[darwink]

Context to how I started thinking about 'bus traps' here:
https://skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/calgary-bike-lanes-and-bike-paths.24519/post-2325367

Route 94 is two independent loops running on 50 min frequency (14km total, 5 traffic lights. 24.7 kph when travelling; 16.8 kph for the 50 mins)

94 North (Strathcona) = 14 min loop, 6.22kms with 2 slow traffic lights and 1 medium light = 26.7 kph

8 min break

94 South (Sirocco) = 20 min loop; 7.76kms with 1 slow traffic light and 1 fast light = 23.3 kph

8 min break

View attachment 702547
View attachment 702546

But if you reopen the bus way (car trap) you could eliminate a bunch of redundancy and make this:

9.25km loop with 3 slow traffic lights:

View attachment 702548

This eliminates a lot of the 'fast' running on stroads (which is always preceded by a slow traffic light), so it's hard to know how the average travel speed would shake out, but at 23 kph = 24 mins, 25 kph = 22 mins; 27 kph = 20:30. So let's call it 22 mins and add the 8 min break and we're down to a 30 min frequency without significantly affecting the service area. The adjusted route for Sirocco actually runs right by a seniors' residence where it turns WB onto 17th (and another one just north of Sirocco Station).

Very few homes 'lose' here; a handful go from <200 meters to nearest stop to <425 meters (but there are a bunch of homes in the centre of these loops that are over 500 meters either way.

The single loop via the bus trap was proposed with the route realignment when the West LRT opened.

I suspect these people complained to their local councillor, and CT with the closure of the express routes didn’t see it as a huge loss/worth going to the mat on.

 

[Transit Apologist]

That particular car trap was strange, because it was there since the 90's, but even before West LRT no bus ever used it.

 

[Red Star]

Context to how I started thinking about 'bus traps' here:
https://skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/calgary-bike-lanes-and-bike-paths.24519/post-2325367

Route 94 is two independent loops running on 50 min frequency (14km total, 5 traffic lights. 24.7 kph when travelling; 16.8 kph for the 50 mins)

94 North (Strathcona) = 14 min loop, 6.22kms with 2 slow traffic lights and 1 medium light = 26.7 kph

8 min break

94 South (Sirocco) = 20 min loop; 7.76kms with 1 slow traffic light and 1 fast light = 23.3 kph

8 min break

View attachment 702547
View attachment 702546

But if you reopen the bus way (car trap) you could eliminate a bunch of redundancy and make this:

9.25km loop with 3 slow traffic lights:

View attachment 702548

This eliminates a lot of the 'fast' running on stroads (which is always preceded by a slow traffic light), so it's hard to know how the average travel speed would shake out, but at 23 kph = 24 mins, 25 kph = 22 mins; 27 kph = 20:30. So let's call it 22 mins and add the 8 min break and we're down to a 30 min frequency without significantly affecting the service area. The adjusted route for Sirocco actually runs right by a seniors' residence where it turns WB onto 17th (and another one just north of Sirocco Station).

Very few homes 'lose' here; a handful go from <200 meters to nearest stop to <425 meters (but there are a bunch of homes in the centre of these loops that are over 500 meters either way.

I think there are so many bus routes in Calgary that could be redesigned, discontinued, amalgamated or streamlined in order to achieve better frequency, higher ridership and a faster service.

I always cringe when I look at route 123:

 

[lemongrab]

The single loop via the bus trap was proposed with the route realignment when the West LRT opened.

I suspect these people complained to their local councillor, and CT with the closure of the express routes didn’t see it as a huge loss/worth going to the mat on.

Fair enough when the shiny new train seemed like a good enough upgrade on its own, but its time to reconsider and find low hanging fruit like this. It's also a bit funny that a bus route gets NIMBYd despite a piece of bus infrastructure predating all of that adjacent development on the Christie side...there couldn't be a much bigger sign that a bus could run down a particular road!

 

[lemongrab]

Similar to my post in the "Unbuilt" thread - I found the following historical articles regarding Calgary's LRT system I thought everyone might be interested in.
These are all from the "Calgary In The News" publications I found on the 4th Floor of the Central Library:


View attachment 693743

I had this tab open for weeks and finally got around to reading these articles. So much neat stuff. It's interesting to contrast the above proposal from 1982 with the outcome:

Somewhat surprising to me is that Macleod and Southland were both pretty much at their current scope in 1982. All I see is slip lane tweaks, including extending the SB-WB slip lane south by a block or so:

The article talks about all sorts of 'solutions' (ped tunnels, overpasses, +15s, etc)...so i guess you could say they were aware of the 'problem', but I wonder how much it was viewed as a 'pedestrian problem' to be solved instead of a stroad problem. Tbf I'm not sure the typical mindset today has really changed that much, but it's interesting to read how there was quite a bit of focus on pedestrian movements since the LRT was brand new (but I'm not sure if it really extented to considering the 'pedestrian experience')

 

[Red Star]

The Sprawl released a good podcast about the challenges with Calgary Transit and the funding gap.

Spread thin: How urban sprawl is stretching Calgary Transit to the max | The Sprawl

A new city council tackles an old problem.

www.sprawlcalgary.com

I'm of the mind that CT should cut low ridership routes and reallocate resources to routes with high ridership potential in order to achieve better bus frequency. Does Discovery Ridge really need a bus service? It's a high-income, low density neighborhood with low levels of transit ridership.