After biggest route overhaul in its history, Calgary Transit wants to hear your commuting grumbles
Rachel Ward | CBC News | Posted: December 3, 2018 5:02 PM | Last Updated: December 3, 2018
Some passengers complain new MAX rapid bus lines have lead to long waits
Calgary Transit wants to hear all your commuting grumbles.
Now two weeks after the largest route overhaul in the network's history, the transit authority is still smoothing out the bumps.
The overhaul saw dozens of major and minor route adjustments (all of which are detailed online), plus the launch of the so-called MAX Transit, the city's new rapid bus lines.
Since then, some riders have complained about longer trips, more transfers and confusion around new routes, and some online conversations on the topic have garnered hundreds of comments.
"We'd really appreciate if people would get in touch with us more directly," transit planning manager Nikhil Lobo told the Calgary Eyeopener on Monday.
The MAX Transit buses get signal-light priority and can bypass traffic. They are also supposed to have fewer stops, better connections to other lines and come with larger platforms that have heated shelters, safety features and real-time arrival times displayed.
After the launch, the transit authority says it's made a few adjustments based on passengers complaints. For example, in a few cases, people wanted trips to start five minutes earlier to help get them to their shifts, Lobo said.
"So we've added a few trips and moved a few schedules around to help them get to where they need to go," he said.
Collecting feedback
All feedback is being collected so further tweaks can be made, Lobo said. Passengers can submit ideas, complaints and other feedback online, by calling 311 to be redirected to the Calgary Transit call centre (403-262-1000) or through Twitter, which the transit authority prefers to other social media as it has staff who can answer questions via that platform.
"We can give you a more detailed response, and that helps us get more detailed feedback as opposed to some more general comments," Lobo said.
Many of the issues, Lobo said, should be smoothed out as the city gets used to the new rapid bus lines.
The lines have dedicated bus lanes and signal priority, so that drivers and pedestrians have had to adjust to that new style, especially on streets that are already busy with traffic. On 17th Avenue S.E., for example, there's a new transitway of two lanes running down the middle of the road between Ninth Avenue S.E. and Hubalta Road S.E. — and new rules for drivers in that area. There are also three new transit-only bridges.
Lobo also said the routes launched at an inopportune time. In recent weeks, there have been several major collisions in the busy transit area of downtown that delayed buses at key locations. There have also been a few unrelated protests and celebrations, like for the Stampeders' Grey Cup win, that have slowed traffic generally.
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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.