the corridor I bet automated people mover. Smaller stations helps to save big $ when they are all grade separated.

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Given low demand levels and the corridor I bet automated people mover. Smaller stations helps to save big $ when they are all grade separated.

That would add another technology to the mix. What would people mover offer over BRT? Other than being a 'train'?

The biggest thing to me is putting in a proper station and a proper line on the map showing where it will go. Right now the bus is in a dingy corner of the road and god knows where it drops you downtown, less so where you would go to take it back.

[MalcolmTucker]

No operators, allowing high frequency without much operating cost penalty. Add stops without too much penalty And yeah, BRT in the until then.

[milomilo]

No operators is a plus, fair enough. Would those cost savings exceed the cost of building a guideway, buying and maintaining new vehicles vs building a grade separated road and running buses though?

I'm normally all for building rail vs buses. But, IMO, a people mover is even more rinky dink than a bus while offering little if any benefit.

[YYCguys]

The YYZ people mover is horrible! Not a smooth ride at all and it’s just a couple minutes ride between terminals. If CT goes with that technology, it better be 1000 % better than that at YYZ!

[technomad]

Originally Posted by milomilo

No operators is a plus, fair enough. Would those cost savings exceed the cost of building a guideway, buying and maintaining new vehicles vs building a grade separated road and running buses though?

I'm normally all for building rail vs buses. But, IMO, a people mover is even more rinky dink than a bus while offering little if any benefit.

nothing rinky-dink about building a maglev link from YYC right to downtown..

could be proof of concept / phase 0 of AB HSR.. and I think it would get a lot more use than an automated shuttle to the nearest LRT stop

and with a under 5 minute travel time from core to terminal, Calgary would essentially have a downtown airport!

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by technomad

nothing rinky-dink about building a maglev link from YYC right to downtown..

could be proof of concept / phase 0 of AB HSR.. and I think it would get a lot more use than an automated shuttle to the nearest LRT stop

and with a under 5 minute travel time from core to terminal, Calgary would essentially have a downtown airport!

Great. Who's paying?

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by technomad

nothing rinky-dink about building a maglev link from YYC right to downtown..

could be proof of concept / phase 0 of AB HSR.. and I think it would get a lot more use than an automated shuttle to the nearest LRT stop

and with a under 5 minute travel time from core to terminal, Calgary would essentially have a downtown airport!

Not going to happen. If Maglev was going to happen anywhere, it would have happened in China - and even here, they decided the Maglev was a bad idea after only building the white elephant that is the Shanghai Transrapid. If China, which has probably spent more money in the last decade on infrastructure than the rest of the world combined, decided not to go with Maglev, it's very unlikely to happen anywhere else either.

[technomad]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Not going to happen. If Maglev was going to happen anywhere, it would have happened in China - and even here, they decided the Maglev was a bad idea after only building the white elephant that is the Shanghai Transrapid. If China, which has probably spent more money in the last decade on infrastructure than the rest of the world combined, decided not to go with Maglev, it's very unlikely to happen anywhere else either.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/a...es-up-new-world-speed-record-in-test-run



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen

It's totally understandable for China to have gone with more traditional HSR given the enormous network they were power building, and the QC problems along the way..

That said, my recent experiences on the HSR network there were great (far better than the airports!)
I have no doubt that a maglev line will happen at some point in China's future

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by technomad

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/a...es-up-new-world-speed-record-in-test-run



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen

It's totally understandable for China to have gone with more traditional HSR given the enormous network they were power building, and the QC problems along the way..

That said, my recent experiences on the HSR network there were great (far better than the airports!)
I have no doubt that a maglev line will happen at some point in China's future

I'll believe it when I see it in operation. There were big plans for Maglev here in China too - it was originally planned to extend all the way to Shanghai's other airport (Hongqiao) and all the way to Hangzhou prior to the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, but public protests and concerns about costs relative to traditional HSR prevented it from ever expanding beyond the short little line that was actually built (which predates the Chinese HSR system by several years, BTW - the Shanghai Transrapid opened in 2003, whereas the first true HSR line in China, the Beijing-Tianjin line, opened just prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008).

[technomad]

Originally Posted by milomilo

Great. Who's paying?

beyond the usual suspects?

maybe we could cut an energy for tech deal with Japan? give them a small project to show off the tech over here in effort to win bigger work like the US NE line in exchange for a chunk of black gold

add a big P&R parkade into the project at the airport and you could probably make some serious $$$ off the commuter fares and parking fees..
could also cut a deal with airdrie to use it as last leg of their ICE buses

I just don't think we should waste money half-assing infrastructure. and I don't think a slowish transport mode that involves a lot of transfers will see a lot of use..

not compared to one that would be virtually guaranteed to capture 100% of business travelers heading downtown, and is a central point for anyone who's not living/working in the core

add commuter numbers into the mix and there might not be any capacity left for the rest of the HSR line!

[technomad]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

I'll believe it when I see it in operation. There were big plans for Maglev here in China too - it was originally planned to extend all the way to Shanghai's other airport (Hongqiao) and all the way to Hangzhou prior to the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, but public protests and concerns about costs relative to traditional HSR prevented it from ever expanding beyond the short little line that was actually built (which predates the Chinese HSR system by several years, BTW - the Shanghai Transrapid opened in 2003, whereas the first true HSR line in China, the Beijing-Tianjin line, opened just prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008).

Yeah, being an early adopter can definitely give one some hesitations about going further.. and for a big meshed network with lots of switch points, building out a widespread traditional HSR network first absolutely made sense.
I think maglev is a better fit for a simple linear route, like Cal-Edm or NE US. no complicated moving parts, just back and forth
apparently costs have dropped significantly in recent years too. the Japan project is costing ~$175m/km (USD), and that includes a lot of tunneling
meanwhile.. Calgary's PH1 Green line is estimated to be ~$230m/km (CAD)

If a maglev line came into the core elevated, might even be cheaper?

[Rollerstud98]

Originally Posted by technomad

Yeah, being an early adopter can definitely give one some hesitations about going further.. and for a big meshed network with lots of switch points, building out a widespread traditional HSR network first absolutely made sense.
I think maglev is a better fit for a simple linear route, like Cal-Edm or NE US. no complicated moving parts, just back and forth
apparently costs have dropped significantly in recent years too. the Japan project is costing ~$175m/km (USD), and that includes a lot of tunneling
meanwhile.. Calgary's PH1 Green line is estimated to be ~$230m/km (CAD)

If a maglev line came into the core elevated, might even be cheaper?

Only thing that comes to my mind is the monorail from the simpsons! Pretty sure that may have been Leonard Nimoys first episode. It didn’t end well.

[technomad]

Originally Posted by Rollerstud98

Only thing that comes to my mind is the monorail from the simpsons! Pretty sure that may have been Leonard Nimoys first episode. It didn’t end well.

poor elevated rail.. can't get a break ever since that episode thanks goodness the skytrain was built when it was!

in fact.. I might don my finest tinfoil apparel for a moment here and suggest that perhaps it was the success of skytrain and the ALRT concept that got certain 'business interests' to ask their friends at FOX to help demoralize the concept?

regardless.. at LRT costs, I'd say the maglev airport link is worth doing, and to get into the core, you can either viaduct over the CP tracks, or tunnel in..

now a tunnel could cut down the route length, make it even faster.. get that terminal to terminal time down to 3 minutes

but.. I think elevated will be cheaper, and visibility helps with the marketing of the service. plus, cuz magnets, should be pretty quiet too

also makes it easier to push it out to banff someday if the tech proves viable and affordable. a lot easier than working with the CP route, and would be an incredibly fast trip

I know you're more of a truckster guy, but just think of all the cabs this would take out out of DT and deerfoot! more room to park the AB road tanks

[Rollerstud98]

Hey I love trains and I love magnets, combine the 2 and we’ve got a winner! Whenever I attend either Flames or stamps games I Park out in Brentwood and jump on a train. My line of work requires me to have a van full of tools and often work downtown. Cars2go are my nemesis!

[joe498]

Council passes the $366,000 MAX marketing program for the new BRT bus routes to be released in the fall.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

Gonna cross post this on a few forums, some comments on a Toronto area forum compared the C-Train to GO transit in many ways and it does seem to be a somewhat apt comparison:

https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/go...ng-extensions.4952/page-826#post-1361622

How do people think we can improve the number of people using the C-Train outside of commuting? TOD, off-peak discount etc?

Probably TOD. If you live outside of the innercity you're probably using the ctrain for work and possibly to access other entertainment/rec sites within the innercity. But if you live innercity where are you taking the train to? Probably Chinook mall and probably not much else. Having most of Calgary's top destinations on the LRT would help a lot, or of course other concentrated employment centers.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[joe498]

Surprised the fall transit schedule has not been released yet.