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How is ETS


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  • 1 year later...

I like how with ETS, the system doesnt get as paralyzed when the LRT breaks down, but on the other hand, dislike how Route 590 is peak hours only (had to literally sprint my ass from WEM to Century Park my last trip). Also don't like how whether your a 6 year old kid, 36 year old office worker or 76 year old pensioner, that you all have to pay the same fare. Otherwise, ETS reminds me a bit of Winnipeg Transit, with its numerous bus routes and some expresse's running.

Also, the older U2s look better in blue and white, compared to the CT livery. :)

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Also don't like how whether your a 6 year old kid, 36 year old office worker or 76 year old pensioner, that you all have to pay the same fare.

The way ETS sees it, it's a 'bum in a seat', regardless of the age of the 'bum'. The booklets of 10 tickets are discounted, 10 adult tickets are $22.80 and 10 youth/senior tickets are $19.95. So if you want to save over the cash fare, you buy tickets. In this way ETS promotes the sale of tickets and passes - which also makes for easier cash handling and reduces fare evasion.

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The way ETS sees it, it's a 'bum in a seat', regardless of the age of the 'bum'. The booklets of 10 tickets are discounted, 10 adult tickets are $22.80 and 10 youth/senior tickets are $19.95. So if you want to save over the cash fare, you buy tickets. In this way ETS promotes the sale of tickets and passes - which also makes for easier cash handling and reduces fare evasion.

When I was in Edmonton last year, I didn't really look at the tickets. Just got myself the day pass! Somehow, having it let me skip the $5 fare on Route 590 :)

That one surprised me, actually. Flashed my Day Pass, and the driver let me go to my seat, no questions asked.

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I think you guys are better off,

a fleet of lowfloor vehicals universal accessable buses! 4 garages not 3 like us lol

you have an underground down town for lrt = less ped accidents, your fleet is way newer and the buses seem to

be kept up better by the maintanace staff at ETS. you have transit centres with buildings and doors! all your fleet

is one colour for buses ours is 3 and 33 artics is better the haveing 63 of which 55 sit during most days lol

You have rebuilt U2's and 4 car consists!

You have bathrooms in you train stations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and concessions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

howvever we do have 1 out of 3 successful BRT's in our city which ETS does not have :)

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I think you guys are better off,

a fleet of lowfloor vehicals universal accessable buses! 4 garages not 3 like us lol

you have an underground down town for lrt = less ped accidents, your fleet is way newer and the buses seem to

be kept up better by the maintanace staff at ETS. you have transit centres with buildings and doors! all your fleet

is one colour for buses ours is 3 and 33 artics is better the haveing 63 of which 55 sit during most days lol

You have rebuilt U2's and 4 car consists!

You have bathrooms in you train stations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and concessions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

howvever we do have 1 out of 3 successful BRT's in our city which ETS does not have :)

I was actually amazed about the transit centres, too! Especially Kingsway TC.

And would these be the Downtown ones? Lol I didnt see any on the Southern section, but the Downtown ones did. No idea about the NE.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In terms of frequency, ETS tends to be a little better than Calgary as well. Last time I checked the schedules, the only bus route in Calgary with 15 minute off peak service was the 3, whereas in Edmonton routes 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 all run every 15 minutes midday and evening.

Travelling in the NW, the 137/37 ran every 45 minutes nightly or on Saturdays. As a Winnipegger whos used to 10 minute Route 11s and 4 bus routes within a 15 minute walk from me, it was brutal!!!

As for Edmonton, how bads suburban service? I knew Route 4 was pretty good, along with what - Route 70? Stops at Argyll Hotel...

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Actually for Calgary Transit the routes 1, 7, 301, is every 15 off peak the 3 is every 10 off peak

routes like 2,4,5,6,18,19/119,20,25,34,38,48, all run every 20 off peak

91 runs every 25

And also LRT runs 3-4 mins in peak hours for the 201 and 4-7 for the 202

and on mid day Sunday 201,202 run every 10 :)

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Wow, I didn't know that about Calgary. That doesn't sound like very good performance for a big city. (Just my opinion).

Keep that in mind that Calgary has a huge land spread, more freeways and people drive their cars more than taking buses.

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Calgary relies way too much on feeder routes and as a consequence does not run the mainline routes often enough, creating major shortcomings for the system.

In recent times, this problem has only become worse. (eg: route 86 terminating at Northpointe instead of 78 Avenue Terminal... limited transfer options with minimal frequency on the 301. Keep in mind, for most trips the 86 misses the 301 connection by a mere 5 min.).

Things in Calgary could work better if a pulse hub and spoke system could be used for outer terminuses. This could be similar to North Vancouver Phibbs Exchange or Lonsdale Quay... all buses at the same time every 15 or 30 min. Of course, the mainline routes more often to fill any gaps. Often now you see the 88/114 pull out of 78 Avenue Terminal just before a jam packed route 3 is pulling in. The whole situation is made worse by the usless timing point NB Centre Street FS McKnight Blvd where if the bus didn't sit there for 3 or 4 min. the 78 Avenue (important) connections would be made.

Essentially during the day, you could run a 301 Evanston Park and Ride... to just turn around in the mall and in the evenings a 3 Evanston Park and Ride... with 20 min. to 30 min. frequency eliminating the need to transfer and creating a 40 min. door to door ride to and from the CBD. (This would be similar to the route 11 in Winnipeg, really awesome mainline service, limited need to transfer to a feeder bus and door to door from Downtown).

A few ideas... its not really the fault of Calgary Transit Operators... the impetus is on Management to straighten things up to be more efficient with existing resources. There are tons of examples of useless timing points and lacklustre performance within the system and why places like Edmonton and Winnipeg come out above Calgary. (Keep in mind this is just based on the bus network and not the LRT- C-Train line).

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There are tons of examples of useless timing points and lacklustre performance within the system and why places like Edmonton and Winnipeg come out above Calgary. (Keep in mind this is just based on the bus network and not the LRT- C-Train line).

Edmonton is not that much better, Connections were much better before Horizon 2000. There are many examples in Edmonton where, according to the schedule, buses just 'miss' each other by a minute or two. The reason they work in reality is because the drivers make it work. Once you are familiar with your route and the connections (or almost-connections) - then you know where you can safely blow a timing point and make it happen. Same for buses in the transit center. You get a pretty good idea of who to wait for and when. THAT is customer service!

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Agree! There are also issues of route design itself. The ideal transit route should not be longer than 90 min. end to end to maximize reliability. Most if not all recovery time should be at end terminus destinations and minimal time should be allocated within the run for schedule reliability reasons. Any additional service hours should go toward maximizing frequency. (After Horizon 2010?, Edmonton likely worked to minimize and eliminate recovery time instead of fixing runs themselves... its better to have 10-15 min. recovery time at the end of the run rather than 10 to 15 min. of recovery time in the middle where it is not advantageous to the passengers or the driver).

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Essentially during the day, you could run a 301 Evanston Park and Ride... to just turn around in the mall and in the evenings a 3 Evanston Park and Ride... with 20 min. to 30 min. frequency eliminating the need to transfer and creating a 40 min. door to door ride to and from the CBD. (This would be similar to the route 11 in Winnipeg, really awesome mainline service, limited need to transfer to a feeder bus and door to door from Downtown).

A few ideas... its not really the fault of Calgary Transit Operators... the impetus is on Management to straighten things up to be more efficient with existing resources. There are tons of examples of useless timing points and lacklustre performance within the system and why places like Edmonton and Winnipeg come out above Calgary. (Keep in mind this is just based on the bus network and not the LRT- C-Train line).

The 11 runs 15 minutes on Sundays and at night, and 7 minute frequencies at Polo Park! Thats quite the service :) and also, I usually just walk up to Portage from my house, and then take the 5-10 minute bus ride to my work, instead of taking the 26, then 24, then the 79 and walking up a bridge to my work :P. Downtown door-to-door is definitely true! I can get on from one of the off-line suburban spokes, and sit in the same seat to Downtown. Same with the other end of the line. However, if you don't leave the suburbs or Downtown before a certain time, there will be no bus going either way, so your effectively stuck... or in my terms, walk an hour home from work :(. Compared to buse's cutting out at 12am in Calgary and the LRT cutting out at 12:30am, we're lucky!!!

And our bus network is so much better. Except Elmwood and Whyte Ridge feeders, most buse's run 30 minutes on their routes. Heck, we even have Dial a Ride Transit (DART) !!!

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I hope this doesn't go too far off topic but concerning service quality, safety and efficiency, I would rank the largest Western Canadian transit systems in the following order;

1. CMBC/West Vancouver Blue Bus - Translink (SCTA) (Excellent bus network, continuous improvement. Excellent rail network... AH AND TROLLEYBUSES!!!).

2. BC Transit - Victoria Regional System (Excellent bus network, rapid transit to Langford in planning stages).

3. Winnipeg Transit (Excellent bus network, door to door. Bus rapid transit in stages).

4. Edmonton Transit (Good service quality; first city with a true hub and spoke/transit centre model).

5. Calgary Transit (Excellent LRT considering capital cost. Mediocre bus system).

What do others think?

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I hope this doesn't go too far off topic but concerning service quality, safety and efficiency, I would rank the largest Western Canadian transit systems in the following order;

1. CMBC/West Vancouver Blue Bus - Translink (SCTA) (Excellent bus network, continuous improvement. Excellent rail network... AH AND TROLLEYBUSES!!!).

2. BC Transit - Victoria Regional System (Excellent bus network, rapid transit to Langford in planning stages).

3. Winnipeg Transit (Excellent bus network, door to door. Bus rapid transit in stages).

4. Edmonton Transit (Good service quality; first city with a true hub and spoke/transit centre model).

5. Calgary Transit (Excellent LRT considering capital cost. Mediocre bus system).

What do others think?

Although they could improve suburban service off-peak (so someone in the newer SW suburbs doesn't have to walk 40 minutes to Pembina for a bus), Winnipeg Transit does quite well. And don't forget DART service! Call for a ride, and a D30LF pops up and drops you off anywhere you want to go!

ETS, reminds me ALOT of Winnipeg Transit, minus the transit centres with actual buildings and LRT. And with the new D40LFRs apparently coming in, they'll remind me of it even more! :)

Calgary Transit, LRT is good, but suburban bus service is crap! 45 minutes for the 37/137 route, 70 minutes (2010) for 153 Copperfield off-peak. Pretty sure if it was Winnipeg, people living in 1970s suburbia neighborhoods would be rioting, since the brand-new suburbs don't really seem to care :P

Dont forget the only other D40 in a Western Canadian transit fleet! :D

NOTE: We're all still talking about transit, plus this thread was dead for over a year, so IMO we're doing good. :P

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I hope this doesn't go too far off topic but concerning service quality, safety and efficiency, I would rank the largest Western Canadian transit systems in the following order;

1. CMBC/West Vancouver Blue Bus - Translink (SCTA) (Excellent bus network, continuous improvement. Excellent rail network... AH AND TROLLEYBUSES!!!).

2. BC Transit - Victoria Regional System (Excellent bus network, rapid transit to Langford in planning stages).

3. Winnipeg Transit (Excellent bus network, door to door. Bus rapid transit in stages).

4. Edmonton Transit (Good service quality; first city with a true hub and spoke/transit centre model).

5. Calgary Transit (Excellent LRT considering capital cost. Mediocre bus system).

What do others think?

Not to sure about winnipeg being better then edmonton or calgary i mean they dont have LRT, or Atriculated service which is a big limitation also edmonton's fleet is 100% lowfloor which puts them a stride ahead aswell Calgary has become great at customer service with real time at all stations a customer service adisory board e-mail updates on delays and such. I do know as far as bus network winnipeg is the best because thats all they have to offer.

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Not to sure about winnipeg being better then edmonton or calgary i mean they dont have LRT, or Atriculated service which is a big limitation also edmonton's fleet is 100% lowfloor which puts them a stride ahead aswell Calgary has become great at customer service with real time at all stations a customer service adisory board e-mail updates on delays and such. I do know as far as bus network winnipeg is the best because thats all they have to offer.

We're (finally) starting to get BRT, so at least we aren't too far behind! Artics are coming in a year or two, so again, we're working on it Issack :P

Since the D40s and Classics are fading fast, we'll be 100% low-floor (sadly) by 2014. As for customer service, agreed! Real-time, we've had real-time since 2010!!!!!

Bus network is so much better. Nearly an hour for CT 137 at 11 am, compared to 30 minutes for a feeder/main route near me, or 15 for WT Route 11. Why should I have to wait an hour for an Arboc to arrive...

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We're (finally) starting to get BRT, so at least we aren't too far behind! Artics are coming in a year or two, so again, we're working on it Issack :P

Since the D40s and Classics are fading fast, we'll be 100% low-floor (sadly) by 2014. As for customer service, agreed! Real-time, we've had real-time since 2010!!!!!

Bus network is so much better. Nearly an hour for CT 137 at 11 am, compared to 30 minutes for a feeder/main route near me, or 15 for WT Route 11. Why should I have to wait an hour for an Arboc to arrive...

Dont get me wrong ive seen how efficient your system isw and i know our bus system suck i used to have to ride it every day

our buses are always dirty both outside and in and the system is old lead to many break downs and problems on a stuffed under efficient system lol, just today my u2 had door problems and went out of service and it delayed me 20 minutes so i would take your system over ours any day!

Ps your system is awsome too because it believes in D30LF's we believe in junk that lasts 5 years called

arbocs lol

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Dont get me wrong ive seen how efficient your system isw and i know our bus system suck i used to have to ride it every day

our buses are always dirty both outside and in and the system is old lead to many break downs and problems on a stuffed under efficient system lol, just today my u2 had door problems and went out of service and it delayed me 20 minutes so i would take your system over ours any day!

Ps your system is awsome too because it believes in D30LF's we believe in junk that lasts 5 years called

arbocs lol

I've never really noticed the NFI or Nova's dirty, but the Arbocs are FILTHY...

And our D30LFs are getting pretty old. Hopefully, Winnipeg: 1) gets NFI to start up D30LFR production and 2) buy like, 40

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