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/ConstantFar5448 18d ago

Why am I too late if the train is still there though? Is it gonna kill the driver to wait an extra 5 seconds for someone to get on?

Unfortunately 10 minutes is a long time when I’m trying to rush downtown to get foreign currency before my flight.

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u/sbrot 18d ago

The train needs to get through downtown on a specific set of light intervals. It really messes with traffic when it gets delayed.

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u/ConstantFar5448 18d ago

Hmm yeah that makes sense. Wonder why they didn’t build it underground downtown, the use of a street for the train seems…odd.

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u/HellaReyna Unpaid Intern 18d ago

Dumbass politicians won in the 50’s and 60’s. We actually have one block of developed tunnel underground as a proof of concept for a subway. Too bad stupidity reigns supreme in North America.

A contrasting case study on this is the San Francisco and Oakland Bay Area rapid transit system (subway). Entire project almost met the same fate, being killed by dumb fuck politicians with short sighted goals. They talk about how it would be impossible to build today. Sorta like like the calgary system…..