Posts Tagged ‘calgary transit’
The Calgary Police Service Bait Car Program has been successful since it launched about 18 months ago and now the program is expanding to the Calgary Transit LRT parking lots as well as the Park and Ride lots.
The campaign is a highly visible one with signs posted at LRT lots warning thieves that Bait Cars are being used. Ads for the Bait Car program are also running on buses and on bus shelters. Calgary Police are confident that the expansion of the Bait Car program will further reduce car thefts which had already dropped by 29% over the last year and by over 50% since 2007.
“The message is simple. Steal a bait car and we’ll catch you and you will go to jail.
“We have a lot of success with this program as part of the overall auto theft strategy,” police Staff Sgt. Colin Adair said.
No details of the Bait Car program were released to ensure the program remains effective but the bait vehicles will be placed randomly in lots where auto thefts are a problem. I really hope they release the videos from the Bait Cars.
Photo: Heang Uy (flickr: heanguy)
If you are a habitual jaywalker, this morning may not be a good day to do it. Calgary Police and Calgary Transit officers will be out in full force starting at 6:30am targetting pedestrians who jaywalk. The goal of the blitz is to increase awareness of the dangers that jaywalking poses.
Police departments from all across Canada have been focusing on pedestrian safety after a rash of pedestrian deaths in Toronto and one just last month in Calgary. In all of these cases, the pedestrians were crossing the street at an unsafe spot.
“It’s a concern to us and that’s why we’ve decided to take this initiative,” he said, adding the idea that drivers are always to blame in pedestrian-vehicle crashes is simply untrue.
“Anybody who uses the road has a responsibility to make sure they’re using the road properly, safely and lawfully.” - Const. Peter Adria, Calgary Police Service
The safety blitz is expected to run through to the end of the morning rush hour and if the past is any indication, the City of Calgary will be getting a nice injection of revenue after this is all said and done. Last summer during a crackdown on pedestrians on 8th street and 7th avenue, officers were kept busy issuing warnings and tickets.
Earlier this week some Calgary Transit customers were fuming as they returned to their vehicles in the Park and Ride lots to find parking violations on their windshields. As regular users of the pay lots at the LRT stations, they were sure the tickets were issued in error but upon closer inspection they realized the tickets were issued under bylaw 28(1) which is simply “Unauthorized Parking”. The unauthorized parking in this case was backing into the parking spot.
Ever since the switch to the new Park Plus system, the Calgary Parking Authority uses specialized camera vehicles that automatically record the license plates of vehicles parked on the street and in parking lots. On the streets, the camera system works very well capturing the plates and issuing tickets to those that have not paid for parking in their designated zones. In the LRT lots however, the system doesn’t work so well as the camera system was only designed for spots where drivers parallel park. In a parking lot situation where vehicles are sometimes backed into their spots, the cameras cannot see the license plates.
Instead of getting out of their vehicles to check the plates for valid parking credentials, the CPA has opted to issue tickets to those that park their vehicles backwards. The fine? $50. $40 if you pay early. On Wednesday, hundreds of tickets were issued to Calgary Transit customers. When asked about the parking notices, CPA simply shifted the attention to City Council. They explain they are only acting on orders from City Hall but at least one Alderman has come forward to say that this situation needs to be fixed and that the rule needs to be withdrawn as it is unfair.
The CPA has no plans to void the parking tickets it has issued but instead plans to improve the signage at some stations. At one station, there was no signage indicating the rules of the parking lot for drivers entering the parking lot, only on the way out of the lot. Enforcing a rule that goes against a very common parking lot practice without a public awareness campaign reeks of revenue hunting by Calgary Transit officials. With lots filled with less cars than they expected, they must be turning to parking violation revenue to make up for it.
While the city encourages commuters to use Calgary Transit instead of driving, they sure are doing everything they can to drive customers AWAY from the service. A few customers that received tickets this week have stated they plan on driving to work instead of putting up with the hassles of parking at the LRT lots.
*update*
The Calgary Parking Authority announced on Friday that they will be revoking all tickets issued for vehicles not parked nose-in between October 5th and October 8th. Those that have already paid for the tickets will automatically receive a refund. The CPA apologizes for any inconvenience caused and will be installing signs letting drivers know that the practice is not allowed.
What are your thoughts?
A fun event was held on Friday morning for the commute to work. A mini challenge was put up to see whether a cyclist, a transit rider or a person driving a car would get downtown faster. The three challengers met at 16th Avenue and 19th street N.W. and they would meet at Eau Claire Market. The event was organized by Lonny Balbi in an effort to raise awareness that cycling is an excellent alternative to driving.
“Today’s event is a fun event to show Calgarians that cycling is a viable way to get to work,” said event organizer Lonny Balbi.
Of course, knowing that the result of the challenge is not surprising. The cyclist of course obeyed all traffic rules but even if he didn’t I doubt he would’ve received any tickets since he was Rick Hanson, the Calgary Police Chief. He arrived at Eau Claire in 21 minutes. The car took 26 minutes and the poor transit rider took over 40 minutes.
While the race was obviously geared towards the cyclists to encourage everyone to bike to work, I was surprised that it took the transit rider 40 minutes to reach Eau Claire unless they couldn’t get on a morning train because it was so packed either that or they stopped off at Tim Horton’s while walking from the train station on 7th avenue.
This upcoming Friday, May 1st is Bike to Work Day. Let’s just hope the weather cooperates for those that will be hitting the pathways to get to work.
When Calgary Transit launched their new website last October, I complained about the lack of Google Transit integration. Well, I guess my complaining has worked because it looks like Calgary Transit is now available when planning trips on Google Maps.
I tested the same scenario that I tried with the old trip planner on Calgary Transit’s website and the results on Google were far better. Instead of showing me a nearly 2 hour trip to get to the office from my house it showed the proper 42 minute trip (includes 10 minutes of walking). Using the system was a breeze as well. Like I mentioned in my original review of the Google Transit system, all you need to do is look for your destination on Google Maps and right click on the map. By adopting a universal system, visitors to our city can easily plan trips by public transit using a familiar system.
I did however find some glitches with the system when I tried to plan a trip from the Shawnessy Future Shop up to the Olympic Oval. Instead of telling me to get off at the University LRT station, it had me get off one stop earlier at the Banff Trail station and told me to hike the rest of the way along 24th Avenue.
Vancouver and Montreal both have Google Transit integration with their transit systems and Edmonton is currently working on getting their transit data sent to Google for inclusion as well. As public transit trip planning becomes more popular in Canada, I can see ridership numbers increase. I’m sure some people call a cab instead of trying to figure out how to travel using transit. When was the last time you used public transit when travelling?
Give it a try next time you plan on taking a trip using Calgary Transit.
You may not have heard the term NIMBYs before, but they’re everywhere. In fact there are NIMBYs in every neighborhood of every city and they are the biggest pest that city planners have to deal with. NIMBY stands for “Not In My Back Yard”. These are people who object to any changes to their communities if it doesn’t benefit them even if its for the greater good of our entire city.
A great example is when the John Howard Society wanted to build a halfway house in the community of Sunalta. Residents immediately opposed it as they did not want this halfway house to be located in their community. Sunalta was also one of the communities that opposed the alignment of the West LRT leg. They argued the elevated tracks that ran by their community would be an eyesore and would increase crime.
Brentwood and Anderson Station TOD
The City of Calgary has undergone some incredible growth over the last few years. As a result, our infrastructure is struggling to cope and needs some serious upgrades. Increasing development (and density) in and around our existing LRT stations is one of the solutions that city planners have turned to. Through Transit Oriented Developments (TOD), the city aims to create pedestrian friendly communities around transit stations where citizens can live, work and play.
On our forums, we learned of the city’s plan to increase Calgary Transit fares. Of course, as with all price increases many people were against it because the current service levels do not justify the proposed price increases. TODs would alleviate the pressures faced by our transit infrastructure by keeping more of its users closer to the train lines as well as keeping amenities close by to reduce the need to drive and encouraging alternative transportation such as walking or cycling. Sounds great right?
Bzzzzzt. Unfortunately, the evil NIMBYs strike again. The Brentwood TOD community meeting was filled with seniors from the surrounding community arguing that the development will increase crime and traffic in the area. Things were no different at the Anderson TOD community meeting where community leaders said they did not want the city to destroy a community that took many years to build into what it is today. The construction of residential and commercial towers will forever change these communities they say. Well, no shit, thats the whole point!
The only good news is that at one of the more recent Brentwood TOD meetings, there was a sizeable crowd that was okay with the planned redevelopment of Brentwood station. In fact, the NIMBYs were outnumbered, and outvoiced (literally) by more rational community members. There main concern were whether or not the city will come through with the necessary infrastructure upgrades to handle the 6000 new residents in the area before the area becomes gridlocked. The city doesn’t exactly have an excellent track record there (Heritage Station anyone?) so the concerns here are quite valid.
The point is, when the city tries to be fair by seeking public input on projects, it unleashes a whole can barrel truckload of complaining that accomplishes nothing. You can bet the NIMBYs will strike again when the Calgary Airport builds the new runway because flightpaths are going to change and some new communities will be right in the path of approaching planes.
I can’t wait!
In this weekly segment, we cover the top discussions going on in the automotive forums. These threads may be the most recent hot topics, or epic threads that we just wanted to dig up and feature.
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Trading Spiders For Payment?
Are you having trouble paying your bills? Well don’t worry, David Thorne is in the same boat as you but instead of letting it bother him, he decided to think outside the box and offer some of his art in exchange for payment. Check out this hilarious thread if you missed it originally.
Calgary Transit Fare Increases
Not only are property taxes going to take a big jump, Calgary Transit also plans to increase the price of its fares. An adult pass is to jump to $90 up from $75. Also proposed is a $3/day parking fee at all park and ride lots. Some forum members think these fee increases are outrageous given the level of service being provided. What is your take?
Vibe 98.5 Cutest Kids Contest
A local radio station is running a “cutest kids” contest and of course with all the beyond kids we had a whole bunch of people posting threads trying to get some votes. Go support some of our members by voting for one of their kids! I linked to a thread by one of our long time members but have also included a few other ones below:
Calgary Transit has launched their new website and before you ask, no, there is no Google Transit integration with the redesign. While I’m not a frequent Calgary Transit user, I would have loved to see Calgary Transit integrated with Google Transit. If you have not used it before, it makes trip planning much easier than trying to figure out what buses and trains to take using information from the Calgary Transit website.
For example, if you wanted to go from the Vancouver Airport to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal you just need to right click the Vancouver Airport on Google Maps and select “Directions From Here” then right click Horseshoe Bay and select “Directions To Here” and you’ll get directions on how to get from Point A to Point B. Now, all you need to do is click on “By Transit” and you’ll know which buses/trains to take.
View Larger Map
It’s been awhile since I used the Calgary Transit website to find bus schedule information but I decided to see what bus service is available in my area if I ever decided to commute to work (downtown) by transit. I had no idea what bus I need to take so it took awhile to locate it in the drop down list. Thankfully the route in my neighborhood is named appropriately (#179 Cougar Ride Express). Three clicks later, I see my schedule in a timetable format. I wanted to see a map of the bus route but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Am I blind or does this option not exist?
I then see the “Location Lookup” option on the homepage. I guess I should have started here! After entering in my address and requesting a list of nearby stops I find out that the closest one is #7291. I then choose to plan a trip to the downtown core at 8:00am. I am told I need to start my trip at 7:35am (fair enough, the buses don’t run that often) by hopping on the #453 West Springs bus which will take me to the West Side Recreation Center at 17th Ave and 69th Street. I arrive there at 7:56 to board the #301 BRT (Bus Rapid Transportation) which runs along the future West LRT line. According to the results on the Calgary Transit website, I arrive at work at 9:32am! (Total trip duration of 1 Hour and 56 minutes).
It looks like the trip planner still needs a bit of work as the system can’t figure out that I should be getting off the bus as it goes by my office the first time. Instead it has me sitting on the bus while it drives to the other end of the city and then back to the downtown core. Hopefully the new website is a work in progress and we’ll see some more updates to it. Maybe whoever designed it will update the colors so they match the color scheme of the new buses and trains.
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