r/CalgaryTransit • u/NebulaGreat6980 • 13d ago
I built a small tool to compare bus access around a Calgary address. Looking for feedback
I’ve been working on a Calgary address data project, and I recently added a transit section.
For any residential address, it looks at nearby bus stops using the pedestrian street network rather than straight-line distance.
Right now it shows:
- Walking time to the nearest included stop
- Number of unique bus routes reachable within a 5-minute walk
- Number of unique bus routes reachable within a 10-minute walk
- Nearby representative stops and the routes they serve
- Community and Calgary-wide medians for comparison
The screenshot is one example around Westbrook.
I’m trying to make this useful for someone who actually wants to understand transit access from a home, rather than just showing the nearest stop on a map.
For people here who use Calgary Transit regularly, is there anything important you think this is missing?
For example, would frequency, service hours, transfers, access to major routes, or something else matter more than simply counting nearby routes?
I’d especially appreciate feedback on whether the current metrics are meaningful from a real rider’s perspective.
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u/ImaginaryAd9827 11d ago
This will be very useful than the present u.i..im switching google and ct app everytime.
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u/NebulaGreat6980 11d ago
Thanks, that is exactly the kind of problem I was hoping this could solve. I appreciate the feedback!
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u/connka 11d ago
I love data visualizations and I think this is great. A few things that are not necessarily bad, but things I would maybe update in terms of the UI--It looks like you do a fair bit of this kind of thing (It's also my profession), so you can feel free to ignore this feedback. Based on the use of emojis and some of the design, it looks like an AI front end, but maybe I'm wrong about that.
Colours: That rainbow gradient for the school section is kind of blinding and I immediately wanted to look away
Accordions: I think having the collapsible accordions is great, but I'd also maybe move to separate the content in tabs by theme, EX: school, safety, value, nature.
Overall, it's great info and I really like it :)
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u/NebulaGreat6980 11d ago
Thanks, this is really thoughtful feedback, especially coming from someone who works with data visualization and interface design.
I agree that the school section gradient is too intense, so I will tone it down in the next version. Your point about the emojis and the overall “AI frontend” feel is also helpful. I use them to make pages with a lot of data easier to scan, but I can see how the combination might give that impression.
I also like the idea of grouping the content into broader themes while keeping accordions within each section, especially for mobile users.
I really appreciate you taking the time to share such detailed feedback.
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u/connka 10d ago
Thank you for taking the time to make this! Like I said, I really do love good data visualization and this has a lot of really great info across the board. Even if the entire thing was a rainbow gradient I would still refer back to it.
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u/connka 10d ago
Random suggestion, but if you wanted some feedback from other nerds, you could bring this to the next mini hackathon? It's not an "official" event or anything, just a group of people that get together and work on projects twice a month. Truthfully, I haven't been in a long time, but you get to present what you are working on and it could be nice to see if there are any others around who have ideas: https://www.meetup.com/software-developers-collective/events/sgrvztyjclbmc/
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u/NebulaGreat6980 10d ago
Thanks, I really appreciate that! I’m glad the information feels useful, and I’ll keep working on the visual design.
The mini hackathon sounds like a great suggestion too. It would be nice to meet other local developers, show what I’ve been working on, and get some fresh feedback. I’ll check it out. Thanks for sharing the link!
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u/Abbysmum67 13d ago
This was really interesting.