Monday, September 19, 2005

A-maze-ing transit system

On the local news they did a study on travel across our fair city by car versus transit. The first trip studied was from the far southwest to an industrial area in the southeast. The car trip took 30 minutes. The transit trip took 2 hours.

Having studied the transit system myself (but not holding a degree in transportation management), I have come to a conclusion regarding our transit system. Its inefficiencies are mired in "small town thinking". Calgary cannot afford to run bus routes snaking through neighbourhoods anymore (see line "1"). The key is to create routes that follow major thoroughfares from one end to the other, like in Toronto (see line "2"). Yes, it will force some users to walk a couple blocks to get to a bus. But it may also make it possible to get to work by bus in less than the time it takes to hit the slopes at Nakiska. It would also take the guesswork out of figuring out where that bus is eventually headed.

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