Toll/HOV Lane & EV Parking Calgary

[TEUNTSLA]

This morning am660 had a segment on traffic in the city and how implementing HOV/Toll roads can clear a lot of this up.
I am curious to see if this will come fruition and better yet, wheter EV's will get granted access.

secondly, i work down town Calgary and have been looking for free EV parking down town. i know "free" is a dirty word when you combine Calgary and parking, but has anyone seen anything where driving an EV has additional benefits?
I know Ikea has upfront parking as do many hotels. anything else?

 

[Lon12]

I would also like to know if the Calgary airport is planning on any EV parking. I wrote them but have not heard anything back.

 

[Lon12]

Well the Calgary Airport Authority wrote back with information about the power:

"They are thermostatically controlled turning on when the outside temperature falls to -13 degrees Celsius and then turning off when the outside temperature rises to –10 degrees Celsius. In addition to this temperature parameter they operate on a 20 minute timed cycle where the power to the receptacles is turned on for a 20 minute time period and then turned off for a twenty minute time period and then the cycle repeats.

Please note that not all areas of the lots are controlled at the same time so there may be power present in one area but not in the adjacent area."

 

[green1]

So Calgary has spent the past decade actively removing vehicle travel lanes, closing off roads, adding extended curbs and other "traffic calming devices", and now that this has had the desired effect of increasing congestion, the plan is to add tolls to the mix...

What will it take to get the city to start realizing that the correct way to make people find an alternative to driving is not to make driving miserable, but to actually have another alternative???

 

[doubeld]

Agreed, green1.
For a city that has one of the highest mass transit-ridership in the world, maybe they should stop the hate on the drivers every chance they get. For how much of a "success" the lane removal project (dedicated bike lanes) was, I'd like to see them quantify that during the Winter months. Maybe people drive because they need to drive. Maybe it's 100% impractical to take transit all the time. If the roads are being fully-utilized and transit has a high-utilization rate, doesn't that just point to high efficiency? Tolls are great for adding new infrastructure where it wasn't always required, but is a "bonus". Like to add a new bridge, or a new parkade, or a new bypass. But not on primary arteries that have been there for a century where people live and do business.

All it does is hurt those that are required to use those routes for their daily functions. About as pointless as building a new LRT system up Centre Street. You're replacing inexpensive buses with expensive trains.

 

[wayner]

For a city that has one of the highest mass transit-ridership in the world, .

Is this really true? I find it hard time believe that Calgary has higher mass transit riders than cities like Tokyo, London, NY, etc where many people don't own cars. Even within Canada it seems that Calgary is in about fifth place for percent of commutes by mass transit: List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[green1]

Calgary has low transit ridership, but it's not because cars are too convenient, it's because transit isn't convenient enough. Unfortunately we also have extremely low population density, and it is pretty much impossible to make a decent transit system with such low population density. So the solution is more sprawling suburbs, the same transit, fewer driving lanes, and an irrational expectation that everyone will magically start riding their bike 30km each way to work every day on unplowed roads in a blizzard at -20c

 

[doubeld]

Sorry, I should have clarified my numbers a bit. Our LRT ridership has one of the best numbers per mile. Which, you'd think compared to the bigger (population-wise) cities would be worse.
From that page, we have almost as much annual ridership as the Toronto streetcar system, and the highest avg daily weekday boardings.

Calgary gets a bad rap for a lot of eco/enviro policies which may be just due to politics, but our transit system is actually quite good. Free fare zone? Check. Single rate for cross-city travel, check. Integration with Google maps, check. Pandering to every single person going from any one location to any other location 25 km as the crow flies? Give me a break.

 

[Nappe]

Sorry, I should have clarified my numbers a bit. Our LRT ridership has one of the best numbers per mile. Which, you'd think compared to the bigger (population-wise) cities would be worse.
From that page, we have almost as much annual ridership as the Toronto streetcar system, and the highest avg daily weekday boardings.

Calgary gets a bad rap for a lot of eco/enviro policies which may be just due to politics, but our transit system is actually quite good. Free fare zone? Check. Single rate for cross-city travel, check. Integration with Google maps, check. Pandering to every single person going from any one location to any other location 25 km as the crow flies? Give me a break.

Our transit system is quite good for getting in and out of the core. Train beats car during rush hour for me, even with a shuttle bus on one end and a walk on the other.

I'd love to see EV parking at the park-and-ride lots.

 

[Hugh Mannity]

Calgary has low transit ridership, but it's not because cars are too convenient, it's because transit isn't convenient enough. Unfortunately we also have extremely low population density, and it is pretty much impossible to make a decent transit system with such low population density. So the solution is more sprawling suburbs, the same transit, fewer driving lanes, and an irrational expectation that everyone will magically start riding their bike 30km each way to work every day on unplowed roads in a blizzard at -20c

this is actually me to a T, except it's 26 km both ways and have ridden down to -32, yes everyone thinks I'm nuts!

 

[PoweredByRain]

this is actually me to a T, except it's 26 km both ways and have ridden down to -32, yes everyone thinks I'm nuts!

-32?!? Oh, the Hugh Mannity!

 

[Hugh Mannity]

ha ha ha nicely done! actually will be moving to your neck of the woods shortly, will be saying goodbye to -32 and hello to the lotus land HOV lanes. Are EVs able to drive in them with only a driver?