While it saved cash and was more energy efficient, Calgary Transit riders have spoken, and now a two-car LRT pilot project has been shelved.

After being launched in March 2025, Calgary Transit’s two-car pilot project was in place on weekends to try to match weekend usage and LRT car capacity.

Previously, Calgary Transit had said that the average number of weekend passengers was 84 per trip, and up to 300 during busier times, but that it was below the 400-person capacity on a two-car LRT.

It turned out that it just didn’t meet the needs of weekend Calgary Transit riders, according to Amanda Bradley with Calgary Transit.

“Based on our observations and customer feedback and kind of how the construction schedule goes over the spring and summer, we decided that it was not a good idea,” she told LWC.

“It would be better to go back to three-car trains.”

It turned out that weekend peak usage times were far less predictable, depending on when there were events throughout the city.

The benefits they’d hoped for – reduced wear and tear on vehicles, efficiency in service and upkeep, energy efficiency and cost savings – were realized, but in the end, this was about ensuring customers had the public transit service they wanted and needed on the weekends, Bradley said.  Calgary Transit wasn’t immediately able to quantify, in dollars, the cost savings.

“Ultimately, our service is for customers, and if it’s not working for customers, and we can do something about it, then we change it,” she said.

The pilot project, when first launched, applied to Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (where frequency is often changed to weekend service levels) and was adjusted based on pre-determined events like the Calgary Stampede or the Rotary International convention.

Weekend riders are different: Feedback

While the total amount of feedback hasn’t been tallied, Calgary Transit received comments via 311, through the CT call centre, social media, and in person. Bradley said it was generally negative.

She said what they’d heard was that even though it met the capacity needs, the trains were often crowded. Plus, the transit riders on the weekend have different needs.

“Many of the comments that we received were about strollers and bikes and just the different ways that people use transit on the weekend versus during the week,” she said.

“Peak times, Monday to Friday, we don’t generally have a lot of strollers. We don’t generally have a lot of large things that are coming in with people. But on the weekends, it’s more likely.”

Alex Williams with Calgary Transit Riders, a city advocacy group dedicated to improving the commuter experience, said that listening to riders is the first step to a better overall service.

“I think it means that at least they listen, right? They tried something new, which is something we’re always asking them to do as Calgary Transit Riders,” said Williams.

“Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you try that? They tried something new, and it didn’t work, and they reversed it.”

While there was a cost savings for the city, Williams said that you have to balance cost savings with the willingness of people to use the LRT.

“I think just shrugging it off and saying, ‘well, we could have saved a few bucks by doing this,’ I get that,” he said.

“But if the user experience becomes such that it turns people away, and it signals to people that we can’t serve people the way we need to serve them, then I think those down the line can end up having an even more negative impact on the economics of transit as well as the user experience.”