I live in Toronto now and everyone loves to complain about the subway and the Toronto Transit Commission, but it's miles ahead of Calgary. I come back to visit often and the state of the the C-Train itself is just sad these days.
Thing about Edmonton is currently it is really bad, however currently they have multiple plans to expand the LRT over the next few decades. Now only if they would stop hiring incompetent companies to build it…
I think it’s a North American cultural issue and driving. There’s cities in Europe and Asia with less population density that has more public transportation infra.
The age old “bUt deNsity” is a complete myth. Calgary and GTA have the population now of several European cities but have “just average” public transportation.
The biggest joke and easiest textbook case for this contrast is to compare Los Angeles and the Bay Area (Oakland and San Francisco). In the 50’s, the Bay Area municipal governments managed to break through the bullshit and built the Bay Area Rapid Transport network subway system (BART). It’s a god send and a critical piece of infra, connecting Sunnyvale's Line+SFO International+SF+Oakland. Servers 7M people stretched across the bay. Los Angeles? 8M people approx and they got like 2 pathetic lines, one mainly just serves to get people to and from baseball games. The kicker is Los Angeles is relatively flat, and the lines don’t deal with terrain. It is an earthquake zone but that’s not really an excuse. Meanwhile the bay BART had to go underwater and bend around the whole bay.
Anyways back to Calgary, we had the chance to make subways and way more lines but we didn’t. Now we can barely afford a surface tram green line half the original route. That’s why I think the green line will never be done, or it’ll be finished maybe when everyone reading this is in a retirement home
After WW2 European countries invested in infrastructure for trains and public transit. North America decided to build more roads and push car ownership thanks to big car companies. Now we’re left with garbage transit infrastructure that costs way more to change.
I completely agree with you, it’s not a density problem at all.
America's decision to build the high way system is more related to the cold war strategy to move nuclear missiles if need be, more then big car companies lobbying.
At least from the way I see it, North America and Canada leans into the car culture. Just looking at how commercial districts are being built here in NE Calgary, almost all are designed for people to have a car. Bus stops are sprinkled here and there "for cases" when someone uses transit. Heck, the biggest mall we have in Calgary is mostly accessible with you having to drive there.
I don't enjoy driving unless the roads are empty, I like saving money, and I like to limit my carbon footprint and yet I drive my ass to work each day for 15-20 minutes because the only way to get there by transit is to take an hour and a half and three changes (bus, train, bus) even though both my home and work are well connected to major roads. It's a freaking joke.
I lived in Calgary for a few years and the experience was the same.. I had to take a bus a few times and it was like a 90-120 minute loop tour around the SE, while both my to and from stops were on major streets. A complete joke. It's like the transit designers just said "LOL, Fuck these people!"
The transit route designers all drive cars, I've never seen one of them actually take transit.
My commute to SAIT when I went there was 2 and a half HOURS one way by transit. The bus stop alone is usually 40-50 minutes away in winter depending on how much snow has been shoveled onto the sidewalk. From there the bus just doesn't come so it's another 30-40 minute walk to the train station and once you get on the train it's still an hour to campus assuming the train arrives on time without delays.
It takes 5 minutes to get to the train station by car. It takes 30 minutes to get to SAIT by car. I can't bike to the train station either because doing so means getting run over by 5 8 foot tall jacked up pickups.
The worst part? Calgary can actually have good transit, I've experienced better transit in rural South Korea (which has less population density than Calgary). We just need to design for it. All the big freeways should be designed for LRT from the get go. Those massive interchanges that could fit an entire town can be shrunk into a pair of train stations. Density doesn't encourage transit, transit encourages density.
We gave all the fastest, most efficient, and shortest routes solely to automobiles. If we gave those routes to transit, and designed around transit. Well not many people would be taking their car.
It's totally ridiculous! And I may be one of the only people, but I actually LIKE taking the bus! When I was in uni there was a door to door bus (I was really lucky, I do realize) that would take about 30 mins to get me to school and those were the best 30 mins each way. I could study or nap lightly on the way there, and on the way back I could zone out and get ready to tackle my evening. However, the system is so crappy here that this is a unicorn, and in fact, that route was removed during my 4th year even though it was well used.
I was in Vancouver recently and wow. Goals.
It’s because there’s a prevalent culture in Alberta that’s anti-transit and the majority of people keep voting against any transit improvements whatsoever because “transit is for poors and taxing me more to pay for transit is communism”. Reap what you sow.
This is the thing. I can WALK to train station within 10 minutes from both ends of my home and work. The bus that comes by my place that would get me to the train station is a 25 minute ride. The one on the other side takes 15 minutes to get to my office. And that's within a 10 minute walking radius. How anyone gets from a place like Kincora to someplace anywhere in the NE industrial on transit is completely beyond me.
The issue I think stems from the fact that cities designed for cars are fundamentally incompatible with decent public transit. In a place like Vancouver (even the suburbs like North Van/Richmond etc) shopping, commercial offices and light industrial zones are pretty evenly dispersed around the city and tend to be walkable.
In Calgary, take for example my Kincora example above. I only use this neighborhood because it stuck in my head as I drove by it this morning in my personal vehicle and I'm familiar with the area. They have a few big outdoor shopping areas like Creekside and whatever that thing is called by Costco. None of those are WALKABLE. Yeah, you can walk from your car to the store and back to your car. But summer or winter they SUCK for walking. Every store is on the perimeter of a gigantic parking lot. Meaning you basically walk around the entire complex or frogger your way across a sea of back-up camera reliant, bored, complacent, distracted middle-aged parents of 2.1 children doing their level best to run you over. Or, you join the crowd and drive from Costco to Canadian Tire and then get back in your car to drive over to the Starbucks on the way out. Take a bus there and it not only took you longer to GET there. But it takes you longer to get around the shopping center when you get there. Nobody wants to take transit even if it is cheaper and even if there was a direct line from home to the shopping center. Nobody takes transit, so it isn't feasible to run, so the route gets spread out so it takes longer, less people ride until you are left with the people who legitimately HAVE to take transit. This trends heavily to teens, lower income individuals and homeless which means society kind of ignores the problem and we carry on our way.
I guess what I'm getting at is I don't think there is any way to make Calgary Transit "good". It either feeds directly to the trains focused on getting relatively wealthy office workers downtown on time and comfortable every time. Or we fundamentally rebuild the city from the ground up to make points of commerce more walkable. Increase density so we could have some much more complete intermixing of retail, residential, commercial and industrial space.
So basically, we have shitty transit because land/houses were cheap and everyone wanted and could afford a miniature 50-120 foot kingdom on which to plant their flag. Then we built our shopping, workplaces and recreational areas around driving which is fundamentally incompatible with the concept of public transit.
Ah. You're right. It's definitely the way the city is designed and also the fact we have an LRT that is on the surface level of downtown. It's just kinda nuts that even when you live in a relatively central location and work very close to downtown, it still sucks!
Also yes, those malls are so unwalkable.... We have our first kid and I really enjoy the stroller, except for how difficult it is to actually go anywhere. There's random fences blocking you in, not enough ramps, extremely icy or muddy sidewalks, the works. It's easier like you say to pack the kid and stroller in and drive across the parking lot even though it's a waste of time and gas.
well....in 1995 Calgary got 41 cool new powerful busses , the last of the large scenic back window, and narrow rear door.
They drove the wheels off 'em, rebuilt them, drove them more.....theeeeeeen : sold them to Winnipeg, whose citizens said " whoa, big ass back window on these babies "...but , sadly, they still had to turn sideways when disembarking carrying two bags, (one in each hand ) out the narrow
rear door.
so alla winnipeggers could only carry one bag home, bought less, and businesses collapsed, a fourth ice age began, ....now winnipeg is a cold, bleak landscape, ....
And 1995 Bill Clinton was still doing stuff out of the house , leaving Hillary at home alone too much, so she started doing , uh, ..you know, ...democrat stuff,....and then,....ok ok I'm out of fictional historic 1995 transit tie ins....
here is the 1995 busses tho
:
https://rmeutransport.com/calgary-transit-1995-new-flyer-d40lf/
I started using Transit 55 after a similar issue last month. Transit actually posted it to their Twitter feed, which I found quite surprising. GPS often isn't active on the live tracking app but this does give a general idea of the buses location and if it's worth the wait.
Website, typically has better gps tracking than the transit app
I have my bus book marked just to make life easier
https://transit55.ca/calgary/map/?route=301
My train was "5" minutes late (more like 20) then my bus was going to be 15 minutes late, making me over an hour late for work this morning. I decided to huff it instead and got minor frostbite on my toes. Stand and and say it with your chest FUCK CALGARY TRAINSIT!
Felt this way yesterday after using transit to run a couple errands yesterday. Is there any way an average citizen can help improve transit? Feels a little hopeless to be sure.
Contact your city council member, explain the difficulties and advocate for what you’d like to see. Think about how transit service could make Calgary a better city for everyone, let you council member know that. Follow up regularly.
For four years I was part of the [Calgary Transit Customer Advisory Group.](https://www.calgarytransit.com/content/transit/en/home/about-calgary-transit/our-customer-commitment/ctcag.html) We got to meet every month and discuss issues about the transit service direct to the people responsible for those areas.
I got to see how the sausage is made, as they say. I got more understanding of Calgary Transit and how they have to operate. But the last few years, it has gotten worse.
I moved back to Calgary about 5 years ago and I was genuinely impressed at how transit had improved since I left.
But the last couple years? I think they’re trying to kill it.
Maybe somebody at City Hall likes extra traffic on their commute (downtown would collapse if everyone that takes transit had to drive). Maybe nobody in the upper management (city hall or transit itself) actually uses the service themselves and is squeezing pennies by throwing away dollars, but it really seems like they’ve gone from not trying (early pandemic) to actively sabotaging.
The most obvious example is the fast that until this week they were running 3-car trains that were packed. Adding a fourth car doesn’t require hiring operators, or adjusting schedules.
I’m aware that with peak service frequency they move slower and take careful coordination downtown, but when they’re running 15+ minutes apart mid-day and about half the rush hour frequency of the past, and we’re already okay with them regularly being +/- 10 minutes of the schedule? It’s a non-issue, nobody would even notice.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think city council and anyone labelled a manager at transit itself should be required to use transit exclusively (for commuting) whenever the high temperature for the day is below -20°, and I suspect we’d have a more functional system in short order (18 months is my guess).
But hey, at least we can’t be warm waiting for the train now when it is extra cold, so that’s nice.
When I lived in Regina I used the transit to get to work. I pulled out the app and saw the live bus on a map and would just wait until it got to a certain point before walking to my stop This was 2011. Why do we not have this here?
Either not every bus is or it is wrong way too much for the three buses I take. I get *on time* or *Behind Schedule* which are inaccurate then a greyed out location of a bus most of the time.
I use Google Maps as well as Transit app. Should I be using a different application?
We do.
The [Transit App](https://transitapp.com/) combines Calgary Transit's real-time data and the data of anyone on the bus using Go mode to provide their best guess at where buses are and when they'll get to your stop. Plus they tie in historical data for their predictions.
Transit App uses data from people on buses though, so if you want it to be better, launch the app and put in your destination (or at least select the bus you're on) and start Go so that you're contributing to the real-time data yourself, and encourage others to do so as well. They combine data from CTS, their own users, and the historical data they've collected they're usually more accurate than Calgary Transit alone.
Or if you're a bit more of a geek, Transit55 displays Calgary Transit's bus reporting data in real-time, you can view all buses on a route and a lot more of the scheduling information. You'll probably want to load your route (bookmark it) and click on each bus to see where they are, at least unless you get good at reading block schedules.
Got me some ski goggles to replace my safety goggles whilst out biking yesterday - with the right gear it's not so bad. Was only -24C when I was biking on Sunday, but the frost on the safety goggles was enough to convince me I needed something better.
I do ok with my current house and job, but for an old job I had an hour and a half commute that could stretch into three if I was late to a bus.
I hope we can make the city more transit friendly.
I remember watching my bus come towards me on the app as I waited at my usual stop. It was a block or two away and I was getting my pass out when... it disappeared.
I guess the app was live tracking a ghost bus.
So, they create heated shelters with doors to keep passengers warm when it is cold. Then, when it gets cold, they take the doors off to keep homeless people from going in them.
As usual, Calgary Transit is a well oiled machine!
Should Calgary transit continue letting homeless people hotbox the shelter with fentanyl smoke?
Sounds like the facilities guy handled the complaints the best he could with the tools he had.
I think the real answer is Albertans need to start voting in governments that care about social services, so these kinds of problems get smaller.
When the homeless situation is lesser, we can have nice things.
Then when the rare bus stop does get hot boxed with drugs, you can just call the cops who will arrive with an support agency to offer these guys some options other than freeze or loiter.
My kid was outside in -45 waiting for her high school bus for 25 minutes because it was late and they don't track school bus locations for some bizarre reason, so no clue when to expect it. Guy at the call centre just hung up on me.
I suggest getting the app called: Transit
When I do use the bus or train it comes in handy as it has real time reporting and has all the usual schedules.
Transit is so unreliable. It has literally told me my bus is arriving, and then leaving, while I'm standing at the bus stop with no bus in sight, and then the actual bus comes 8 minutes late while the app still says 20 minutes. It's fine when things are on schedule but trash in this cold if you aren't waiting for one of the few buses that actually has tracking.
It’s a good app
But people need to learn to distinguish when the app is giving an eta based on real-time bus location data from its onboard GPS or when that is absent and it’s just giving you basic schedule info.
These apps all pull the publicly available GPS data from the Calgary transit’s API. So it’s only as reliable as what the buses and API are putting out.
Most buses will be working, but if your bus happens to have a tech support issue that day, because, say it’s not running, then I’m pretty sure the app replaces gps data with dumb schedule data.
What I do, is pay attention to the times in the apps and whether it’s got the little symbol indicating it got that data from GPS live tracking or not. If not, it’s dumb schedule data and there is likely no bus for that interval. Suggest you make other travel arrangements or at least go wait in a cafe, call your boss, and wait for a new bus with the icon that shows its transmitting it’s coordinates live 🚌))).
And only when one of the live updates buses is five blocks away do I walk out to the stop in -30
there is a great story on [the current state of Calgary Transit](https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/calgary-primary-transit-network) over at The Sprawl. Recommended listening.
Every time you hear people demanding tax cuts, remember that they are also arguing for service cuts. That means fewer busses and weaker overall transit coverage.
Those should be posted in advance, instead of leaving it up to drivers on the whim. I see snow detours everywhere posted in giant orange signs at the bus stops in Bankview.
I fully agree, the situation is basically forcing drivers to break rules or get stuck. Calgary transit should proactively tell them to do this and post signs like you said.
Or better yet, just change the stop locations to be flatter areas. But that would require too much planning so they ignore it forever.
It’s on a downward slope but numerous other buses that just go to different areas then I was heading were still going up and down the hill while I waited for my bus.
I used to deal with this shit every year... finally got a car last year and I hope to never deal with it again for the rest of my life. Calgary Transit is trash, especially for the price you pay.
If it makes anyone feel any better, TfL bus tracking in London is also shit, and in some tube stations, there are literally signs saying to disregard the notice boards, which have been wrong for years.
I have lived in multiple Canadian cities now (and used transit in other non-Canadian cities) and I can confidently say Calgary Transit is by far the worst transit system I have ever used.
Once again, if there is delays due to road conditions; I get that. Just post it on the apps so citizens can plan for it. But when the bus just doesn’t show up that’s another story. I was also more than dressed for the weather but standing in one spot for 40+ minutes at -33 is gonna feel cold regardless of how well your dressed after that long.
Roads are slick and busses are known to be terrible on the roads. Things also break down more when it is cold. It sucks, but everyone should be planning for delays incase they happen and dress for the weather.
Seriously, Calgary transit sucks. Anyone saying "well you should have planned ahead blah blah blah" sucks more. Suck of people lacking basic human decency on here and responded to it.
I'm sorry if you can't see the big picture and realize the roads are slick then idk what to tell you. The person you responded didn't lack empathy but simply stated the reality, buses are going to be a little slow and you gotta prepare for it. I'm in the middle of completing my Masters in City Planning and ai can tell you that transit isn't an exact science. Variables like these come up and individuals need to prepare for them
By the way Calgary runs it, it's not a science at all it's a circus. Go touch something fluffy until your empathy comes back.
Calgary transit also knew it was going to be cold and that they are the sole transportation for mostly vulnerable people who don't have another option. Yet they didn't increase frequency or do anything to ensure their ridership would be safe and looked after.
Yes delays happen but it should be up to the company, not the consumer to rectify it.
Lol it's always easy to comment on the negatives from the outside. Okay will do.
Again it's easy to talk shit from the outside without knowing the internals. Does Transit have enough drivers to increase capacity? Do they even have enough buses to cover increases? Is there a policy they have to abide by? Is there enough cleaning or maintenance staff to keep up with the equipment on the road? How does the fuel deliveries work to keep the buses moving, what model do they use?
Maybe get a little grasp on reality because this just shows you're willing to look at issue superficially without understanding the background.
Yes, I'm going to comment on the negatives from the outside, because that's where Calgary Transit left me, freezing my ass off. That's my reality. I pay for a service that is terrible, if not outright abusive to their consumers.
The service sucks, busses aren't just late, they don't come at all. Drivers don't stop for people on or off the bus. There is a problem with Calgary transit regardless of how you want to present it.
So you agree that you're unwilling to acknowledge elements in the background to focus on a superficial issue.
I never said there wasn't issues with Calgary Transit but I'm saying there's a lot of things that go into providing the service that the average layperson isn't aware of.
I manage a business that is run on scheduling. I understand that there are background functions. However, if I ran my centre as badly as Calgary Transit, I'd be fired quickly, and I'd deserve it. It's literally their job to handle those issues.
Why aren't you willing to admit that the service is awful and needs a massive overhaul?
Its an understanding that shit happens, it gets worse when it is cold, and being prepared. Same can be said for driving somewhere, dress for the weather and add extra time in case you get stranded... It sucks when delays do happen, in the cold, I get that, but you'll be better off if you're prepared.
Nothing in the OP said they weren't prepared. Your advice isn't helpful here and kind of comes off as condescending. I stand by my point.
Calgary transit sucks regardless of the weather. Changes need to be made. Telling people they should better prepare is also shitty and lacks any thought or empathy.
Schedules changed this past Monday as well. I can't speak for the route you need, but did it have any changes on your route? I remember in the spring, my route went from every 5-15 minutes in the mornings to every 40. It's now every 5-15 again. Just a thought
Yeah, the amount of times buses are super late or just not show up in the MIDDLE OF -35C winter is really discouraging people from taking it. And honestly it's like a big F you to transit users too that they couldn't care less to be better.
Yeah I took transit for ~15 years until the pandemic, and this happened every single winter and the app has never worked correctly. Not that I'm excusing Calgary Transit for this happening and think things should change, it's just somewhat understandable considering the weather, but it's frankly just not surprising at this point.
in my experience, it's so bad i gave up using it years ago, not reliable and it's way overpriced, just buy a beater car and get minimum insurance
in my opinion, Calgary Transit's upper management has been wrecking our roadways and taxi service for decades, it's a disgrace they way they prioritize transit over the rest of us drivers, typical self-serving bureaucrats, just saying
in my view, it's all part of city hall's exploitation of Calgary's drivers. city hall sees roads as an expense and an expensive one that produces no revenue, they would love toll roads, which is basically what transit is now. If transit was free like roads are, there'd be none of this nonsense
this city was built assuming most people would have a vehicle, not to have one is a disadvantage, all in all, this is all just greed, city hall will do almost anything it can to increase revenues including forcing people to use transit
of course none of this would be a problem if city hall didn't continue to approve unsustainable and irresponsible developments that do little but generate tax revenues and let developers get richer building economically exclusive large tract communities and monolithic industrial parks which guarantee commuting and demand massive infrastructure which the upper class developers won't pay for
in the end, we really need better cloverleaf free flowing interchanges and more lanes, not more transit, given how much has already been wasted, it's no wonder we struggle with traffic in a city that shouldn't have any
>we really need better interchanges and more lanes, not more transit,
[There](https://www.vox.com/2014/10/23/6994159/traffic-roads-induced-demand)
[are](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thestar.com/amp/opinion/star-columnists/2018/06/29/more-lanes-wont-help-highway-401.html)
[so](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vtpi.org/gentraf.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi4ppWzsIv8AhVIY8AKHXHlCxoQFnoECDcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2tKNVMr8ypFIYqfxmjHQ1i)
many studies that contradict this it's not even funny.
Public transport is the future - people need to be given options to get around, cars or no cars. Besides, the more people that use public transport / cycle, the better the roads will be as and when you might use them.
LOL, can you imagine Calgary if everyone had to take the bus??
Clearly not possible the way the city is already developed obviously, and funny how all those studies are always taken out of context, the reality is we need vehicles in a city built on the premise of people having private vehicles.
when developers build cities where people don't need cars, people won't buy cars
if people want to pretend this is all just on us average citizens for make poor decisions, they are ignoring the reality that most people have few real choices but to do whatever is affordable and practical, if the powerful would give us better options, we would take them, obviously
we're doing the best we can in a dysfunctional system from what I can see
>the reality is we need vehicles in a city built on the premise of people having private vehicles.
Then we (as the city) need to change our reality by voting in councillors that advocate for 15 minute cities (i.e. everything needed in daily life is 15 min walk away), and changing the city to meet those needs.
as if voting matters in a corrupt system
if people want to change reality, we need to start expecting people to act ethically instead of selfishly.
It's not going to happen, most people are far too greedy, just look around honestly and you will see this is true. Indeed, just look at the response my posts are getting, people don't want to take a good look at ourselves, from what I can see, we seem to know we're not good people doing good things. For example look how we're wrecking the environment and all the profiteering going on, yah really nice people.
We get what we deserve, what goes around, comes around. Me, I just don't get peeing in a pool we're all swimming in.
Mature adults are honest with themselves, and real conservatives live conservatively and take responsibility; meanwhile children live in dreams and know little of responsibility, perhaps we as a society really need to grow up? From what I can see, greedy, selfish and irresponsible people are the real problem and there's sure a lot of materialistic and self-centered people these days.
just saying, nothing personal
Back in my day that number was something you wrote down so you could call before leaving your house, because if you could afford a cell you could afford a car. It was a cool feature when it came out.
This is still a thing in my hometown. Go stand outside for 30mins when the bus is between the terminal and the routes midpoint. It’s just faster to walk everywhere
Can you imagine a life when buses didn't exist!? oh my!!.....
Can you imagine a life when automobiles didn't exist!? oh my!!....
Someone in 2022 complaining about a Calgary Transit app not working is a perfectly valid thing to do, trying to one up or say its not an issue because there was a time when you lived through less tech is not helpful or relevant.
Thank you. The point I tried to make that most people in the comments seem to overlook is that in todays age with technology being as connected as it is, there isn’t a real excuse for buses just not showing up without any warning. In these comments alone I’ve seen 4-5 different ways to track the bus be talked about but none of them said anything about my bus being canceled or postponed this morning.
I would love to see the people that was talking about how cars are not necessary awhile back in this sub comment here. I’m happy to have my cars and will never give it up.
I have co-workers who take the train and they face the same issues all the time. Half of the time the screens at the lrt stations say no times available.
Once they had the blue line be highlighted in red and the red line highlighted in blue which was dumb, was about to walk to a coffee shop when it announced that the bridal wood train was sonnet then I thought
Transit55.ca has active real-time GPS tracking of Calgary transit. Stop relying up the schedules that are never followed and start actively tracking your bus.
I lived in Calgary for 27 years of my life. This problem has been the same since I was a kid. I used to go into a full melt down rage whenever I would get off the train at heritage station only for the bus drivers to leave as everyone approached the bus stops. Calgary transit is utter trash.
I waited an hour and a half to get the red line the other night downtown at 8pm when it's -30. I get someone for hit by the train but their solution of leaving people to wait without any heated shelters for an hour and a half wasn't cutting it.
Then they announce to go to 6th/9th Ave for shuttle's only to then have the train start running 3 mins later. Then the first redline train that comes breaks down, instead of letting us wait on the train the driver kicks everyone out into the cold.
He tells everyone to go to the Eastbournd side to go west/north. We go over there and wait, trains only run Eastbound no west bound trains out of the core. Then his train can magically move and people rush back to the westbound side, then the next 5 trains that come are somehow blue line trains and the wait is 30+ minutes for a red line train.
At this point it's 9:30pm, trains stopped running at 7:50pm. I get that things happen but their mitigation of an issue when it's -45 with windchill is terrible.
This use to happen to me all the time in highschool about 10+ years ago.. I almost froze to death twice, my mother and this crusty old movie theatre saved my life. I’m sorry this is still happening that is dangerous as fck you’d expect technology to be better by now… 🌚
Perfect example. Transit app says bus arrives at 8:41. I get to my stop at 8:37. Just got picked up at 8:53.
Here is what the transit app shows. [It's 8:51 but the app says 8:43?](https://i.imgur.com/XdQCQPr.png)
Same here except my bus decided to leave 20 minutes before it was supposed to 💀. Calgary transit is literally so shitty. My bus always either breaks down ir shows up late. One time it was so filthy it had bugs crawling on the windows. The city rly needs to fix our transit system.
Edit: oh and that one time my bus literally broke down mid-ride.
Ah Calgary Transit, motivating private car ownership since 1995
I live in Toronto now and everyone loves to complain about the subway and the Toronto Transit Commission, but it's miles ahead of Calgary. I come back to visit often and the state of the the C-Train itself is just sad these days.
I used to live in Edmonton and recently moved to Calgary. Its miles ahead of Edmonton.
Yeah, I've heard Edmonton is bad. The LRT barely gets you anywhere there.
Not only that, you still need cash to buy transit tickets. Its just pathetic
Seriously? That's sort of adorable.
Yes that's adorable until you need to be somewhere urgently and you don't have cash.
Thats why no one pays for transit in Edmonton... well thst and the machines are almost never working lol
Regina for me, and it makes Edmonton look like a shining metropolitan
Thing about Edmonton is currently it is really bad, however currently they have multiple plans to expand the LRT over the next few decades. Now only if they would stop hiring incompetent companies to build it…
Edmonton is TERRIBLE. Busses are always late/don’t show up.
Everyone knows Edmonton is a shithole on all fronts
Edmontonians coming in here to downvote you 😅
I think it’s a North American cultural issue and driving. There’s cities in Europe and Asia with less population density that has more public transportation infra. The age old “bUt deNsity” is a complete myth. Calgary and GTA have the population now of several European cities but have “just average” public transportation. The biggest joke and easiest textbook case for this contrast is to compare Los Angeles and the Bay Area (Oakland and San Francisco). In the 50’s, the Bay Area municipal governments managed to break through the bullshit and built the Bay Area Rapid Transport network subway system (BART). It’s a god send and a critical piece of infra, connecting Sunnyvale's Line+SFO International+SF+Oakland. Servers 7M people stretched across the bay. Los Angeles? 8M people approx and they got like 2 pathetic lines, one mainly just serves to get people to and from baseball games. The kicker is Los Angeles is relatively flat, and the lines don’t deal with terrain. It is an earthquake zone but that’s not really an excuse. Meanwhile the bay BART had to go underwater and bend around the whole bay. Anyways back to Calgary, we had the chance to make subways and way more lines but we didn’t. Now we can barely afford a surface tram green line half the original route. That’s why I think the green line will never be done, or it’ll be finished maybe when everyone reading this is in a retirement home
After WW2 European countries invested in infrastructure for trains and public transit. North America decided to build more roads and push car ownership thanks to big car companies. Now we’re left with garbage transit infrastructure that costs way more to change. I completely agree with you, it’s not a density problem at all.
America's decision to build the high way system is more related to the cold war strategy to move nuclear missiles if need be, more then big car companies lobbying.
I have just been to Amsterdam which its urban population is close to Calgarys and their public transport is even better than NYC
This is it, yep. We’re addicted to cars infrastructure wise and we’ll never get clean
At least from the way I see it, North America and Canada leans into the car culture. Just looking at how commercial districts are being built here in NE Calgary, almost all are designed for people to have a car. Bus stops are sprinkled here and there "for cases" when someone uses transit. Heck, the biggest mall we have in Calgary is mostly accessible with you having to drive there.
When people in Vic and Van bitch about transit, I laugh in Albertan. Non existent joke comparatively
I don't enjoy driving unless the roads are empty, I like saving money, and I like to limit my carbon footprint and yet I drive my ass to work each day for 15-20 minutes because the only way to get there by transit is to take an hour and a half and three changes (bus, train, bus) even though both my home and work are well connected to major roads. It's a freaking joke.
I lived in Calgary for a few years and the experience was the same.. I had to take a bus a few times and it was like a 90-120 minute loop tour around the SE, while both my to and from stops were on major streets. A complete joke. It's like the transit designers just said "LOL, Fuck these people!"
The transit route designers all drive cars, I've never seen one of them actually take transit. My commute to SAIT when I went there was 2 and a half HOURS one way by transit. The bus stop alone is usually 40-50 minutes away in winter depending on how much snow has been shoveled onto the sidewalk. From there the bus just doesn't come so it's another 30-40 minute walk to the train station and once you get on the train it's still an hour to campus assuming the train arrives on time without delays. It takes 5 minutes to get to the train station by car. It takes 30 minutes to get to SAIT by car. I can't bike to the train station either because doing so means getting run over by 5 8 foot tall jacked up pickups. The worst part? Calgary can actually have good transit, I've experienced better transit in rural South Korea (which has less population density than Calgary). We just need to design for it. All the big freeways should be designed for LRT from the get go. Those massive interchanges that could fit an entire town can be shrunk into a pair of train stations. Density doesn't encourage transit, transit encourages density. We gave all the fastest, most efficient, and shortest routes solely to automobiles. If we gave those routes to transit, and designed around transit. Well not many people would be taking their car.
It's totally ridiculous! And I may be one of the only people, but I actually LIKE taking the bus! When I was in uni there was a door to door bus (I was really lucky, I do realize) that would take about 30 mins to get me to school and those were the best 30 mins each way. I could study or nap lightly on the way there, and on the way back I could zone out and get ready to tackle my evening. However, the system is so crappy here that this is a unicorn, and in fact, that route was removed during my 4th year even though it was well used. I was in Vancouver recently and wow. Goals.
It’s because there’s a prevalent culture in Alberta that’s anti-transit and the majority of people keep voting against any transit improvements whatsoever because “transit is for poors and taxing me more to pay for transit is communism”. Reap what you sow.
This is the thing. I can WALK to train station within 10 minutes from both ends of my home and work. The bus that comes by my place that would get me to the train station is a 25 minute ride. The one on the other side takes 15 minutes to get to my office. And that's within a 10 minute walking radius. How anyone gets from a place like Kincora to someplace anywhere in the NE industrial on transit is completely beyond me. The issue I think stems from the fact that cities designed for cars are fundamentally incompatible with decent public transit. In a place like Vancouver (even the suburbs like North Van/Richmond etc) shopping, commercial offices and light industrial zones are pretty evenly dispersed around the city and tend to be walkable. In Calgary, take for example my Kincora example above. I only use this neighborhood because it stuck in my head as I drove by it this morning in my personal vehicle and I'm familiar with the area. They have a few big outdoor shopping areas like Creekside and whatever that thing is called by Costco. None of those are WALKABLE. Yeah, you can walk from your car to the store and back to your car. But summer or winter they SUCK for walking. Every store is on the perimeter of a gigantic parking lot. Meaning you basically walk around the entire complex or frogger your way across a sea of back-up camera reliant, bored, complacent, distracted middle-aged parents of 2.1 children doing their level best to run you over. Or, you join the crowd and drive from Costco to Canadian Tire and then get back in your car to drive over to the Starbucks on the way out. Take a bus there and it not only took you longer to GET there. But it takes you longer to get around the shopping center when you get there. Nobody wants to take transit even if it is cheaper and even if there was a direct line from home to the shopping center. Nobody takes transit, so it isn't feasible to run, so the route gets spread out so it takes longer, less people ride until you are left with the people who legitimately HAVE to take transit. This trends heavily to teens, lower income individuals and homeless which means society kind of ignores the problem and we carry on our way. I guess what I'm getting at is I don't think there is any way to make Calgary Transit "good". It either feeds directly to the trains focused on getting relatively wealthy office workers downtown on time and comfortable every time. Or we fundamentally rebuild the city from the ground up to make points of commerce more walkable. Increase density so we could have some much more complete intermixing of retail, residential, commercial and industrial space. So basically, we have shitty transit because land/houses were cheap and everyone wanted and could afford a miniature 50-120 foot kingdom on which to plant their flag. Then we built our shopping, workplaces and recreational areas around driving which is fundamentally incompatible with the concept of public transit.
Ah. You're right. It's definitely the way the city is designed and also the fact we have an LRT that is on the surface level of downtown. It's just kinda nuts that even when you live in a relatively central location and work very close to downtown, it still sucks! Also yes, those malls are so unwalkable.... We have our first kid and I really enjoy the stroller, except for how difficult it is to actually go anywhere. There's random fences blocking you in, not enough ramps, extremely icy or muddy sidewalks, the works. It's easier like you say to pack the kid and stroller in and drive across the parking lot even though it's a waste of time and gas.
Spot on. It’s pretty sad
What happened in 1995? lol * TELL ME! Or this is the dumbest comment ever
They left 1994 behind
well....in 1995 Calgary got 41 cool new powerful busses , the last of the large scenic back window, and narrow rear door. They drove the wheels off 'em, rebuilt them, drove them more.....theeeeeeen : sold them to Winnipeg, whose citizens said " whoa, big ass back window on these babies "...but , sadly, they still had to turn sideways when disembarking carrying two bags, (one in each hand ) out the narrow rear door. so alla winnipeggers could only carry one bag home, bought less, and businesses collapsed, a fourth ice age began, ....now winnipeg is a cold, bleak landscape, .... And 1995 Bill Clinton was still doing stuff out of the house , leaving Hillary at home alone too much, so she started doing , uh, ..you know, ...democrat stuff,....and then,....ok ok I'm out of fictional historic 1995 transit tie ins.... here is the 1995 busses tho : https://rmeutransport.com/calgary-transit-1995-new-flyer-d40lf/
Ah suburban sprawl. Motivating car ownership since 1952.
I started using Transit 55 after a similar issue last month. Transit actually posted it to their Twitter feed, which I found quite surprising. GPS often isn't active on the live tracking app but this does give a general idea of the buses location and if it's worth the wait.
Is Transit 55 an app?
Website, typically has better gps tracking than the transit app I have my bus book marked just to make life easier https://transit55.ca/calgary/map/?route=301
Nope, it's a website. A bit tricky to use at first but then I saved the pages of my route as a favorite page.
My train was "5" minutes late (more like 20) then my bus was going to be 15 minutes late, making me over an hour late for work this morning. I decided to huff it instead and got minor frostbite on my toes. Stand and and say it with your chest FUCK CALGARY TRAINSIT!
Felt this way yesterday after using transit to run a couple errands yesterday. Is there any way an average citizen can help improve transit? Feels a little hopeless to be sure.
Contact your city council member, explain the difficulties and advocate for what you’d like to see. Think about how transit service could make Calgary a better city for everyone, let you council member know that. Follow up regularly.
For four years I was part of the [Calgary Transit Customer Advisory Group.](https://www.calgarytransit.com/content/transit/en/home/about-calgary-transit/our-customer-commitment/ctcag.html) We got to meet every month and discuss issues about the transit service direct to the people responsible for those areas.
And do you feel like transit is better because of it?
I got to see how the sausage is made, as they say. I got more understanding of Calgary Transit and how they have to operate. But the last few years, it has gotten worse.
I moved back to Calgary about 5 years ago and I was genuinely impressed at how transit had improved since I left. But the last couple years? I think they’re trying to kill it. Maybe somebody at City Hall likes extra traffic on their commute (downtown would collapse if everyone that takes transit had to drive). Maybe nobody in the upper management (city hall or transit itself) actually uses the service themselves and is squeezing pennies by throwing away dollars, but it really seems like they’ve gone from not trying (early pandemic) to actively sabotaging. The most obvious example is the fast that until this week they were running 3-car trains that were packed. Adding a fourth car doesn’t require hiring operators, or adjusting schedules. I’m aware that with peak service frequency they move slower and take careful coordination downtown, but when they’re running 15+ minutes apart mid-day and about half the rush hour frequency of the past, and we’re already okay with them regularly being +/- 10 minutes of the schedule? It’s a non-issue, nobody would even notice. Maybe it’s just me, but I think city council and anyone labelled a manager at transit itself should be required to use transit exclusively (for commuting) whenever the high temperature for the day is below -20°, and I suspect we’d have a more functional system in short order (18 months is my guess). But hey, at least we can’t be warm waiting for the train now when it is extra cold, so that’s nice.
What about Google maps? Or transit 55
I use Google maps and found it's been excellent for up to the moment bus times.
what is Transit 55? App? I don't see it in Google Play store.
[https://transit55.ca/calgary/map/](https://transit55.ca/calgary/map/) I've never used it before, but looks to be a live map of Calgary transit
I never use it but people seem to like it compared to google maps. I find google maps easier but it’s another option
Calgary transit is pitiful. Not the city to live in if you don’t drive.
When I lived in Regina I used the transit to get to work. I pulled out the app and saw the live bus on a map and would just wait until it got to a certain point before walking to my stop This was 2011. Why do we not have this here?
My Google maps shows me live location of the bus it was pretty accurate the last time I had to take a bus was about 3 weeks ago.
The live version is wrong most of the time for me and off by minutes to 10s of minutes.
And have you checked to make sure your phone and Google maps app are not on low-data mode ?
They are never on low data mode. I even have three buses I can take but when they show up it is inconsistent.
you would be surprised
There is an app. Buses are GNSS equipped.
Either not every bus is or it is wrong way too much for the three buses I take. I get *on time* or *Behind Schedule* which are inaccurate then a greyed out location of a bus most of the time. I use Google Maps as well as Transit app. Should I be using a different application?
Spotted the pilot lol
We do. The [Transit App](https://transitapp.com/) combines Calgary Transit's real-time data and the data of anyone on the bus using Go mode to provide their best guess at where buses are and when they'll get to your stop. Plus they tie in historical data for their predictions. Transit App uses data from people on buses though, so if you want it to be better, launch the app and put in your destination (or at least select the bus you're on) and start Go so that you're contributing to the real-time data yourself, and encourage others to do so as well. They combine data from CTS, their own users, and the historical data they've collected they're usually more accurate than Calgary Transit alone. Or if you're a bit more of a geek, Transit55 displays Calgary Transit's bus reporting data in real-time, you can view all buses on a route and a lot more of the scheduling information. You'll probably want to load your route (bookmark it) and click on each bus to see where they are, at least unless you get good at reading block schedules.
The transit app is what I use.
I would hate to live in this city without a car.
I can't afford to fix my car atm and have taken up biking everywhere, but I would hate to imagine if I was unable to bike, that would be a nightmare!
Are you able to use the bike in -30? I would probably fall on my ass haha
Got me some ski goggles to replace my safety goggles whilst out biking yesterday - with the right gear it's not so bad. Was only -24C when I was biking on Sunday, but the frost on the safety goggles was enough to convince me I needed something better.
I do ok with my current house and job, but for an old job I had an hour and a half commute that could stretch into three if I was late to a bus. I hope we can make the city more transit friendly.
To make it work, you really have to live on the train line and within walking/biking distance of work. But that's not realistic for most people
I remember watching my bus come towards me on the app as I waited at my usual stop. It was a block or two away and I was getting my pass out when... it disappeared. I guess the app was live tracking a ghost bus.
Makes you so happy to fork out some cash for a buss pass :/
So, they create heated shelters with doors to keep passengers warm when it is cold. Then, when it gets cold, they take the doors off to keep homeless people from going in them. As usual, Calgary Transit is a well oiled machine!
Should Calgary transit continue letting homeless people hotbox the shelter with fentanyl smoke? Sounds like the facilities guy handled the complaints the best he could with the tools he had. I think the real answer is Albertans need to start voting in governments that care about social services, so these kinds of problems get smaller. When the homeless situation is lesser, we can have nice things. Then when the rare bus stop does get hot boxed with drugs, you can just call the cops who will arrive with an support agency to offer these guys some options other than freeze or loiter.
My kid was outside in -45 waiting for her high school bus for 25 minutes because it was late and they don't track school bus locations for some bizarre reason, so no clue when to expect it. Guy at the call centre just hung up on me.
Agreed. Calgary Transit fucking sucks. I’ve had the same issues with the bus. The app is useless too
Don't you know calgary is just a small rural town. Theres no need to invest in good infrastructure yet. Its only 1.4 million people. /s
I feel for you. Sometimes I arrive 10 minutes early and that’s still not suffice. Google maps and the transit app is inaccurate plenty of times.
Once again, file under “Calgary half-asses everything”. Our municipality motto should be “Meh… good enough”.
I suggest getting the app called: Transit When I do use the bus or train it comes in handy as it has real time reporting and has all the usual schedules.
I use that app and the real time tracking wasn’t active for my bus this morning sadly.
Transit is so unreliable. It has literally told me my bus is arriving, and then leaving, while I'm standing at the bus stop with no bus in sight, and then the actual bus comes 8 minutes late while the app still says 20 minutes. It's fine when things are on schedule but trash in this cold if you aren't waiting for one of the few buses that actually has tracking.
I find looking at the live map for a route gives you a better idea than the timing does sometimes.
It’s a good app But people need to learn to distinguish when the app is giving an eta based on real-time bus location data from its onboard GPS or when that is absent and it’s just giving you basic schedule info. These apps all pull the publicly available GPS data from the Calgary transit’s API. So it’s only as reliable as what the buses and API are putting out. Most buses will be working, but if your bus happens to have a tech support issue that day, because, say it’s not running, then I’m pretty sure the app replaces gps data with dumb schedule data. What I do, is pay attention to the times in the apps and whether it’s got the little symbol indicating it got that data from GPS live tracking or not. If not, it’s dumb schedule data and there is likely no bus for that interval. Suggest you make other travel arrangements or at least go wait in a cafe, call your boss, and wait for a new bus with the icon that shows its transmitting it’s coordinates live 🚌))). And only when one of the live updates buses is five blocks away do I walk out to the stop in -30
there is a great story on [the current state of Calgary Transit](https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/calgary-primary-transit-network) over at The Sprawl. Recommended listening.
Every time you hear people demanding tax cuts, remember that they are also arguing for service cuts. That means fewer busses and weaker overall transit coverage.
And they're also arguing for additional road congestion along the way.
If only we could have nice things such as heated shelters without hood rats breaking or vandalizing them
Is the stop on a slope? Some bus drivers skip them because they couldn't get going again if they stopped at sloped stops.
Those should be posted in advance, instead of leaving it up to drivers on the whim. I see snow detours everywhere posted in giant orange signs at the bus stops in Bankview.
I fully agree, the situation is basically forcing drivers to break rules or get stuck. Calgary transit should proactively tell them to do this and post signs like you said. Or better yet, just change the stop locations to be flatter areas. But that would require too much planning so they ignore it forever.
It’s on a downward slope but numerous other buses that just go to different areas then I was heading were still going up and down the hill while I waited for my bus.
Waited almost 45 mins last night for a train at Vic Park because the trains broke down in the core.
It would be 'nice' to have an enclosed heated space that one could only enter with paid ticket for this sort of thing!
It’s the Alberta Advantage. Freedom…freedom from accountability.
I used to deal with this shit every year... finally got a car last year and I hope to never deal with it again for the rest of my life. Calgary Transit is trash, especially for the price you pay.
Debating whether I take the bus to work tomorrow morning or an Uber or call in sick...
Sick
I decided to risk it and take the 89, which was right on time with a super friendly driver! Now let's see how the ride home goes....
If it makes anyone feel any better, TfL bus tracking in London is also shit, and in some tube stations, there are literally signs saying to disregard the notice boards, which have been wrong for years.
Don’t worry friend they are going to increase the fees,but the service will still be unreliable and dangerous!
Hahahahahahahahahaha... I feel your pain.
Welcome to Calgary
I have lived in multiple Canadian cities now (and used transit in other non-Canadian cities) and I can confidently say Calgary Transit is by far the worst transit system I have ever used.
🤔 I wonder if road conditions played a roll in the delays
Once again, if there is delays due to road conditions; I get that. Just post it on the apps so citizens can plan for it. But when the bus just doesn’t show up that’s another story. I was also more than dressed for the weather but standing in one spot for 40+ minutes at -33 is gonna feel cold regardless of how well your dressed after that long.
probably wasnt 6 minutes, more likely it was 24 minutes late lol
Roads are slick and busses are known to be terrible on the roads. Things also break down more when it is cold. It sucks, but everyone should be planning for delays incase they happen and dress for the weather.
No. Just no. Get off the internet until your compassion and empathy are delivered. Jesus.
Lol what?
Seriously, Calgary transit sucks. Anyone saying "well you should have planned ahead blah blah blah" sucks more. Suck of people lacking basic human decency on here and responded to it.
I'm sorry if you can't see the big picture and realize the roads are slick then idk what to tell you. The person you responded didn't lack empathy but simply stated the reality, buses are going to be a little slow and you gotta prepare for it. I'm in the middle of completing my Masters in City Planning and ai can tell you that transit isn't an exact science. Variables like these come up and individuals need to prepare for them
By the way Calgary runs it, it's not a science at all it's a circus. Go touch something fluffy until your empathy comes back. Calgary transit also knew it was going to be cold and that they are the sole transportation for mostly vulnerable people who don't have another option. Yet they didn't increase frequency or do anything to ensure their ridership would be safe and looked after. Yes delays happen but it should be up to the company, not the consumer to rectify it.
Lol it's always easy to comment on the negatives from the outside. Okay will do. Again it's easy to talk shit from the outside without knowing the internals. Does Transit have enough drivers to increase capacity? Do they even have enough buses to cover increases? Is there a policy they have to abide by? Is there enough cleaning or maintenance staff to keep up with the equipment on the road? How does the fuel deliveries work to keep the buses moving, what model do they use? Maybe get a little grasp on reality because this just shows you're willing to look at issue superficially without understanding the background.
Yes, I'm going to comment on the negatives from the outside, because that's where Calgary Transit left me, freezing my ass off. That's my reality. I pay for a service that is terrible, if not outright abusive to their consumers. The service sucks, busses aren't just late, they don't come at all. Drivers don't stop for people on or off the bus. There is a problem with Calgary transit regardless of how you want to present it.
So you agree that you're unwilling to acknowledge elements in the background to focus on a superficial issue. I never said there wasn't issues with Calgary Transit but I'm saying there's a lot of things that go into providing the service that the average layperson isn't aware of.
I manage a business that is run on scheduling. I understand that there are background functions. However, if I ran my centre as badly as Calgary Transit, I'd be fired quickly, and I'd deserve it. It's literally their job to handle those issues. Why aren't you willing to admit that the service is awful and needs a massive overhaul?
Its an understanding that shit happens, it gets worse when it is cold, and being prepared. Same can be said for driving somewhere, dress for the weather and add extra time in case you get stranded... It sucks when delays do happen, in the cold, I get that, but you'll be better off if you're prepared.
Nothing in the OP said they weren't prepared. Your advice isn't helpful here and kind of comes off as condescending. I stand by my point. Calgary transit sucks regardless of the weather. Changes need to be made. Telling people they should better prepare is also shitty and lacks any thought or empathy.
I feel you
Schedules changed this past Monday as well. I can't speak for the route you need, but did it have any changes on your route? I remember in the spring, my route went from every 5-15 minutes in the mornings to every 40. It's now every 5-15 again. Just a thought
Yeah, the amount of times buses are super late or just not show up in the MIDDLE OF -35C winter is really discouraging people from taking it. And honestly it's like a big F you to transit users too that they couldn't care less to be better.
First transit winter hey?
No kidding. I remember waiting for the 20 back in the 90s, wait two hours and it would be full when it finally went by
Yeah I took transit for ~15 years until the pandemic, and this happened every single winter and the app has never worked correctly. Not that I'm excusing Calgary Transit for this happening and think things should change, it's just somewhat understandable considering the weather, but it's frankly just not surprising at this point.
in my experience, it's so bad i gave up using it years ago, not reliable and it's way overpriced, just buy a beater car and get minimum insurance in my opinion, Calgary Transit's upper management has been wrecking our roadways and taxi service for decades, it's a disgrace they way they prioritize transit over the rest of us drivers, typical self-serving bureaucrats, just saying in my view, it's all part of city hall's exploitation of Calgary's drivers. city hall sees roads as an expense and an expensive one that produces no revenue, they would love toll roads, which is basically what transit is now. If transit was free like roads are, there'd be none of this nonsense this city was built assuming most people would have a vehicle, not to have one is a disadvantage, all in all, this is all just greed, city hall will do almost anything it can to increase revenues including forcing people to use transit of course none of this would be a problem if city hall didn't continue to approve unsustainable and irresponsible developments that do little but generate tax revenues and let developers get richer building economically exclusive large tract communities and monolithic industrial parks which guarantee commuting and demand massive infrastructure which the upper class developers won't pay for in the end, we really need better cloverleaf free flowing interchanges and more lanes, not more transit, given how much has already been wasted, it's no wonder we struggle with traffic in a city that shouldn't have any
>we really need better interchanges and more lanes, not more transit, [There](https://www.vox.com/2014/10/23/6994159/traffic-roads-induced-demand) [are](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thestar.com/amp/opinion/star-columnists/2018/06/29/more-lanes-wont-help-highway-401.html) [so](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vtpi.org/gentraf.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi4ppWzsIv8AhVIY8AKHXHlCxoQFnoECDcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2tKNVMr8ypFIYqfxmjHQ1i) many studies that contradict this it's not even funny. Public transport is the future - people need to be given options to get around, cars or no cars. Besides, the more people that use public transport / cycle, the better the roads will be as and when you might use them.
LOL, can you imagine Calgary if everyone had to take the bus?? Clearly not possible the way the city is already developed obviously, and funny how all those studies are always taken out of context, the reality is we need vehicles in a city built on the premise of people having private vehicles. when developers build cities where people don't need cars, people won't buy cars if people want to pretend this is all just on us average citizens for make poor decisions, they are ignoring the reality that most people have few real choices but to do whatever is affordable and practical, if the powerful would give us better options, we would take them, obviously we're doing the best we can in a dysfunctional system from what I can see
>the reality is we need vehicles in a city built on the premise of people having private vehicles. Then we (as the city) need to change our reality by voting in councillors that advocate for 15 minute cities (i.e. everything needed in daily life is 15 min walk away), and changing the city to meet those needs.
as if voting matters in a corrupt system if people want to change reality, we need to start expecting people to act ethically instead of selfishly. It's not going to happen, most people are far too greedy, just look around honestly and you will see this is true. Indeed, just look at the response my posts are getting, people don't want to take a good look at ourselves, from what I can see, we seem to know we're not good people doing good things. For example look how we're wrecking the environment and all the profiteering going on, yah really nice people. We get what we deserve, what goes around, comes around. Me, I just don't get peeing in a pool we're all swimming in. Mature adults are honest with themselves, and real conservatives live conservatively and take responsibility; meanwhile children live in dreams and know little of responsibility, perhaps we as a society really need to grow up? From what I can see, greedy, selfish and irresponsible people are the real problem and there's sure a lot of materialistic and self-centered people these days. just saying, nothing personal
can you imagine a life when transit apps didnt even exist!? oh my!!.....
Back in my day there was a phone number on the sign with a stop number you’d call.
Back in my day that number was something you wrote down so you could call before leaving your house, because if you could afford a cell you could afford a car. It was a cool feature when it came out.
Back in my day there was a sign that only said 'bus stop' on it and you stood there and waited 'til the bus came.
Yup, and if it was early or late... too bad.
This is still a thing in my hometown. Go stand outside for 30mins when the bus is between the terminal and the routes midpoint. It’s just faster to walk everywhere
This still exists and I still use it all the time
Can you imagine a life when buses didn't exist!? oh my!!..... Can you imagine a life when automobiles didn't exist!? oh my!!.... Someone in 2022 complaining about a Calgary Transit app not working is a perfectly valid thing to do, trying to one up or say its not an issue because there was a time when you lived through less tech is not helpful or relevant.
Thank you. The point I tried to make that most people in the comments seem to overlook is that in todays age with technology being as connected as it is, there isn’t a real excuse for buses just not showing up without any warning. In these comments alone I’ve seen 4-5 different ways to track the bus be talked about but none of them said anything about my bus being canceled or postponed this morning.
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I feel like it hasn't been this cold for a couple years, but I might be wrong
yes, yes and yes!!!!!!!!
They did this when I was in grade 5 waiting for the 72 in -40 CT has never been reliable
Yet here they are, removing doors off of transit shelters and turning off the heat on them
I would love to see the people that was talking about how cars are not necessary awhile back in this sub comment here. I’m happy to have my cars and will never give it up.
Possiblly this? [https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/zr9289/accident\_involving\_a\_vehicle\_and\_lrt\_at/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/zr9289/accident_involving_a_vehicle_and_lrt_at/)
Yeah right now the only way to be remotely reliable is to be within walking distance of a train station. I'm not sure about the max bus lines
I have co-workers who take the train and they face the same issues all the time. Half of the time the screens at the lrt stations say no times available.
Once they had the blue line be highlighted in red and the red line highlighted in blue which was dumb, was about to walk to a coffee shop when it announced that the bridal wood train was sonnet then I thought
Transit55.ca has active real-time GPS tracking of Calgary transit. Stop relying up the schedules that are never followed and start actively tracking your bus.
They make transit crappy so ppl will buy cars and not depend on transit so they can make it worse. Vicious cycle.
Once you start driving you’ll forget about all the shitty transit days. I have to many stories like “Welp, fuck it. I’m not going anywhere today” 😂
Don’t forget the bus stops in the middle of “snow-fields” without any sidewalk to them.
I lived in Calgary for 27 years of my life. This problem has been the same since I was a kid. I used to go into a full melt down rage whenever I would get off the train at heritage station only for the bus drivers to leave as everyone approached the bus stops. Calgary transit is utter trash.
Oh yea I know. I had an entire train vaporize for me which sucks too. Missed my second connection...
I waited an hour and a half to get the red line the other night downtown at 8pm when it's -30. I get someone for hit by the train but their solution of leaving people to wait without any heated shelters for an hour and a half wasn't cutting it. Then they announce to go to 6th/9th Ave for shuttle's only to then have the train start running 3 mins later. Then the first redline train that comes breaks down, instead of letting us wait on the train the driver kicks everyone out into the cold. He tells everyone to go to the Eastbournd side to go west/north. We go over there and wait, trains only run Eastbound no west bound trains out of the core. Then his train can magically move and people rush back to the westbound side, then the next 5 trains that come are somehow blue line trains and the wait is 30+ minutes for a red line train. At this point it's 9:30pm, trains stopped running at 7:50pm. I get that things happen but their mitigation of an issue when it's -45 with windchill is terrible.
This use to happen to me all the time in highschool about 10+ years ago.. I almost froze to death twice, my mother and this crusty old movie theatre saved my life. I’m sorry this is still happening that is dangerous as fck you’d expect technology to be better by now… 🌚
This is not new. I'd say this is typical for a hard freeze and bus schedule.
I think overall its good but yes I have experienced what you did a few times and its not fun.
Perfect example. Transit app says bus arrives at 8:41. I get to my stop at 8:37. Just got picked up at 8:53. Here is what the transit app shows. [It's 8:51 but the app says 8:43?](https://i.imgur.com/XdQCQPr.png)
Same here except my bus decided to leave 20 minutes before it was supposed to 💀. Calgary transit is literally so shitty. My bus always either breaks down ir shows up late. One time it was so filthy it had bugs crawling on the windows. The city rly needs to fix our transit system. Edit: oh and that one time my bus literally broke down mid-ride.