News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
 8.4K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 39K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 4.7K     0 

UrbanWarrior

Senior Member
Member Bio
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Messages
5,827
Reaction score
38,293
Figured we should have a thread for development of Calgary's BRT network, since we just saw three lines come online simultaneously last year and one line still under construction. I'm quite proud of how quickly the city seems to be getting their sh*t together in regard to transit.

I took a little trip on the MAX Purple the other day, and was fairly impressed. The wait times at lights were terrible for something considering itself a "rapid" bus service though. I find it a little shocking that the cars get advanced greens before the buses can go. They could even just have a quick 20-second bus-only jump time, then do the damn 1.5 minute turning light. Either way, the infrastructure involved with the transitway was what I found most impressive.

irrDngQTQ2yHKwj0wPLwug.jpg
1SqdSItyTxe4CvSuDlNE0w.jpg
n%ayke7qSAql3gDuNbF01A.jpg
ZUqA81+hRV+gjDp8Pkzz5A.jpg
mzp%lRsCRFmAdZYUxCqDQA.jpg
SCr3n7i3QCi%6urvhWqU1Q.jpg
 
Figured we should have a thread for development of Calgary's BRT network, since we just saw three lines come online simultaneously last year and one line still under construction. I'm quite proud of how quickly the city seems to be getting their sh*t together in regard to transit.

I took a little trip on the MAX Purple the other day, and was fairly impressed. The wait times at lights were terrible for something considering itself a "rapid" bus service though. I find it a little shocking that the cars get advanced greens before the buses can go. They could even just have a quick 20-second bus-only jump time, then do the damn 1.5 minute turning light. Either way, the infrastructure involved with the transitway was what I found most impressive.

Thanks for posting. It really is quite impressive infrastructure - particularly the bus/pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Deerfoot Trail. You do bring up a really good point I often complain about on here (sorry here it comes again). It's such a small thing compared to the scale of these big $$$ transit projects - but its so frustrating to see good intentions and well-thought out projects being watered down with a seemingly small detail: car-priority and length of traffic signals.

We seem to be willing to spend tens and hundreds of millions of capital dollars on a transit project bridge, then give back all the time we saved transit riders through not prioritizing at traffic signals.

Cycletracks, main streets, bus lanes, sidewalk bump-outs, pedestrian improvements - all have come to battle with pro-car signal timing and sequencing and (mostly) lost in this city. Along with removing bus pull-outs and pedestrian beg buttons - car priority at intersections is the cheapest low-hanging fruit that if we change would push us from an alternative transportation unfriendly city to a friendly one - literally overnight (especially by mega-project LRT standards).

More frustratingly: it's not like we don't have local examples of the value of signal prioritization of alternative transportation: our LRT's network often-lauded success relies on signal priority as one key pillar to it's success over the past 30 years.

Is it a wait for a one or two transportation engineers to retire? Is it a policy change? Why does this keep happening? It seems so obvious and so low-cost. Or am I missing something?
 
Last edited:
I greatly appreciate having the max teal especially as it was such a pain to take the 72/73 before the changes were made (and it's even more complicated for me now to get to Chinook). It seems like people are preferring to wait for the max to get to deerfoot meadows and heritage from there, which I hope gains in ridership in time. The rest of the route seems sporadic in terms of ridership past these points. The max orange seems to be much more popular and consistent along the line.
 
So after this is done, what should be next on tap? (Aside from Green Line)

I wish MAX Yellow could be extended down to Evergreen and Bridlewood or maybe even Silverado in the future, it'd be so useful but if it hadn't been Fish Creek Park blocking the way it probably would have been extended.
Personally, I am very excited to see the 162 Ave BRT although it's outside of the 30-year route ahead plan...
 
Short term I think the goal needs to be for the City of Calgary to build up frequencies on the Max routes so that they become as integral to the city's primary transit network as the LRT. Most of the Max routes are operating around 20 minute frequencies during peak times, let alone off-peak. I had to get to Riverbend the other day and the Max Teal was actually the worst transit option for me according to the Calgary Transit app. Having all Max routes operating at 10 minute all-day frequencies would actually make them primary transit where people simply walk to the stop knowing that the next bus will be arriving shortly, no need to check timetables. I would also throw in that the centre city Max stops should be upgraded to match the same level of infrastructure (heated shelters, next bus times) as the suburban stops.
 
Short term I think the goal needs to be for the City of Calgary to build up frequencies on the Max routes so that they become as integral to the city's primary transit network as the LRT. Most of the Max routes are operating around 20 minute frequencies during peak times, let alone off-peak. I had to get to Riverbend the other day and the Max Teal was actually the worst transit option for me according to the Calgary Transit app. Having all Max routes operating at 10 minute all-day frequencies would actually make them primary transit where people simply walk to the stop knowing that the next bus will be arriving shortly, no need to check timetables. I would also throw in that the centre city Max stops should be upgraded to match the same level of infrastructure (heated shelters, next bus times) as the suburban stops.

I think they recently lowered the frequency a bit on the teal due to the budget cuts as well. I like how they put in proper shelters and timing screens but I really wish they would have put pull out lanes on the timing stops... Some of them are directly in front of intersections and cause traffic mayhem while the bus sits there waiting.
 
Short term I think the goal needs to be for the City of Calgary to build up frequencies on the Max routes so that they become as integral to the city's primary transit network as the LRT. Most of the Max routes are operating around 20 minute frequencies during peak times, let alone off-peak. I had to get to Riverbend the other day and the Max Teal was actually the worst transit option for me according to the Calgary Transit app. Having all Max routes operating at 10 minute all-day frequencies would actually make them primary transit where people simply walk to the stop knowing that the next bus will be arriving shortly, no need to check timetables. I would also throw in that the centre city Max stops should be upgraded to match the same level of infrastructure (heated shelters, next bus times) as the suburban stops.

I guess the city just thinks there isn't "enough" demand for more buses...

The first time I went on MAX Purple I waited over 50 minutes for a bus
 
Oh they know there is demand. Council just isn’t in a funding is good sort of mood.
 

Back
Top