Calgary Transit
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Calgary Transit is the public transit service which is owned and operated by the city of Calgary, Alberta.
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History
What would eventually become Calgary Transit began as the Calgary Municipal Railway in 1909, with twelve electric streetcars serving what was at the time a city of 30,000. This streetcar service expanded throughout the next thirty years (including the Depression) until 1946, when the company was renamed to Calgary Transit System as gasoline-powered vehicles began replacing the local streetcars (as was common at the time). Eventually the electric trolley lines were phased out together - to be replaced by diesel buses. In 1972, CTS assumed its current name of Calgary Transit.
The C-Train
On May 25, 1981, Calgary Transit became one of the first transit systems in North America to operate a light rail system - the C-Train, on which construction had begun in 1978. The original line (referred to internally as the A Line, and externally as Route 201) ran from Anderson Station (just north of Anderson Road in the south end of the city) to downtown Calgary
In 1985, a northeastern-bound line (B-Line / Route 202) was opened, running from downtown to Whitehorn Station (just south of the intersection of McKnight Boulevard and 36th Street in the northeastern quadrant of the city), and in 1987, a northwestern-bound line (C-Line / part of Route 201) was opened in time for the 1988 Winter Olympics, running from downtown to University Station (directly east of the University of Calgary campus, between 24th and 32nd Avenue on Crowchild Trail).
In 1990 a 1 km extension of the northwest line to Brentwood Station (south of Brisebois Drive on Crowchild Trail) was opened; in 2001 two new stations - Canyon Meadows Station (north of Canyon Meadows Drive and west of Macleod Trail) and Fish Creek-Lacombe Station (south of Bannister Road and west of Macleod Trail) were added to the south line; on December 15, 2003, Dalhousie Station (south of 53rd Street in the median of Crowchild Trail) was added to the northwestern line.
On June 28, 2004, two new stations for the south line opened: Shawnessy Station (south of a brand new interchange at Macleod Trail and Shawnessy Boulevard) and Somerset-Bridlewood Station (south of 162nd Avenue and west of Shawnee Gate).
Future extensions planned are McKnight-Westwinds Station on the northeast line; a new west line running west from downtown to 69th Street West (which would presumably be known as D-Line and an extension to Route 202); and a new southeast line running from downtown into the communities of Douglasdale and McKenzie in the southeastern portion of the city (E-Line / possibly Route 203).
BRT
On August 30, 2004, Calgary Transit opened a bus rapid transit line to operate future C-Train routes (the D-Line and an as-yet unplanned northbound line). While tests of various high-capacity buses (most notably articulated buses and double decker buses) have been carried out for potential future use on this route, no new vehicles have yet been purchased and the BRT line currently utilizes standard buses.
Other information
Calgary Transit currently operates about 160 bus routes with 774 buses of which 397 are low floor (as will be new buses added in the new future), and 116 light rail vehicles, 84 of which are Siemens-Duewag U2 model cars, 32 of which are more recent Siemens SD-160s.
The current bus fleet includes:
- GM Diesel Division T6H-5307N (New Look) (1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982)
- MCI TC40-102N (Classic) (1991, 1992)
- New Flyer D40HF (1992)
- New Flyer D40LF (1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
In addition, there are many minibuses used on routes with lower ridership.
External links
- Official Calgary Transit website (http://www.calgarytransit.com)