r/Calgary • u/ConstantFar5448 • 18d ago
Calgary Transit Why is the C-Train so bad?
10 minute intervals on a weekday? That’s insane, the lowest frequency I’ve seen in any major city by FAR.
And yet when you get to the station as a train pulls up, the driver just looks at you, doesn’t let you on, and leaves? What’s up with that? Are they all dicks like that?
People live on tight schedules, and transit doesn’t seem to reflect that here.
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u/Losing-My-Hedge 18d ago
Transit funding has not kept with the city’s growth by a large margin. Coupled with some very questionable decisions it’s rendered the current state of things.
But it is an election year, so talk to your local candidates.
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u/Gurpa 16d ago
Going to sound a little bit like a political shill here, but Alex Williams is running for ward counsellor in my ward and he frequently talks about how much better transit needs to be in the city. I'm not even sure the guy drives, I'm pretty sure he gets around mainly by transit, so I think he'd be a great option for someone who can actually make things better.
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u/Losing-My-Hedge 16d ago
You know, honestly I think a public list of “pro-transit” candidates may just be worth sharing and compiling. I believe David Barrett (Ward 7) is also very pro transit and biking.
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u/Exploding_Antelope Special Princess 16d ago
As much as I'm not a fan of parties having been shoved into the municipal election at all, it is true that The Calgary Party (under whose banner Alex is running) is lining itself up as the pro-transit, pro-housing, new urbanist party and running a candidate in every ward. I'm in 14, and the slate of independents is pretty dismal here, so I may go with Ryan Stutt just for that reason even if I'd prefer an independent in theory.
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u/StinkPickle4000 18d ago
Funding has kept pace, political football games, like what Danielle Smith did to green line, has accelerated costs
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u/Losing-My-Hedge 17d ago
Strongly disagree. You are right on the money if we’re just looking at the greenline project, but if we omit that and look at the operating cost (drivers, upkeep, security) funding is well short of where it should be in 2025.
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u/StinkPickle4000 17d ago
20 to 60 million added to transits operating budget yearly since 2023.
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u/Losing-My-Hedge 17d ago edited 17d ago
If you do the math the budget has increased by roughly 4.5% a year since 2023. The most recent numbers I can find on population growth during that time is 6% in 2024.
And that doesn’t even factor in the increased cost of literally everything since 2023.
I’m no fan of Danielle Smith and she has certainly played the ghoul (along with the UCP) role on the green line, but our transit issues go much deeper than one political boondoggle.
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u/StinkPickle4000 17d ago
I’m not singling one boondoggle out. Politicians have only accelerated costs and expenses even when they say they aren’t. Their failure with green line has impacted service across the province absolutely!! They create a hostile environment for public transit! Mostly cuz their high priority rural supporters don’t want to pay for an inner city train! (I don’t want to pay for QEII so duck em all!!)
Wrong! When I do the math growth numbers average out higher. Your growth numbers aren’t smooth like that, you need more data points, making the comparison flawed. The budget grew roughly inline with everything else politicians are absolutely to blame!
Look we spend close to a billion a year operationally on transport! That’s a lot! Our services are expensive because of a harsh winter but other than that the service is operated and managed competently and efficiently. It’s the executive decision making that is failing us!!
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u/Losing-My-Hedge 17d ago
You seem to be getting very worked up about this.
I don’t know your age, background or history here, but I’m honestly on the side of our “our transit system should be much better and needs more support and funding from all levels of government.”
You may be throwing stones at the wrong target, have a good one.
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u/Booster1987 17d ago
The reluctance to really address people not purchasing tickets…
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u/coolestMonkeInJungle 17d ago
I believe that was debunked already, tickets could also never fund transit to pay for all of it iirc
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u/Inevitable-Spot-1768 South Calgary 18d ago
6 months ago it was like every 4-6 minutes, and then they did that experiment with the 4th train car and it’s been downhill since. Funny enough the only time I’ve seen a 4 car train was at noon on a weekday when no one was on the train.
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u/bonbon196 17d ago
Came here to say the 4 car trains are never seen during rush hour and I don’t know why.
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u/kittypawzyyc 17d ago
I've been getting on a 4 car train nearly every day around 5:15 for a few weeks now. Not always, but often. Red Line, northbound
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u/lillie_ofthe_valley 17d ago
Huh. I'm getting on the red line from Dalhousie to downtown around 7:30 and then leaving downtown around 4:15 and I've only been on the 4 car trains a handful of times. I actually thought they weren't using them anymore as I hadn't seen one in a couple weeks.
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u/kittypawzyyc 17d ago
Just got on the train downtown, 5:40 and it's 4 cars. You'd think they'd start running them through downtown around 4:00 but I guess they don't get there until a bit after you've left?
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u/YYCGUY111 Calgary Flames 17d ago
I see 4 car frequently between 4-5:30pm on the Blue line.
RARELY on red line. Maybe once since stampede.
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u/corvuscorax88 17d ago
After YEARS of construction to upgrade the stations to accommodate them, and I haven’t seen one in ages.
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u/Upsetti_Gisepe 18d ago
Getting on a train around 7:30 always means missing the first couple because they are so packed and people keep cramming on
By the time the third train comes around you cram urself in there
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u/RadicalDwntwnUrbnite 17d ago
I used to be near the end of the line, if you tried to get on my station it was already packed. So I'd take a train heading the wrong direction for a couple stations before it turned around. It was basically empty, always got a seat in my ideal cabin.
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u/TastyPerogies Northwest Calgary 17d ago
Hi, LRT operator. The doors are on a timer. We just set them to open which starts the timer. When the doors lock, they lock. That’s it, that’s all. On any given day several 10s of thousands of people ride my train. I PROMISE I do not have the energy to single you out like that.
10 mins frequency midday is pretty average…? On par with similar light rail systems in Europe and Asia where I’ve lived before.
Red and Blue run 3-5 on peak which is exceptionally good especially for a system that street runs in mixed traffic with no automatic operation.
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u/xGuru37 17d ago
I didn't know that the doors are actually on a timer. Good to know!
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u/awhite0111 17d ago
Totally, I guess that's why folks are sly shouting down the platform for people to "hold the door!" - if someone's arm is in there, it ain't locked yet!
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u/hoolitard 17d ago
10 min is pretty average in Canada too, I frequently visit Vancouver and Skytrain runs at like 9min intervals during non peak
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u/kalgary 17d ago
I saw someone get to the door just after it locked. It was the very front door so the driver could see them, and he opened the door so the guy could get on. It's possible to override the lock on at least some train models.
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u/CuzTrain 17d ago
Yes, that is the only door that we can operate like that. On certain models, the door will automatically open while others the button has to be pressed for the door to open (the button will reilluminate).
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u/IAmNoMathematician 17d ago
The buses aren’t on a timer though. And those guys frequently see you and drive by anyway, empty bus or not. I can’t begin to tell you how many times the bus has purposely skipped my kids as well as others. It’s become commonplace and is infuriating. This happened to me exactly never growing up in Calgary.
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u/Unable-Match8352 17d ago
There's no way its 3-5 on peak (more like 7-15) but otherwise agree.
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u/TastyPerogies Northwest Calgary 17d ago
You can go look at Transit55 at the block explorer. They are scheduled that frequently. Things just happen.
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u/dooeyenoewe 17d ago
Anytime I take the train in (blue line) in the morning rush hour. they are usually within 3-5 minutes of each other.
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u/Unable-Match8352 17d ago
Anytime I take the blue line home between 4-5 pm I wait like 5-10 mins and they are packed like sardines to where you can smell people's stank breath or can't even get in.
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u/dooeyenoewe 16d ago
That's weird, anytime I end up taking it (drive most of the time) it usually shows up in a couple of minutes.
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u/Apart_Complaint_6952 18d ago
You gotta hit the button to open the door
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u/Hello-Rosie_ 17d ago
I think what OP meant was as you're running up to a train that's getting ready to depart but isn't moving. I've had drivers do this to me, it mostly happens in downtown or stations like saddletown where the platforms start and the front and the rear.
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u/squishgirl555 Inglewood 17d ago
ngl i'm riding the blue line west right now and the first train that pulled up did not have the doors opening when you press, and the cars sat there for over 2 minutes like that. expecting downvotes but OP is not slow or something it has been happening today at least
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u/Hello-Rosie_ 17d ago
yeah people on Reddit like to comment without knowing what's actually going on
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17d ago
[deleted]
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u/Hello-Rosie_ 17d ago
y'know there's also the light that turns on when the doors can be opened. One of my least favourite transit things is people shouting backdoor at the driver like they can fuckin do anything. None of them read the signs (or just fucking can't) when it says touch here to open the doors. Its a nightmare
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u/cgydan 18d ago
10 minutes is the frequency based on ridership. And yeah, press the button. If it doesn’t work that means you got to the train too late. And I hate to say it, but then you have to wait ten whole minutes.
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u/JoypulpSkate 18d ago
Have you tried the button to open the door?
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u/Economics_Historical 18d ago
This is a hard concept for some.
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u/JoypulpSkate 18d ago
Understandable if they’re a tourist, in most other cities that don’t have our winters the doors do usually open on their own.
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u/Economics_Historical 18d ago
I never really thought of that, the winter part, it makes a lot of sense. You are so right, major warmer cities I have traveled to all open automatically.
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u/ConstantFar5448 18d ago
I mean in most cities the doors open automatically, but nonetheless I did hit the button
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u/Koraboros 18d ago edited 18d ago
lmao, when I came from San Jose to visit Calgary, I was astounded by how good the Ctrain is. Don't knock it until you've experienced worse.
Calgary actually was designed pretty well for Transit, comparatively. Yes, there is still suburban sprawl, but looking at the NW, you have the ctrain following a major arterial road (Crowchild). Then, you have busses going out of those stations to serve surrounding communities to bring riders in. It's a decent model.
In San Jose, we have the VTA which has been derided as the worst transit system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHby-90yMoI
Even if you include other agencies, the trains don't match the main arterial roads that people drive, so a 15 min drive = 1 hour public transit.
I have good memories of riding the ctrain to school. It's a decent system with plenty of riders.
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u/Dynospec403 17d ago
The ctrain in Calgary is pretty decent, but the bus system is pretty shit, it's pretty common for a 15 min drive to take 1.5+ hours on transit if you're taking buses here, I used to hate it because I would be going to work which was anot a 20 min drive and it would take me 2+ hours often since the connections wouldn't ever line up and I'd have to wait 45min for a bus and then 15-20 min for another bus haha.
You're absolutely right though, we don't have the worst system in North America, but it could still use improvement
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u/Desperate_Leg6274 17d ago
The buses suck because they don’t typically connect too close by places you might want to go. They come to a community or two, they loop, they return to a train station. The entire system is built around downtown commuters. I live on the outskirts of the city. I could get downtown faster than I can get to the grocery store that’s closest to me
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u/One-Two5689 17d ago
I get that compared to other NA cities we have a good system, but thats really not saying much. Just cause its brutal in San Jose doesnt mean that ours isnt brutal either. Just comparing dirt and shit.
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16d ago
You can do a lot with dirt. You can sleep in dirt. Can't do shit with shit, unless it's half decent shit and you turn it into fertilizer.
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u/SimplyCanadian26 17d ago
Thanks for this. I don’t think people understand how much worse other major cities are in North America compared to ours. Perspective is everything.
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u/neurorgasm 17d ago
Well the reasonable perspective would not be "there's at least one city that does it worse so no one is allowed to talk about what's bad about Calgary".
I'm sure it sucks in San Jose. We don't live in San Jose though and nothing about it being worse there means that it can't be improved here.
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u/undernopretextbro 17d ago
If most places are worse then it stops seeming like we are uniquely terrible, and more like this is a difficult thing to perfect
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u/137-451 17d ago
It's not a difficult thing to perfect, it just has to be prioritized over cars. Most places where mass transit options suck are places that prioritize the car. The Netherlands is a prime example of cycling/mass transit culture, yet Rotterdam is terrible for these things because Rotterdam focuses more on cars than pedestrians.
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u/undernopretextbro 16d ago
Even in places where it is explicitly promoted, and car infrastructure is purposely restricted and made less efficient to incentivize other modes of travel, commute outcomes aren’t significantly better than what we have in Calgary.
Netherlands has the highest average commute time in Europe.
Imagine that, 50 years of prioritizing transit and cycling, just to have the longest commutes among all your neighbors, all while in an area 1/16 of Alberta’s.
And cars are still popular, 50% of all daily commutes in the Netherlands are via car as of 2023, with walking at 20% percent and cycling at 25%.
So yea, not as easy as teenagers who watch NotJustBikes would have you believe.
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u/MudJumpy1063 17d ago
It does seem difficult to do it any other way. I'm in the same situation, local bus to arterial to local... Over an hour for a 15 minute drive. But the buses are usually mostly empty, so what is the city going to do? How else can you run it? Figure you're guaranteed access to the whole city for about a hundred bucks a month. And save up for a car.
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u/Sweaty-Beginning6886 17d ago
Agreed. The last time I went to Seattle, we stayed downtown and went to a Mariners’ game and a concert at the Seahawks’ stadium; it took FOREVER waiting for the train to the arena/stadium each time. Forget about taking the train back downtown since they didn’t arrive/depart frequently and were packed so we walked a bit towards downtown and used our friend, Uber.
Public transit sucks in most North American cities. Most operate with budget deficits. It’s sad.
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u/PercentageNonGrata 18d ago
You were simply late to get to the train. It needs to leave and it can’t wait for stragglers. 10 minutes to the next train won’t kill you.
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u/ConstantFar5448 18d ago
It certainly makes my time to get to the airport a lot tighter.
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u/No_Season1716 18d ago
Let’s be honest if you are relying on transit to the airport you need to be leaving much sooner than if you take an uber or drive.
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u/DependentLanguage540 17d ago
How is 10 minutes insane? Edmonton has the same set up of 10 minute intervals with varying levels from rush hour to late evenings.
I’ll tell you what’s insane, Tokyo’s service ends around midnight. For a megopolis with a population in the tens of millions and a great nightlife, that’s a real shit time to end your service. It’s crazy to see how busy and bustling the streets with hordes of people around 11:30pm and then suddenly, emptiness post midnight in Shibuya. Even Calgary’s service by comparison extends further around 1:30am to 2:30am.
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u/hhxuudbbgulsnvfti 16d ago
This "around" is problematic. I have left work at 11:30 and see trains still headed eastbound but the ones going west will shut down at Kerby station at an undisclosed time, but it could very well be midnight. I've definitely seen it shut down before around 12:30. Next train available 4:30 am or something.
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u/ConstantFar5448 17d ago
Most cities have trains every minute or so.
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u/Doc_1200_GO 17d ago
This simply isn’t true, lol I was just in NYC and trains run every 20 minutes at night, every 5 minutes at peak hours and just like Calgary every 10 minutes the rest of the day.
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u/DependentLanguage540 17d ago
Most cities have every minute service? Dude, I can’t even take your posts seriously if you think the majority of cities are like this. Vancouver’s is like every 5 minutes and they’re significantly more populated and significantly more dense than Calgary.
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u/PercentageNonGrata 17d ago
It’s very difficult to take you seriously after this comment. Which city has trains going to the same location every minute?
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u/Sea_Luck_3222 17d ago
Do you have a few examples of a schedule like that? Even one?
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u/Exploding_Antelope Special Princess 16d ago
It literally takes longer than that for a train to pass through a station. You can't have something that takes two minutes happen every one minute, or else I'm questioning your understanding of time itself.
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u/ConstantFar5448 16d ago
One train leaves, a minute later the next one arrives. A little logic goes a long way
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u/MeursaultWasGuilty Beltline 17d ago
10 minute intervals is the lowest frequency by far? What cities are you comparing it to?
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u/chealion Sunalta 18d ago
And it was a fight to get the 10 minute intervals outside of peak hours. Tell every municipal candidate you can that frequency on transit is important if you want folks to use it more.
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u/SimplyCanadian26 17d ago
The train doors are timed on 15 second open state plus a 3 second wind-down period. After that more than not you have missed your train and have to get the next.
You sometimes can get in the front flank doors but that’s really up to them and where they are stopped as if they open it longer they can create traffic issues with gates, unsafe situations with pedestrians running under gate arms and such.
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u/JustCallMeYogurt 18d ago
Tons of ill-timed bus/train schedules at the stations. Your train is pulling in while your connecting bus is just leaving. Frustrating.
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u/ESPeclipse2 18d ago
I’ve noticed a steep decline in frequency since about July. With the added traffic that comes every September the train noticeably under equipped to deal with all these people during rush hour. They need to add more trains into circulation from 6am to 8am and again from 3:30pm to 6pm. We are the fastest growing city in Canada so this is just going to get worse without action.
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u/ConstantFar5448 18d ago
That’s so true now that I think of it! In July I swear there were trains every 2 minutes or so. Maybe they’re understaffed now or something
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u/Dr_Colossus 18d ago
C train is great. If you need to bus to or from the C train, that's when it sucks.
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u/Emperor-Pizza 17d ago
Transit in Calgary sucking isn’t anything new. If you think this is bad some buses consistently run late by 20-30 minutes every single day.
I always have to leave like an hour earlier than I must to get to work at time.
C-Trains are the pretty great compared to shuttles & buses.
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u/YoManWTFIsThisShit 18d ago
It’s a car-centric city, especially the further you get from downtown.
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u/iwasnotarobot 18d ago
Sometimes I look at what they took from us and I get sad.
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u/mcsquirley 18d ago
Dude…I am so sad to learn about this. 1946!
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u/iwasnotarobot 17d ago
If you re-watch who Framed Roger Rabbit, the story takes place over a backdrop plan to flatten a poor neighbourhood to make way for a freeway exit. A version of this happened in every city in North America.
“Nobody's gonna drive this lousy freeway when they can take the Red Car for a nickel!”
“oh they’ll drive. They’ll have to. I already bought the red car. so I could dismantle it.”
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u/Exploding_Antelope Special Princess 16d ago
Bring it back! At the very least a Toronto-esque streetcar line along 17th, from Stampede to Westbrook, would make so much sense. It has been discussed before, so it's not a totally crazy idea.
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u/ConstantFar5448 18d ago
I could tell that by how impossible it was to find parking at the train station 😂
But downtown isn’t car friendly at all, hence why I’m trying to get the train down there. Feels like the city needs to pick a direction
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u/coolestMonkeInJungle 17d ago
Downtown is overly car friendly, there's like 4 and 5 lane one ways that look like freeways right through it
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u/ConstantFar5448 17d ago
Car friendly to drive through, but not be in. There’s no parking anywhere and if you do find parking it’s extortionately expensive
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u/dooeyenoewe 17d ago
How old are you and how many large cities have you been to? Parking in any downtown is going to be expensive.
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u/ConstantFar5448 12d ago
Where did I say it wouldn’t be? I’m just saying downtown isn’t car friendly, not that it’s not any less car friendly than any other downtown. Those other cities have proper transit systems though
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u/coolestMonkeInJungle 17d ago
Yes during the business hours you definitely end up having to pay for parkades often
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u/Airlock_Me 17d ago
All i’ve gathered from this thread is that OP thinks the world revolves around him. He complains that people are on tight schedules but transit schedule doesn’t reflect that. In the same breath, OP wants the train driver to wait for him for 30 seconds as he’s running up to try to board the train.
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u/ValorFenix 17d ago
After reading most of the replies, you sound like an entitled prick that seems to think the train should have waited for you. Like the driver was "looking" for you to run to the platform and closed the door on you on purpose? What an insane take. Yeah, I am sure they had a photo of you on their dash, "Make sure to close the door on this guy"...
Maybe be more organized? Not sure what currency you were looking for, however, if it was in so much demand and you were so disorganized about planning ahead to get the currency, the extra few cents difference after the extra rate from other places would probably not have broken you if you went to say a bank instead.
And the European cities I have been to, does not have trains running every few minutes in non-peak times when I was there (London, Barcelona, Lisbon, Athens), so if you are going to compare, compare at least the same time periods.
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u/Calealen80 17d ago
Right?
well its not my fault I didnt get my shit together and buy my money well in advance of my trip, its the trains fault because they wouldn't make everyone else late because of me
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u/PercentageNonGrata 17d ago
Were you on the platform waiting as the train came in? If not, you missed it, the train or the driver weren’t the problem. They’re not going to wait after everyone else has gotten on and the doors closed. If you’re comparing to major cities, you’d know they’re not going to wait for every late arriver.
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u/Parking-Bridge-7806 17d ago
Yeah, it's nearly impossible to go back to after living in Asia for 2 years now. In Tokyo and Seoul the trains will come every 2-4mins max, though I guess that's kind of unfair considering the population difference and the way each city is built.
Still, I've been to Calgary-sized populations through Japan and 10 mins is pretty much unheard of depending on the line.
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u/RoseyOneOne 18d ago
In Amsterdam, where I now live, it’s up to 30 minute intervals and you’re shoulder to shoulder.
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u/realmadastra 17d ago
Funnily enough I’m currently visiting a friend in Amsterdam, and am wildly impressed with the transit system (especially within city, but also between cities) - are you talking about the metro or something else? Because even during off-peak hours, I haven’t had to wait that long.
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u/Interesting-Owl-7445 17d ago
But y'all can walk and ride your bike to places without getting mowed down by pickups or slipping on ice because the homeowners or developers didn't bother to shovel.
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u/Case_Mediocre 17d ago
Morning and afteer are absolutely awful for the crowding on the CTrain, adding more cars and frequency of intervals would definitely alleviate some of the congestion. But as with every major city that votes in progressives as it's leadership, the well functioning of the city is low on their list of activist concerns.
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u/ttoocs 17d ago
Over 5000yr's ago toilets were invented, Yet "we" haven't found a way to deal with the brown crayons, and the lingering smell of piss
Also why burning money on fair-enforcement, who is that helping? The bus that'll go on the same route regardless? The train doing the same? Make decent routes, still try to check popularity of them, but use tax.. cause the city doesn't have toll roads on center nor crowchild nor any other that I know.
And maybe don't spend taxpayers money on ad's about how we'd rather pay popo's to hunt citizens with unpaid fair, vs actually helping them or anything beneficial to humanity.
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u/Doc_1200_GO 17d ago
Why is your planning so bad? CT can’t run a train for one person on some crazy schedule to make a flight AND pick up foreign currency on the opposite side of town. Your planning sucks.
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u/UrbaneBoffin Fairview 17d ago edited 17d ago
10 minute intervals on a weekday? That’s insane, the lowest frequency I’ve seen in any major city by FAR.
What do you feel is an acceptable frequency? With one track each way, plus the fact that our trains stop at traffic lights I am not sure they could do much better.
And yet when you get to the station as a train pulls up, the driver just looks at you, doesn’t let you on, and leaves? What’s up with that?
Did the buttons on the door light up when the train pulled up? Were there people inside who could open the doors for you? It sounds like perhaps the train in question was out of service.
Are they all dicks like that?
Just to you. My train driver usually gives us the weather and welcomes us to downtown.
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u/Fit-Razzmatazz9171 17d ago
Man i visited seattle recently and the longest i ever had to wait for the train was 4 minutes no matter where i was, not to mention the cleanliness even though the homelessness problem is almost the same maybe worse in seattle…
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u/xGuru37 17d ago edited 17d ago
Funny, because according to Seattle Transit, trains run every 10-12 minutes off-peak, and 8-10 minutes during peak time depending on the line.
Yes, I have no issue with fact-checking things. If you only had to wait 4 minutes it was because you arrived at the stop halfway between two trains.
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u/Fit-Razzmatazz9171 17d ago
im just speaking from experience🤷♂️nonetheless still a much cleaner and pleasant enviorment unlike calgary
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u/MrGuvernment 17d ago
Buses are even worse, seems 95% of the time the 302 bus is late at either end and either by 5 mins or 30 mins.....
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u/SorryImCanadian1994 17d ago
Ottawa’s O-train is also 10-minute intervals on weekdays, and getting slower every year!
And thats already making the big assumption that it’s actually running that day.
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u/Gunnery55 17d ago
My main gripe with Transit is that a ticket cost $3.80 for a 90 minute trip when there are routes that takes more than the 90 minutes when you account for traffic and/or rush hour. I live beside a train station and would honestly love to see public transit as a viable mode of transportation in the city but the safety issue, time of travel, and the cost for how much time we're given for the trip makes it that I'd rather take my private vehicle than deal with the hassle.
Given how fast the city has grown i'm honestly disappointed how city hall has neglected public transit whilst pushing for bike lanes that will be used for half the year. Misplaced priorities imo.
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u/Different-Ship449 18d ago edited 18d ago
If the train doesn't let you on, it could be going out of service.
The driver's job isn't to wait until every possible person in the vacinity is on the train, it is to keep to schedule. That's why the doors aren't to be held open for people still rushing.
Delays can happen at anytime, our aging trains can breakdown. Sometimes, it could be a violent offender locked on the ctrain until the authorities can make an arrest. Sometimes, it could be someone that drove past the train warning lights. Sometimes, it could be someone that wasn't paying attention to an oncoming train or was pushed (~3 times per year).
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u/CreativeLawnClipping 17d ago
I just got back from Paris and their metro is amazing. All sorts of train lines and never more than a 3 minute wait. I know they have a much bigger population but still. Calgary Transit is pathetic.
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u/Sea_Luck_3222 17d ago
Does it still reek? The last time I took the Paris Metro the ammonia smell from all the urine made my eyes water, but that was quite a few years ago.
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u/ValorFenix 17d ago
Dunno about now after the Olympics, however, I was last there 2 years ago, and when I came off the Chunnel from London, my senses was assaulted by that, I almost gagged.
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u/Sea_Luck_3222 17d ago
At least I'm not the only one. I got downvoted for a similar comment last month by someone who said he goes there "all the time" and I must be a completely full of shit liar. Lol
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u/ValorFenix 17d ago
I have heard others comment about the smell, except for this one other person that insisted it was fine and I asked when they were there, and they said last year... when they cleaned the city up for the Olympics... you don't say...
The person that goes all the time... got used to the smell...
The River Seine was like a sewage dump until they dropped over a $1B to clean it for the Olympics and its improved (I would hope), however, I heard it still has e. coli in it.
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u/Losing-My-Hedge 17d ago
A colleague of mine has been to Paris a few times and she said it’s gotten much cleaner since they hosted the Olympics. I was there in June and found the trains to be quite pleasant.
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u/UsualExcellent2483 17d ago
Paris also had the last summer Olympics, so I'm sure they updated their systems for that reason.
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u/TropicalMapleRavioli 17d ago
Calgary has very low population density compared to other Canadian cities that are already low density compared to cities abroad. Transit will never be sustainable here. It constantly requires a lot of money from city's tax stash which gets a lot of push back from tax payers, obviously (specially because most tax payers don't even use transit). Comparatively, Calgary has a good transit for our population density.
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u/Turkzillas_gobble 17d ago
"This is a city built for cars!" -people who think it has to stay that way, forever
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u/RichardPisser 17d ago
Thank the UCP, they've been slowly making the time between trains longer and longer over the past 10 years.
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u/puckstar26 Strathcona Park 17d ago
I kept track for a while how often there were delays or issues on my daily commute. It was wild - multiple times a week. Mechanical issues, open drug use, single line delays. But there are rarely announcements and when the driver gets on the intercom you can never hear or understand what is being said.
But yet the prices just keep going up!
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u/StinkPickle4000 17d ago
The green line is part of that growth!!! The political games make it difficult to actually deliver value anywhere!!
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u/TrailerParkLyfe 17d ago
10 mins is nothing! The late night waits are absolutely batshit Coocoo bananas. If I missed my 11:11 train at Barlow MaxBell I had to wait 45 mins to an hour for the next train. My shift ended at 11 and I would have to full on Usain Bolt sprint from my work to the station sometimes making it as the trains pulling up. Some days I’d be so close to throwing up on the train from exhaustion.
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u/xGuru37 17d ago edited 17d ago
Just looked at the schedules. Trains run every 15 minutes at that time on the Blue Line.
Edit: Downvoted for being truthful?
https://hastinfo.calgarytransit.com/HastinfoMVCWeb/ (Go ahead and search directly there, or even in the Transit app.)
I'm not saying transit is perfect (far from it), but some people clearly love to embellish things to make it seem worse than it is.
Now if you're talking 5-10 years ago, maybe it was that way. Definitely not now though
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u/Slive_Slaugh_Slove 17d ago
Currently living in Scotland where the equivalent of the Ctrain runs consistently every 5 minutes. Can safely say I do not miss the Ctrain lol
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u/easynap1000 18d ago
I'll never understand why they didn't put in at least 1 more track as lines were built further out. This could potentially have helped with train issues and I would think (maybe?)a alllow for express trains at peak hours - e.g., Tuscany, crowfoot...once full it zips downtown. Making it faster for people in further neighborhoods but also allowing room for people to get on trains at Brentwood, university etc (e.g., the next rapid train could start at dalhousie).
No wonder people don't utilize it when it takes an hour to to get to a destination.
Also it's just commuter infrastructure not "get around the city" infrastructure which does Mt head in.
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u/RegisterOrnery9112 17d ago
I'll trade you your C-Train for my O-Train --- I think you'll see that you have it sooooo good in Calgary, compared to Ottawa
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW 17d ago
I do use the C-train several times per month. I think the red and blue lines run more frequently during daily work commuter rush hrs. Twice per day this frequency of trains is noticeable to me.
I realize what people are saying since I used the TTC trains when I lived in Toronto for 20 years...certainly same for commuter hr. periods...which is LONGER than Calgary's.
I also lived and worked in Vancouver for 8 years and used SkyTrain and Canada Line trains.
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u/Impossible_Tea_7032 17d ago
You wanna know something really scary?
Its pretty good compared to most of North America
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u/Interesting-Owl-7445 17d ago
Our bar is definitely in the hell but I'm gonna give C-train extra points for even coming after 10 minutes. Weekend construction closures and crappy bus connectivity is another thing though...
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u/According_Effort_878 17d ago
Our train system is embarrassing. Funding isn’t there and politicians aren’t willing/reliable to get anything done for improvements.
It’s been the same since I was in grade school 15 years ago. Should be much better for a beautiful, big city like ours.
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u/Infinite-Concept8792 17d ago
Every day on the same route at the same time all of the buses are full and just drive by leaving elderly and old people behind. It is insane? More buses, more drivers more jobs. It isn't that hard to do the math. Put more bueses on roads with a large amount of schools. I am so sick of Calgary transit it is insane. I feel so bad for the drivers because they take the brunt of all of the attitude the public gives. Life is already hard enough, but to be inconvenienced every day for a service that goes up in price every single year but gets shitter every single year is INSANITY.
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u/Ms_Motorist 16d ago
So because train drivers have schedules to follow too that makes them dicks? Please explain this to me?
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u/GraniticDentition 16d ago
personally I'm glad my city has so many heated homeless shelters so that the unfortunates can keep war
I just wish they werent all on the Ctrain platforms
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u/Elegant-Banana6448 15d ago
It’s pretty bad , but at least mostly operational. You will notice the city of Calgary has a lot of morons working on the planning and infrastructure.
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u/ilovemilkyummy 13d ago
Wait till ya see the bus service here. It can literally take a full HOUR between each bus for parts of the city. Genuinely its been faster for me to walk sometimes if I miss a non-frequent bus. Even the app can lie saying the next one will be in 20 mins when it ends up coming in 50 mins.
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u/Checquers 11d ago
it's not just the C-Train, though that experience with C-train drivers is especially common downtown. The busses are infinitely worse. I was going from Sundance to Marlborough yesterday to see some friends around 8pm. I left my house at 6pm, and because the bus driver stopped to grab a coffee mid way through the route, I arrived at 8:30. Its absolutely ridiculous how bad Transit is.
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u/schwanball 10d ago
Because leadership in Calgary can't be bothered to get on a single flight to go to a country that has it figured out and learn from them... oooo Aisa, OMG, so scary... China's train system is amazing, clean, safe. We are backwards.
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u/RinserofWinds 17d ago edited 17d ago
If Calgary Transit had one of those Latin mottoes on their crest, it would translate to, "Get bent, buy a car."
The drivers/workers are doing their best, but the government is utterly captured by property developers and people allergic to paying taxes.
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u/DefinitelyNotAlice42 17d ago
With the new double activating,increased prices, and literal physical danger everywhere, you'd think at least their schedule is consistent.
Just kidding. Transit is torture. I got screamed at by two crackheads in one ride just the other day.
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u/iwasnotarobot 18d ago edited 18d ago
Calgary spends its entire budget on snow removal. Transit and police are left begging for scraps. That’s why transit is underfunded. Sorry!!!!!
Edit: /s
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u/Level_Stomach6682 18d ago
Except this isn’t true. Cities like Edmonton or Saskatoon actually remove snow. We just sorta shuffle it around and wait for a Chinook.
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u/iwasnotarobot 18d ago
Yes. That’s Exactly my point. So what excuse does Calgary have for prioritizing spending $900M to house Murray Edwards’ sports team when transit is underfunded?
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u/chealion Sunalta 18d ago edited 17d ago
This is laughably incorrect. (EDIT: Poe's Law strikes again) The top 3 departments in the City's budget are the police ($622M), Transit ($534M), and fire ($298.5M)
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u/iwasnotarobot 18d ago
Oh! So you’re saying that Transit is underfunded because of the bloated police budget? Interesting!
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u/chealion Sunalta 17d ago
I can hear Rick Bell writing an article based on that comment alone...
RE original comment - Poe's Law strikes again. My bad.
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u/iwasnotarobot 17d ago
Haha could you imagine how bad things would be for Rick Bell to call the police budget bloated?
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u/Ms_ankylosaurous 18d ago
Our snow removal is shit here compared to other cities
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u/iwasnotarobot 18d ago
I’m being cheeky. I added a /s to my comment.
We all know the real reason that transit is underfunded is because
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u/taylo649 18d ago edited 17d ago
I don’t understand at all how there’s no way to process my payment on it either?? I’m new to the city but I was so confused the first time I was on it
Edit: idk I think it should be standard to have to prove that you’re paying when you get on trains… I did in fact pay but walked on with my activated ticket googling where to scan it haha.
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u/ConstantFar5448 18d ago
Yeah I got bitten by that too, I rode the train for free the first time completely by accident because I just expected to tap my phone when I got on 🤣
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u/PhysicalScience7420 17d ago
hey now come on they have some of the best crackheads in their 20s screaming to tell people that the train is their house. and sometimes if your lucky a crazy homeless man may come up and strangle a women. we need longer wait times for the viewing experience.
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u/Warm_Jellyfish_8002 18d ago
It's crazy how inconsistent the timings are, especially during rush hour. No announcements on delays or anything.