Calgary Transit’s nine-day replacement shuttle service is having an impact on travellers who rely on the CTrain for their daily work and studies commute.
The closure of the Red Line LRT stations between Chinook and City Hall/Bow Valley College stations started on Nov. 24. and will last through Dec. 3. The final work to integrate the new 17 Avenue and Stampede Park LRT Station is happening during this time.
The City of Calgary has been informing Calgarians about their service shuttle, with 50 buses providing express and replacement shuttle services with a mix of 40-foot and 60-foot buses.
“The closure affects me a lot because I live really far from my workplace,” said transit user Zuria Romero. Her route starts on 8th Street SW to ends at Anderson Station.
“For me normally, it takes around 45 minutes [to go to work] and now it takes me an hour and a half and sometimes more.”
Romero, like many other Calgarians, had to adapt her schedule and reconfigure her monthly budget. She mentioned that over the weekend, she thought she had enough time, but amid her commute to work, she had to take an Uber.
“I spent 11 extra dollars. It doesn’t sound like too much but once you buy it once, twice, or three times is when you start to see your budget effects,” she said.
While waiting at Chinook station for the bus, Romero experienced a delay of more than 10 minutes until the bus reached full capacity. The City of Calgary, however, stated that the expected wait time was only five minutes.
“While we don’t have passenger counts yet, anecdotally we’ve seen some buses have been full and some have been less crowded, and with our five-minute frequency, customers haven’t had to wait long at the shuttle stops,” read a response from the City of Calgary.
Romero frequently works shifts that go until 9 p.m., and she expressed that while she doesn’t mind waiting in the morning, her concern lies in the waiting time she’ll have to wait to get home in the evening.
Impact on University students on tight budgets
The closure is also impacting university students, making it challenging for them to arrive on time – and on budget.
Maria Palmisano, a student at the University of Calgary, said it will complicate her commute to school and back home, leaving her with less time to work on her assignments.
Her commute to school now takes around two hours, from Fish Creek Station to University Station, whereas it usually only takes an hour.
“I think it will affect my budget just because I do save quite a bit of money with taking transit. But just with how convenient Uber is, I would probably take an Uber; and with the weather as well, I wouldn’t want to wait outside in the cold,” she said.
“I’m probably going to spend a lot more money on Ubers than I probably should.”
In response to the closure, the City of Calgary is taking measures to decrease the financial burden on commuters. They will be providing a 25 per cent discount on all monthly passes, applicable regardless of where the pass is purchased.
The City said that Mondays tend to have lower volume of customers and car traffic and they anticipate things getting busier today.
“Both Stampede Park and Heritage Park parking lots still have plenty of room, so for people looking for an alternative way to get downtown tomorrow, they might be a good choice,” read a City of Calgary response.
“From Heritage Park, customers would connect with the MAX Yellow to get downtown or the MAX Teal to get to Westbrook Station and transfer to the Blue Line. From the Stampede Park lots, customers could either walk to City Hall/Bow Valley College Station or catch the Red Line replacement shuttle from the Erlton or Victoria Park/Stampede shuttle replacement stops on Macleod Trail.
