Calgary Transit announced that starting on March 22, the service would be piloting two-car LRT service on weekends in an attempt to match weekend usage with car capacity.
The pilot will apply to service levels on Saturday, Sunday, and holidays, and will be adjusted based on demand for events like Flames games, the Rotary International Convention, and the Calgary Stampede.
Transit provided figures indicated that while the number of users has grown on weekends, the average number of 84 passengers per trip and up to 300 during busy periods, was still below the 400-person maximum capacity that two LRT cars provides.
In Oct. 2024, the last period in which Calgary Transit ridership figures were made available through the City of Calgary’s Open Data portal, 8,960,400 boarding passengers on to C-Trains—the highest monthly total since 2010.
“We know how important transit service is for our customers and how critical it is to use our funds responsibly,” says Aaron Coon, Manager at Calgary Transit.
“This pilot allows us to match service with demand while maintaining reliability and availability for those who depend on public transit.”
Among the benefits touted by Calgary Transit as a reason for the pilot program included 33 per cent reduction in energy usage over the weekend, reduced maintain and replacement costs with extended lifetime service for cars, and streamlined patrols for Transit Peace Officers.
Calgary Transit said that if the pilot was successful for the weekends, they would be looking at reducing the number of cars available on non-peak weekdays to two-cars, with a full evaluation of service levels scheduled in the fall.
Calgarians have been asked to share their feedback by calling Calgary Transit, or providing feedback at https://www.calgarytransit.com/contact-us/submit-a-request-online.html.
