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Calgary Transit

Half price transit in the ticket would more than pay for itself. Could also make the ticket LRT only if free.
 
ferreth said:
"Waiving transit fares on game days, for example, would mean giving up about $10-million in revenue annually"

That would pay for a new pay by smartphone system in two years. For the targeted audience, I think the hassle of paying is a larger barrier to transit usage than the cost of transit.

I could perhaps see using free transit as a perk to boost events the city is trying to build up, but for major concerts, Stampede, hockey, etc. free transit is not a good use of tax dollars IMO.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on how you believe transit should be funded.

It's my opinion, given certain criteria (strong cost management, focusing on minimum accessibility, focus on reducing cost/rider, tending always to automation over union work, etc) it is fair for property taxes (and possibly other taxes) to pay for more of transit.

Just my political leaning though.
 
Last week I was trying out some detour routes for the supposed to be closed (but still not closed) west irrigation canal pathway. My new selected path has a nice view of the construction from a distance.

Irrigation canal construction:

BRT Construction IMG_2236 by ferreth, on Flickr

Deerfoot Trail construction:

BRT Construction IMG_2238 by ferreth, on Flickr

We will see how the weather holds for the fall but I should get pictures of the bridges going up in the spring of 2018 from these vantage points.
 
SE BRT construction at the irrigation canal continues. Sept 18th closure of pathways is now 1/2 closed (the east side) as they are now digging where the path was. Since the west side still is not closed, I cycled that way and got some pics on Tuesday.

View west - Dug up, now filled in:

BRT Construction IMG_2244 by ferreth, on Flickr

View east - you can see that the construction space is pretty tight between 17th Ave and the Canoe clubhouse:

BRT Construction East Irrigation IMG_2246 by ferreth, on Flickr

Detail zoom - yep definitely not cycling down that side anymore!

BRT Construction East zoomed IMG_2247 by ferreth, on Flickr
 
Some project updates, mostly S.E. BRT

From above the canoe club - if you were looking at my previous posting, the same pile of dirt is what I'm standing behind now:

BRT Construction Top of Hill DT view IMG_2253 by ferreth, on Flickr

The irrigation canal. Looks like they will be digging across to move their water main:

BRT Construction Irrigation Canal by ferreth, on Flickr

The berm to Deerfoot looks like it is almost done, just starting on the bridge columns now:

BRT Construction Deerfoot IMG_2262 by ferreth, on Flickr

BRT construction to the south of 17th at 26th Ave. The BRT will cross over to the center of 17th Ave. at 28th St., seen in the distance in this photo:

BRT Construction 26th St IMG_2254 by ferreth, on Flickr

Judging by the weather forecast, my cycling season may be drawing to a close this week, so perhaps one more update then nothing till until spring for SE BRT from me.
 
new LRT car.jpg
new LRT car
 

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I suggest anyone interested or having a stake in Calgary Bus service look at the current city efforts to solicit feedback on proposed bus route changes at:

https://engage.calgary.ca/BusReview

The changes are the largest I can remember, including things you may not have thought would change with BRT routes, like getting rid of the 72/73 circle routes. While I could perhaps live with that, the cross town 19 being cut off at Lion's Park seems less that useful. I have known many a student that rents near where the 19 goes to have a 1 bus connection to SAIT/U of C. Plus, the stretch to get at least to the south bus loop is not that large. Yes, there is LRT and BRT transfer that will take you the rest of the way, but the point of the 19 IMO is a "no study interruption" route to your next exam. I used to use the 72/73 for one stop ride to U of C, but I saw that not a lot of people put up with that indirect route from the further east stretches of the city. Dunno if that has changed in the 20 years since I did that commute? Do people prefer to add a transfer or two now to save 10 minutes?

Overall, I do see better connections that might encourage me to transit more than my occasional bus/train to Downtown or points on the LRT line. What do others here think?
 
ferreth said:
I suggest anyone interested or having a stake in Calgary Bus service look at the current city efforts to solicit feedback on proposed bus route changes at:

https://engage.calgary.ca/BusReview

The changes are the largest I can remember, including things you may not have thought would change with BRT routes, like getting rid of the 72/73 circle routes. While I could perhaps live with that, the cross town 19 being cut off at Lion's Park seems less that useful. I have known many a student that rents near where the 19 goes to have a 1 bus connection to SAIT/U of C. Plus, the stretch to get at least to the south bus loop is not that large. Yes, there is LRT and BRT transfer that will take you the rest of the way, but the point of the 19 IMO is a "no study interruption" route to your next exam. I used to use the 72/73 for one stop ride to U of C, but I saw that not a lot of people put up with that indirect route from the further east stretches of the city. Dunno if that has changed in the 20 years since I did that commute? Do people prefer to add a transfer or two now to save 10 minutes?

Overall, I do see better connections that might encourage me to transit more than my occasional bus/train to Downtown or points on the LRT line. What do others here think?
Click to expand...

Sweet! They're removing the Foothills hospital jog from Bus 20. Now it will go straight up the Crowchild/University Drive to U of C.

Thanks for posting this.
 
Silence&Motion said:
Sweet! They're removing the Foothills hospital jog from Bus 20. Now it will go straight up the Crowchild/University Drive to U of C.

Thanks for posting this.
Click to expand...
That's a huge improvement for students, that must shave about 5 - 10 minutes off Route 20 travelling from U of C to/from the SW? East Calgary's routes are also improved. Particularly like the straightening of so many routes, the Route 23 - 52nd Street will become a great mainline route, with no more time-wasting jogs off and on the main street (probably building ridership for the eventual 52nd Street BRT & Shepard Greenline Station to Saddletowne LRT).

Overall seems like a serious attempt at improving/rationalizing many routes. Very exciting!
 
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