Calgary Transit

[CalgaryTiger]

Are we all forgetting that CT acknowledges that there is not enough buses or drivers for their ideal level of service. The riders are there, the drivers and buses are not.

 

[Transit Apologist]

The max purple line is the only one that doesn’t run all day and has low frequency. The other three max lines run all day and have higher frequencies.

This is because the 17 Ave SE corridor has 3 other routes besides the MAX Purple, with the 87 and 440 providing local-style service to Marlborough and Franklin respectively and the 1 using all Purple stops between 52 Street and downtown. If the 1 were shortened to Bowness-downtown then the MAX Purple would be more frequent.

Are we all forgetting that CT acknowledges that there is not enough buses or drivers for their ideal level of service. The riders are there, the drivers and buses are not.

The driver situation isn’t as bad as it used to be, since CT has gone thru several hiring sprees in 2022-23. Fleet is the #1 problem right now. 117 buses are going to be 20+ years old this year and two thirds of the articulated fleet + every single one of the shuttles are past due for replacement as well. While we’re not as screwed as Edmonton (unreliability in their battery-electric fleet has reached the point where only half of them actually see service nowadays, and their diesel fleet is aging at a similar pace to ours but they only have the budget for 22 replacements), service improvements are going to be gradual at best.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

This is because the 17 Ave SE corridor has 3 other routes besides the MAX Purple, with the 87 and 440 providing local-style service to Marlborough and Franklin respectively and the 1 using all Purple stops between 52 Street and downtown. If the 1 were shortened to Bowness-downtown then the MAX Purple would be more frequent.


The driver situation isn’t as bad as it used to be, since CT has gone thru several hiring sprees in 2022-23. Fleet is the #1 problem right now. 117 buses are going to be 20+ years old this year and two thirds of the articulated fleet + every single one of the shuttles are past due for replacement as well. While we’re not as screwed as Edmonton (unreliability in their battery-electric fleet has reached the point where only half of them actually see service nowadays, and their diesel fleet is aging at a similar pace to ours but they only have the budget for 22 replacements), service improvements are going to be gradual at best.

Maybe it is naive to think the city can pat its head and rub its stomach... I love the Main Streets and other similar projects but if our bus fleet is in such poor condition. Maybe we do need to be doing less city building and more city maintaining. If people start asking where all the city building projects went, point directly to the province who seems to be taking more and giving less.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I know with inflation pressures, etc.. this won't be a popular take, but we do some some of the lowest property taxes in the county. If those went up a bit more, we can pat our head and rub our tummy.

 

[CBBarnett]

Our bus fleet is in shambles right now, so the existing level of service is honestly a miracle. I really want to see more funding for buses because the ones we have on the way will pretty much all be followed by the beaters being retired.

This is the kind of information you'd think it would be relatively easy to find, but isn't. Surely there's some public information about fleet plans, conditions and characteristics, budgets priorities (that are understandable to the public), progress reports etc.