Green Line LRT | ?m | ?s | Calgary Transit

[jhappy77]

I think at this point we just need to see it elevated thru downtown and Eau Claire, using 2 St. That option was dismissed way too early in the review process last time, seemingly by office building owners who were worried about it decreasing their property values. But I really doubt their argument holds any water - elevated rail is everywhere in dense urban areas of Metro Vancouver, and people love it. Just get 'er built- it's a logical compromise that won't impact the quality of transit but will mean good transit reaches more people sooner.

 

[lemongrab]

Firstly, I wouldnt presume to tell you anything. You stated that the current alignement had proven to be false. Proven implies that there is factual evidence available to demonstrate such. I simply asked what was available, showing this. I would argue the Province pulling their funding, wasnt a demonstration of this, as they had reviewed the project multiple times, including this latest amendedment and determined if was acceptable, until they woke up one morning and decided it wasnt. If the Province releases documentation or communications with the City, showing they were questioning the reduction/tunnel section prior to the Minister pulling funding (after saying it could be taken to the bank ) I will gladly alter my viewpoint.

Political risk is present in any mega-project. The dunderheads pulling their funding in bad-faith is not itself proof, as we've seen a lot of absurd actions by them and similar governments, but in the total context I find it hard to argue that the tunnel has not eaten the project. At least FIVE major scope reductions - each time a new budget and timeline, each time proven false (for a variety of reasons tbf). This last time it certainly felt like construction was actually imminent, but who knows.

If you want to tell me that a Toyota Sequoia is the longest lasting car out there and absolute best option for my needs that's fine, but if I have to get the base model (like a peasant!) and sacrifice all of my other financial goals and I can't even afford to drive it all the way to the mountain bike trail (which would be silly anyways because I had to pawn my mountain bike...but hopefully soon I'll have the money to buy it back and make my Sequoia useful!)...then isn't it obviously not the best option?

The arguement for OPEX and user experience arriving underground, can be applied directly to an elevated option also.
I frankly dont care how other cities do things. I live in and my concerns are with Calgary and again, I wouldnt presume to tell you anything.
Im unsure as to your point about the surface lots. Which central station are you referring to?

Elevated is cheaper and arguably a better experience for more riders (but like all things here the tradeoffs vary).

The surface lots is just to say that we are not so jam packed on every square inch of downtown that anything other than underground would be essentially impossible, as is the case in much bigger cities.

I don't really disagree with the rest of your post; we all value tradeoffs differently.