DarkKeyo

I caught a ride on a 3-car s200 set, and noticed that the seats in the middle of the car seem to have been removed (in 2406 and (I think) 2402).

Yes, I meant the 199, 299, and the routes that now stop at Tuscany station. I moved to Dalhousie right after it opened and never got to see the original Brentwood setup.

It doesn't feel like its been 7 years since they stopped there Someone pointed out to me that if they run more of the through routes on that (north) side of Brentwood, it's harder to make bus to bus transfers (farther from the bus loop). Particularly from the 9, the new main route for that area.

Yeah, the 10 won't go to Market Mall; Here is the list of new routes they decided to try out for this fall in the NW: http://www.calgarytransit.com/2016servicereview_p3 It's weird to think that is soon. I'll get to test it out and see if it is better than the existing routes. It being mostly big buses is a little promising, except that those shuttles will get crowded on the weekends

I rode the train from Lions Park to Tuscany and back, matching the schedule above. They feel very new, smooth, quiet. The seats are... not bad, certainly an improvement over the Series 8, although one day I'd like to ask exactly what Siemens uses to figure out if a seat will fit or be comfortable... All in all, I like them. I especially loved sitting behind the driver's cabin and watching the view of the tracks through the front windows.

Technically it means that for the first time, Saddletown is spelled right grammatically. As for the 15 min 4 car trains tomorrow (I understand it's only tomorrow), that means 16 train cars run in an hour instead of the 18 that would run on a normal weekend schedule (6x3 cars vs 4x4 cars). Between that and the fact that the extra car doesn't add much passenger space, I expect it to be very crowded and busy. Still an interesting experiment, I guess (and necessary for construction)

Do most places have this many issues with new trains, or is it because Calgary keeps buying questionable trains from Siemens?

Did they not read any of the feedback? None of those buses should be at 40 minute headways. Most of them shouldn't even be at 30 minute headways. Edit: It's not as horrible as I thought; They will find that some of those need better headways soon, agreed with Issack. But they are really underestimating how busy Market and Northland get, and therefore how frequent the 8, 53, 65, and 105 need to be.

At least the bench seat on 2333 means that there is space for shoulders. Those too-small seats are probably the worst part of the ~7.5 hours a week I spend commuting on transit. I've been worried about the s200 seats ever since I heard of them...

I'd always thought it had something to do with the number of people who get hit at the Whitehorn one

I saw 2401 drive by Lions Park a bit before noon. It made a very different sound than any of the current trains. I also got to see it parked at Victoria Park platform C last week (and took some good photos), and parked with 2402 at Anderson yard on the weekend.

I mentioned it because the bus routes being changed are serving those high density areas. But, also, because it feels to me, sometimes, that those farther, sprawling communities get more regular service than the inner, denser areas.

Really? At Sunnyside school, they said that apart from the Dalhousie and Varsity shuttles, they were hoping to use regular buses nearly all the time. And they definitely said they are aware enough of rider You haven't been to Capitol Hill, Banff Trail, Charleswood, most of Brentwood, Varsity Acres, most of Dalhousie, or most of Ranchlands? They tend to be low to mid wealth, lots of rentals, lots of people who whose transit, often because of being near SAIT or U of C. The Northwest is more than just Edgemont and Varsity Acres. NE buses get busy in dense, lower income areas and South buses get busy because there is so much South to cover. NW buses, despite being set up like spaghetti, get just as busy. If they straighten it out like the plan, and apply enough frequency, it'll get lots of ridership. Based on reactions at Sunnyside open house, a lot of people don't like the rerouting of either the 419 or 9, and that less buses go downtown. People get used to what is already there, even if it's like spaghetti.

They would have to stop using them for stops whose routes were discontinued (Eg. the old stop at Brentwood for the 199/299 has one)

The map for the new NW routes makes more sense than the spaghetti that's there now, but... They will need more frequency than they have planned for the routes serving Northland and Market malls. Especially for the schools, as School Bus 101 mentioned. As a heavy user of these buses, what I need the most is a direct, frequent route to the Market and Northland areas from any train station (But I would imagine more people would need that route from Brentwood, because of the University). I second Armorand's comment about needing an alternate route paralleling the train (Currently the 10) in case of major breakdowns. Some of these routes would be much less necessary if they would finally build a station beside the schools and mall at Northland. I'll be bringing all of this to the open houses if work will give me time to go.

That reminds me, I've been meaning to mention to CT about how the pedestrian bridges at Marlborough and Bridgeland look as if they could fall down in a stiff breeze. That said, the few times I've been in Whitehorn since the reno, it has impressed me, good to see they're doing more.

The Series 5, 6, and 7's work really well, from a customer standpoint. The seats and interior design works really well, and so do the AESYS signs. They don't appear to break down as often as the U2's or Series 8's. I'm most worried about the seats. Every time I see a series 8, I cringe about the upcoming uncomfortable trip. I'm wondering why they haven't announced this with the same fanfare they've been using for the S200's

I've been wondering if they'll have to temporarily locate the crosswalk at the west entrance, since they will be digging up the sidewalk for the new east ramp and the east crosswalk according to those pictures. Otherwise, some convoluted walking around the station would be involved to even get to the mall side. A west crosswalk would be very useful there. I've been waiting a long time for these plans to be unveiled, they affect me more than any other platform extension work. And, while you're asking for operator facilities, can I ask for some sort of heated shelter? There isn't any protection from the cold.

That would be pretty significant news. The delay, as well as the cost overruns (which I believe were solved by some budget swapping?), are big in the perceptions of transit projects in Calgary.

I've been wondering since the announcement of the delay in opening whether the 11 St Station had anything to do with it. It seems to have had the least amount of construction done on it, last I checked they still had the street dug up to move utilities. While it does take less than a year, in theory, to construct our downtown platforms, it still seems very unfinished.

I also think it would work better looking like Saddletowne, albeit without the towers, and I'm not sure how much enclosed space Saddletowne will have because I havent seen it up close yet. And I absolutely agree that it should have plenty of shelter. During weeks like this, stations I use (Lions Park, Banff Trail, downtown) have no heating, and stations like Brentwood and Heritage are full of people sheltering in the narrow entranceways. Also, I have no idea why they are closing Banff Trail. It should be as easy to tack on extra platform as it was at Erlton and Canyon Meadows. And, that station is in better condition than Erlton, or pretty much any other station built between 1981 and 1987. Maybe it's related to the hole they've dug on the north side of the tracks where the substation is or was...

No other metro/LRT system in Canada, as far as I know, is laid out inside like the Series 8's. Nor are a lot of US or Europe ones. Either way, in my personal experience, both sitting and standing in a Series 8 are inconvenient to the passenger. Agreed that we should not limit ourselves to Siemens, although it's probably too late to change the Series 9's.

No renderings on the interior, or at least information on how Calgary Transit wants the interior? The number one complaint about the Series 8's amongst people I know is how the interior is set up, and they aren't pleased to hear that we will get 50 more of that design. The number two complaint, as was mentioned a couple posts ago, is that they seem to break down frequently. We've gotten on a train we know is right after a Series 8 train, and then had to wait because 'The train ahead has had mechanical difficulties', many times over the last few months. We really would like the Series 9's to be different in those two ways.

I can't confirm this, but when I inevitably get caught in these delays, there always seems to be a Series 8 that passed by before the train I got on and is about where the delay is. The quote in that article about "replacing all the U2's with new trains" seems very misplaced, as in my experience the Series 8 don't work as well as the U2's. I would really suggest we not get more Series 8. And, isn't this rather a lot of people-caused delays of trains recently? The day I got on the train with that driver, it just made my day. Guys like that make up for a lot of the bad luck with delays recently.

That explains it. I've only ever seen the cars as belly cars, the entire time I've known about the signs.