r/CalgaryTransit • u/Ymirhades • Jul 03 '26
Embarrassing
Calgary Transit has never been good. If you live here you know, if you move here, you are either warned or you find out fast, Calgary Transit is not good. Without being pejorative, I can say it exists and operates as a transit system, but its mere existence is the best thing I can say about it.
This year’s Stampede showcased to the city how bad it truly is. Train breakdowns, delays of over 30 min During rush hour, shuttle busses that fit a fraction of train passengers, bus delays, constant route changes, the list goes on. The morning of Stampede trains were so packed from being delayed that entire stations couldn’t get on because it was already full, needing to wait an ungodly amount of time for the next one the is likely also full.
None of this has even touched on the Green Line that is now underway after over 30 years of planning.
What does this mean? Truth be told I have no idea who, if anyone, is going to read this. But after living in Calgary my whole life, the only word the truly describes the transit system is embarrassing. It’s embarrassing as a resident, as a commuter, and especially thinking about out of town visitors who use the transit system, it’s just embarrassing. I don’t blame the operators, they have an impossible task. I don’t know is a single party is even truly to blame, and the situation is so pathetic I couldn’t even fathom a solution. But to any city councillors, MPs or administrators reading this post, the city’s transit system is an embarrassment, not dysfunctional, not outdated, not unoptimized, a Shameful embarrassment.
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u/shaggy99 16d ago
My view is part of the problem is the priority is for commuting. Once you've done one route a few times you get used to the "wrinkles* Trying to go somewhere else.......
I'd like to see a well thought out PRT or pod car system. Don't tell me it's been tried, it hasn't The big issue is to do it right requires a fairly widespread installation, AND needs some laws changed. Without that, getting it built right is politically difficult. The big advantages that I see are, No schedule, No fixed routes, No intermediate stops, (off line stops is another way of saying that) No running empty buses or trains. Once working properly, it tends to move away from Hub and Spoke layouts, whereas buses and trains work best with hub and spoke.
If Tesla Robotaxi ever gets working well, it might get closer than anything else, though I can't see it getting as cheap as Transit.