I can't deal with Calgary Transit

[u/Empty-Wasabi6016]

I have been a Calgary transit user for most of my life. I have been using it more often lately to take it to the hospital and now to rehab where I am visiting a family member. Before, I would usually just take the train to and from work. There were minor problems then, but now that I am using transit more often off of the peak times, I am noticing just how bad it has become.

Transit times are very loosely based on the actual schedule. Planning a trip that involves more than one bus can mean your trip can be between one and two hours, as was an example I unfortunately had to deal with today.

Buses sometimes have the incorrect signage. A bus zipped by me with an "Out of Service" sign one time, only to find out it was my bus. Other buses will provide you with the wrong destination sometimes if they are at the mid-point, which I have been lucky to communicate with the driver on more than one occasion in the last few weeks.

I live in an area where there is construction, and they have put a temporary stop by my house. I haven't had to deal with this stop yet, but the stop only says "temporary stop" and does not provide any other info. There is another temporary stop by my house, but the stop information doesn't look quite right... I noticed that sometimes the bus will still try to go the other way, leaving people at the temporary stop to wait.

I am going back to work and to my normal train schedule, but boy do I feel terrible for anyone who has to ride these buses during the off-peak hours. It's pretty disorganized and even when I ring the bell for my stop, there is a 50% chance the bus driver drives past my stop.

What in the world is going on? I know I am just venting but this is a pretty important service and I understand why this is such a car city. I saw there was a new committee about such things but life is hectic enough to get involved with that sort of thing. I think I would explode.

[u/lego_mannequin]

My favourite is just missing a connection by under a minute which adds 30min to my way home. Or when busses randomly just wait at a stop for 5 min, like the University.

[u/rikkiprince → u/lego_mannequin]

The buses wait at a stop because they're ahead of schedule, so they periodically (at certain stops) resycnhronise with the schedule to reduce the likelihood of you missing a bus because you got there just on time, but it went past 2 minutes early.

It's obviously not a perfect system, but it is there to try and make the buses more predictable. The better solution would be to have buses going past every 5-10 minutes so it doesn't matter if one is ahead of schedule.

[u/Dry-Hotel5306 → u/rikkiprince]

And then I’ve been walking to the bus stop and I see the bus I need to take that’s ahead of schedule see that no one is at the stop and they just speed past the stop even though they are ahead of schedule

[u/lego_mannequin → u/Dry-Hotel5306]

Same. I get they can't wait at every stop but there's gotta be some accountability. I emailed transit before telling them people take the bus home after work, so when it's ahead and blows by it makes dozens of people have to wait even longer. It's not acceptable from transit drivers or the city, it's a service and people pay for it.

I just go early now because this transit is so unreliable the only way to make sure you get somewhere is by leaving early enough so that if you miss a bus you can get the next one and make it ontime.

[u/RyuzakiXM → u/Dry-Hotel5306]

The only way this will ever improve is with more transit-only lanes. Traffic changes. Bus waits at your stop until its on time, then it arrives 5 minutes late further down the line, and arrives late at the terminal 5 minutes. Alternatively bus leaves every stop 1 minute early but gets stuck in traffic before the next time point - Bus is on time after the time point, but early before the time point.

Point is, it’s very unpredictable and hard to schedule buses if there isn’t priority for schedulers to create reliable trip times. Thats why we end up with this system where some days its very early and some days its very late.

[u/lego_mannequin → u/rikkiprince]

Would be nice except I've had them blow past the stop 8 minutes early before, or actually avoid the stop completely somehow. It's not perfect but they actually could do better.

[u/wowzers65 → u/lego_mannequin]

Calgary Transit likes to schedule mid-route layovers. This means that it is by design that routes like the 20 sit at Craigie Hall for 5-10 minutes. On one hand, its good for schedule adherence further along the route, and so drivers have another chance to use the washroom. On the other hand, its very frustrating for riders who just need to go a few stops past, or who miss a connection as a result. Calgary is one of the very few cities in Canada that don't have timed connections that operate this way.

[u/lego_mannequin → u/wowzers65]

These guys stop for coffee anyways on the way to the University, even had a bus stop somewhere else while the driver ate lunch or whatever on the side of the road. It would be GREAT if they could do this at the end of the line, so we're not held hostage like this and they could I don't know, sit down for a break to eat?

PS, they never check for proof of payment. What am I paying for?

[u/DaftFunky → u/lego_mannequin]

My issue today. Look at current bus times. 3 minutes to the stop. Run to the stop in less than 1 minute. Recheck times. 27 minutes away.

Just fuck off.

[u/lego_mannequin → u/DaftFunky]

That happened to me once in the winter after work. Bus didn't show up at the scheduled time and it went from 0 to 40 min.

Also once the bus drove right by me at a station at night during the winter. Bright lights on etc, I was inside the shelter because it was cold and it blew right by.

Also in the summer it was a cooler day, I had a bright yellow hoody on and a bus drove right by without slowing or stopping.

Absurd service.

[u/DaftFunky → u/lego_mannequin]

Don’t get me started on drivers who don’t stop. It’s happened to me so many times. I don’t care that someone on the bus didn’t push the button to get off. Slow down and scan the freaking stops for people.

[u/lego_mannequin → u/DaftFunky]

Lol oh I believe it

[u/take_the_leap4 → u/lego_mannequin]

Worse yet is waiting in the cold without even a bus shed (although those have been becoming more common now 🤞).

[u/Empty-Wasabi6016 → u/lego_mannequin]

That’s what happened to me today! My bus was late so I missed the transfer by a couple minutes.

[u/GWeb1920 → u/lego_mannequin]

You can’t complain about both of these things. The timing hold points on routes are designed to make the most common bus/bus transfers work. So they wait mid route to stay on schedule.

[u/lego_mannequin → u/GWeb1920]

I can and will. The bus I transfer to always leaves when the bus I'm on arrives at the station. People who work at the Hospital need to catch this bus because it goes up the hill and stops outside the hospital. I've seen it leave as people were going to it, I've watched some run after it, and I know it's not the only one.

I've had other busses which have completely bypassed the starting transit stop and just skip down the line before which forced me to take a cab to avoid being late to work. This happened more than once, a bus didn't show up where it should have started. Lucky I left early to account for the shit service in this city having learned my lesson already and wouldn't you know? The bus I wanted to take somehow made it to 69th Street station, without going downtown where it should have started.

It's not all busses or routes, but if a bus is waiting 10 minutes at the University, it can wait 2 minutes longer at the starting location for transfers coming, for people going to work at night. Unbelievable I had to watch a nurse run after a bus to get to work, get out of here telling me I can't complain about this.

[u/dachshundie]

Yup... while I still have my complaints about it, the C-train objectively punches way above its weight for a city the size of Calgary.

But the reality outside the C-train is sad. Unless you're on a BRT/MAX route, busses are shite and simply cannot be relied on to get anywhere in a remotely efficient manner... not to mention, the cost of transit here is simply insane for what you get.

A lot of it, IMO, has to do with the design of the city. Outside of the main drags, there is simply no density to support more frequent busses in any sustainable manner.

Started driving to work last year and while it kills me to pay for gas, parking, contribute to pollution, etc., the extra 60+ minutes, certainty (especially in -30 C), and flexibility added to my day has been life changing.

[u/lego_mannequin → u/dachshundie]

I believe that.

• On the bus right now.

[u/take_the_leap4 → u/dachshundie]

This is unfortunately so true. When I lived in the Ranchlands/Crowfoot area, the bus service was abysmal especially during non-peak hours even though both areas are so close to the c-train (this was more than a decade ago...so don't know if the situation is any better now).. I only started making the most of my transit experience as I moved closer to the centre and along a Max route.

[u/nozomuisgaylmao → u/dachshundie]

there’s a bus stop in mckenzie towne/ new brighton, the 153 if i’m remembering right and ever time i’ve waited for that damn bus it’s been at LEAST 20 minutes late, like why bother i’ll just uber it or drive.

[u/Komaisnotsalty]

It's also causing a major problem for job hunters.

Look at jobs - even for entry level and minimum wage type things, the postings often list that you must have a 'reliable vehicle', which is absurd to require on the crappy $15 an hour minimum wage. I even saw one with that retirement for $15.50 an hour AND wanted a university degree.

Like, seriously?

[u/BubonicRatKing]

Someone I know was recently hit by a transit bus after calling out the driver for hitting a previous passenger with the door of the bus. They were told a CPS supervisor would need to take their statement for anything to be done. It’s been weeks and no supervisor, no returned calls.

[u/CromulentDucky]

I'm convinced some drivers when behind schedule just change the sign to 'out of order' and skip stops until they catch up. I've had the same issue where a bus goes by out of order, and the scheduled bus doesn't show up.

[u/TakadoGaming → u/CromulentDucky]

A couple months ago, I had a been waiting 45 minutes for a bus that’s scheduled to come every 15. The bus that was running latest ended up showing up 40 minutes past its scheduled time. Then, as I watch the bus approach in real time on the app, I see my bus pass me by with the “out of service” sign. It was nowhere near full or anything.

[u/hdksjdms-n]

i'm just upset bc the train times are constantly unavailable at train stations

[u/0runnergirl0]

My favourite is when the driver doesn't know the route, veers off course, and then asks a passenger to direct them through the route. I can't count the number of times I've ended up being live action GPS for some driver who can't read a map. Good luck once I get off the bus. 🤷

[u/wowzers65 → u/0runnergirl0]

With the new onboard tablet system, this should be a thing of the past, as the new system has a live route map with GPS

[u/0runnergirl0 → u/wowzers65]

I had to direct my driver yesterday, so I'm not sure that's quite accurate.

[u/wowzers65 → u/0runnergirl0]

They're in the process of replacing the system on the buses, they're not done yet

[u/Doc_1200_GO]

This is what we voted for in Alberta, the chronic underfunding of public services that erode to the point where they can no longer function.

The Conservatives that run this Province simply don’t care about public transportation because the majority of their voting base doesn’t utilize these services. They are frothing at the mouth to strip these essential services to the bone and sell off the scraps to the highest bidder.

Our Mayor is literally begging on Reddit for adequate funding to bring CT back up to a level where they are not operating in such a large budget shortfall.

[u/Ok-Guilherme]

I often have bad experiences with it. Getting to Downtown from Tuscany is a hassle. Busses take forever to show up.

[u/Calgary-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

homophobic/transphobic comments, racism, sexism, hate based religious attacks and personal threats are not tolerated on this sub.

__