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kevlo86

By kevlo86
in Calgary and Area

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downbeat

downbeat

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, CTrainDude said:

Well, technically any new signup is a "permanent change" - until the next signup.  It's essentially formalizing the service reductions introduced in January, and writing them into the schedule.

Oh, I see. That makes more sense than what I was imagining. 

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downbeat

downbeat

Posted
Posted

Is Calgary Transit ditching its white-label version of the Transit App? If so, that's too bad, I quite like that platform. I wonder if the Transit App's new revenue-generation model (what they call Royale, which is subscription-based) might have had something to do with it.

Whatever the case, this tweet doesn't make sense, unless I've completely misunderstood how things operate. Trip planning is most often based on GTFS data, so unless Calgary Transit intends to stop using this standard, trip planners should continue to work regardless of who makes the apps.

 

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downbeat

downbeat

Posted
Posted

There is now a little write-up about the app situation on the Transit website:

https://www.calgarytransit.com/content/transit/en/home/news/calgary-transit-app-discontinued.html

It says "Calgary Transit App will no longer be available as of March 14," which makes way more sense than the information contained in the tweet from earlier.

 

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downbeat

downbeat

Posted
Posted

More news on the app situation in this news article.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/transit-app-calgary-bus-1.6352712

In my opinion, the solution Calgary Transit wants — multimodal transportation, in-app fare payment — could be fulfilled by the full version of the Transit App, upon which the current Calgary Transit app is based.

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Transit Fan

Transit Fan

Posted
Posted

https://www.calgarytransit.com/content/transit/en/home/news/enhanced-safety.html

Quote

You deserve to feel safe when riding with us. That’s why we’re taking additional steps to welcome riders back and enhance safety for everyone who uses our transit system.

Beginning February 28, you may notice more Calgary Transit Peace Officers, Bylaw Officers, uniformed security guards and members of the Calgary Police Service across our system, proactively preventing disorder and providing help in emergency situations. 

Starting March 1, we’ll have employee ambassadors at some CTrain station entrances, asking riders to show proof of fare payment. 

We’re also adding staff to help monitor our station, bus and CTrain security cameras and stay in contact with peace offices and other emergency responders.  

There's also articles about this from various news outlets as well. Here's one from CTV:

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/security-increased-on-calgary-transit-as-workers-return-to-offices-1.5799505

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yvarushin

yvarushin

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, vicinity said:

Went past Brentwood park’ n ride today around 13:00, the lot was at or close to 100 % capacity ! Dalhousie park’ n ride also had close to 50% of its stalls filled, nice to see an uptick!

Went back into the office (Bow Valley Square) and it’s like COVID never happened 😂

walked home by a 131 and 151 both with at least half the seats taken.

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R. Meu

R. Meu

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, yvarushin said:

Went back into the office (Bow Valley Square) and it’s like COVID never happened 😂

walked home by a 131 and 151 both with at least half the seats taken.

Same goes with the north express runs (such as the 116 i rode really recently, standing loads although I suspect its due to the lack of frequency on the 301 right now).

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downbeat

downbeat

Posted
Posted

Quoting from another thread here …

1 hour ago, R. Meu said:

6046 was out on the 305 this afternoon […]

Checking the block data from Transit 55, this would have been the ~5 p.m. departure from city centre.

It would be cool if they continue using artics for this key to provide some relief for Route 1, which only comes every 30 minutes these days on weekdays. Some of the westbound Route 1's were already very busy during the PM rush, even before today, with all seats taken and standees onboard for some departures, from what I've occasionally seen since the Feb. 14 service change.

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TechSpotlight

TechSpotlight

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, downbeat said:

Quoting from another thread here …

Checking the block data from Transit 55, this would have been the ~5 p.m. departure from city centre.

It would be cool if they continue using artics for this key to provide some relief for Route 1, which only comes every 30 minutes these days on weekdays. Some of the westbound Route 1's were already very busy during the PM rush, even before today, with all seats taken and standees onboard for some departures, from what I've occasionally seen since the Feb. 14 service change.

Well... the 305 ridership is virtually non existent at this time. I observed two of the 305s today and they barely had enough ridership to sustain a 40-foot bus, let alone an artic.  Keeping an eye on the ridership on previous days backs up this claim.

Better off cancelling the 305 at that point and using that additional service for the 1....

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downbeat

downbeat

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, TechSpotlight said:

Well... the 305 ridership is virtually non existent at this time. I observed two of the 305s today and they barely had enough ridership to sustain a 40-foot bus, let alone an artic.  Keeping an eye on the ridership on previous days backs up this claim.

Better off cancelling the 305 at that point and using that additional service for the 1....

Hmm interesting. Going by your observations, it’s too bad the passenger distribution between those two routes isn’t more balanced. If your destination is anywhere as far as Bowness, I suppose it doesn’t help that apart from the stop opposite Harley Hotchkiss Gardens, you have to deliberately choose ahead of time which line you want to use, as the 1/305 don’t share other stops downtown on common parts of their respective WB routes. (You can’t just show up and take whichever comes first.)

FWIW, I have seen some *inbound* 305s that have a moderate number of passengers onboard. Not packed by any means but not empty, either. About a dozen people, along Parkdale/Kensington, which is not terrible for a 40-footer. I have no idea where those riders boarded though, so you might well be right in suggesting those service hours could be better off used on the 1. 🤷‍♂️

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Nick B

Nick B

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, downbeat said:

Hmm interesting. Going by your observations, it’s too bad the passenger distribution between those two routes isn’t more balanced. If your destination is anywhere as far as Bowness, I suppose it doesn’t help that apart from the stop opposite Harley Hotchkiss Gardens, you have to deliberately choose ahead of time which line you want to use, as the 1/305 don’t share other stops downtown on common parts of their respective WB routes. (You can’t just show up and take whichever comes first.)

FWIW, I have seen some *inbound* 305s that have a moderate number of passengers onboard. Not packed by any means but not empty, either. About a dozen people, along Parkdale/Kensington, which is not terrible for a 40-footer. I have no idea where those riders boarded though, so you might well be right in suggesting those service hours could be better off used on the 1. 🤷‍♂️

That's a very good point about sharing stops downtown, however having a limited stop route duplicating a local route is pretty useless and often defeats the purpose IMHO if the limited stop service doesn't run at an equal or better frequency to the local service. Assuming pre-COVID/Omicron/whatever Route 1 frequency and 30 minute 305 frequency, ridership on the 305 would get lost to the 1 no matter what they do purely due to frequency alone, especially if they're awkwardly timed (i.e. one departs 2 minutes after the other) much like the 20/306 situation between Heritage and MRU off peak years ago. I highly doubt many people ride the 305 to COP also.

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Transit Fan

Transit Fan

Posted
Posted

On the topic of parallel routes, i've been peeking at the MP schedule in preparation for heading back to the office on some days in the coming weeks. I can't believe we went from a perfectly balanced 20 minute frequency on both the 1 and MP where they were staggered 10 minutes apart to whatever this mess is below. Time captured represents the WB 52nd St station where the two routes converge onto the transitway. Bumper to bumper at 7:11 and 8:11 and 4 minutes apart at :41/:45.

  • 6:12 [1]
  • 6:20 [MP]
  • 6:41 [1]
  • 6:46 [MP]
  • 7:11 [1]
  • 7:12 [MP]
  • 7:20 [MP]
  • 7:41 [1]
  • 7:46 [MP]
  • 8:11 [1]
  • 8:12 [MP]
  • 8:38 [MP]
  • 8:41 [1]
  • 9:04 [MP]

Really hoping ridership picks up and we can get back to the previous schedules.

On a fun note, either transit55 is playing tricks on me or I swear i've watched #7939 get lost in Chestermere this morning for the last hour. Not sure how accurate the GPS is when a bus goes off course but i've seen it at multiple dead ends and taking the wrong turn multiple times. It was supposed to depart its timepoint in Chestermere at 6:55am. It's finally heading back to East Hills as of 7:45am and it's switched to OFF lol

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downbeat

downbeat

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Nick B said:

That's a very good point about sharing stops downtown, however having a limited stop route duplicating a local route is pretty useless and often defeats the purpose IMHO if the limited stop service doesn't run at an equal or better frequency to the local service.

This is true. Happily, the route duplication is very short — westbound 6 Avenue from 1 Street to 6 Street S.W.

Something else just occurred to me: the timepoint for the 305 is in an awkward spot: 5 Avenue x 2 Street S.W. eastbound. If your destination is Hillhurst/Parkdale/Montgomery/Bowness, this is not an intuitive place to wait for the bus, IMHO. Not only is it facing the "wrong" way (bus is pointing east), but if you miss the 305 and want to catch the next WB Route 1, you have to walk back to 6 Avenue anyway.

9 hours ago, Nick B said:

Assuming pre-COVID/Omicron/whatever Route 1 frequency and 30 minute 305 frequency, ridership on the 305 would get lost to the 1 no matter what they do purely due to frequency alone, especially if they're awkwardly timed (i.e. one departs 2 minutes after the other) much like the 20/306 situation between Heritage and MRU off peak years ago. I highly doubt many people ride the 305 to COP also.

I was able to see this situation in real life a few nights ago on Centre Street North. I observed a very full Route 301, followed by Route 3 and Route 300 practically empty because they were all within a few minutes of each other. None of those route are operating with amazing frequencies at night, as you'll recall.

I'm hoping none of the current changes are part of Calgary Transit's long-term plans and that the situation will allow for a return to some more "normal" scheduling all across the bus network. It'ts a real shame that Omicron (and whatever else) has put the system on its back foot just as people are going back to work.

2 hours ago, Transit Fan said:

On the topic of parallel routes, i've been peeking at the MP schedule in preparation for heading back to the office on some days in the coming weeks. I can't believe we went from a perfectly balanced 20 minute frequency on both the 1 and MP where they were staggered 10 minutes apart to whatever this mess is below. […]

Bus times for Route 305 and the western half of Route 1 are a mixed bag. Both routes depart within minutes of each other during the morning peak, while the combined headways are very good during the afternoon peak. (True in both directions.)

If someone needs to travel between downtown and any of the near-inner-city neighbourhoods served by 1/305, they can maybe try Route 90 — perhaps Routes 9 or 65 with transfer to/from Blue Line if they're not in a rush; or even Route 414 with transfer to/from Routes 6/7/22/90, if it's daytime and they're really really really not in a rush — the options are more plentiful although even there, with the differences in frequencies, there are times when those alternatives will be very close to Routes 1 and 305.

2 hours ago, Transit Fan said:

Not sure how accurate the GPS is when a bus goes off course but i've seen it at multiple dead ends and taking the wrong turn multiple times. 

I'd say it's pretty accurate. Shortly after the network redesign was launched with Route 1 often running late, I could follow buses on the T55 map as they deadheaded and skipped a bunch of stops to make up for lost time, typically leaving Penbrooke Terminal and running straight through to Parkdale/Montgomery via Memorial Drive. (This was my tool for figuring out if I needed a backup routing plan to get home, lol.)

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Transit Fan

Transit Fan

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, downbeat said:

Something else just occurred to me: the timepoint for the 305 is in an awkward spot: 5 Avenue x 2 Street S.W. eastbound. If your destination is Hillhurst/Parkdale/Montgomery/Bowness, this is not an intuitive place to wait for the bus, IMHO. Not only is it facing the "wrong" way (bus is pointing east), but if you miss the 305 and want to catch the next WB Route 1, you have to walk back to 6 Avenue anyway.

Omg, this has bugged me ever since the route 305 was split in 2019. You know the worst part? The 305 doesn't actually stop at WB 6th Ave @ 2nd Street SW either. If you're wanting to go westbound, you're either committing to wait for the 1 or 305. If you want to be at a stop where you could choose whichever comes first, gotta walk to 4th St SW.

I remember asking about this during one of the MAX open houses and the response at the time was that 305 already had the nearby stop on EB 5x2 and that the one at WB 6x2 was already pretty congested and would be redundant. I've never been satisfied with this answer given how bad the user experience is for westbound travellers; that and EB 5x2 is just as busy.

Another similar gear grinder (albeit not nearly as bad) is the fact that WB Route 1 is unable to stop at the WB 52nd St SE station. At least there, you could potentially dart across the street if you see the other bus coming. But still, same problem as with the 305. 2 nearly identical routes, but you gotta pick 1 place to stand. Apparently, there isn't enough room for a southbound bus to make a right turn onto the transitway and into the station. Obviously, I don't drive buses and can't comment on the validity of that argument but I swear i've been buses have to make a lot tighter turns.

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vicinity

vicinity

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, vicinity said:

Went past Brentwood park’ n ride today around 13:00, the lot was at or close to 100 % capacity ! Dalhousie park’ n ride also had close to 50% of its stalls filled, nice to see an uptick!

Drove past shawnessy and Somerset stations today around 13:00 and I would say close to 100% of the free stalls were taken! The reserved stalls at Shawnessy however we’re only about 15-20% used.

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Blake M

Blake M

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Transit Fan said:

Omg, this has bugged me ever since the route 305 was split in 2019. You know the worst part? The 305 doesn't actually stop at WB 6th Ave @ 2nd Street SW either. If you're wanting to go westbound, you're either committing to wait for the 1 or 305. If you want to be at a stop where you could choose whichever comes first, gotta walk to 4th St SW.

I remember asking about this during one of the MAX open houses and the response at the time was that 305 already had the nearby stop on EB 5x2 and that the one at WB 6x2 was already pretty congested and would be redundant. I've never been satisfied with this answer given how bad the user experience is for westbound travellers; that and EB 5x2 is just as busy.

Another similar gear grinder (albeit not nearly as bad) is the fact that WB Route 1 is unable to stop at the WB 52nd St SE station. At least there, you could potentially dart across the street if you see the other bus coming. But still, same problem as with the 305. 2 nearly identical routes, but you gotta pick 1 place to stand. Apparently, there isn't enough room for a southbound bus to make a right turn onto the transitway and into the station. Obviously, I don't drive buses and can't comment on the validity of that argument but I swear i've been buses have to make a lot tighter turns.

Just remember whoever did the design for the transitway didn't actually think about how the 1 was going to turn out of the transitway until very close to the opening date. The same people also thought the 1 was going to be able to turn into it off 52 Street

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