Calgary's CTrain: Effective Capital Utilization

The City of Calgary, a rapidly growing Canadian city of nearly 1 million people, has developed a very effective and efficient public transit system with three light rail transit (LRT) lines forming its backbone. Today, Calgary Transit carries nearly 500,000 daily passengers and nearly half of these customers use LRT for all or part of their journey. In the 1960s, foresight and planning by city leaders identified the need for a high-capacity transit system to reduce the impact of building roads. Although a decision to build LRT was not made until 1976, transit corridors were reserved for some form of high-capacity transit lines as major roads were planned and new communities were being built. After considerable study, LRT was selected as having the greatest potential of attracting users by providing a rapid, reliable, and comfortable trip. LRT also offered lower operating costs and the ability to encourage development that would support transit use. Today, Calgary’s LRT has the highest ridership (both in total and on a per-capita basis) of any North American system. This success has been achieved with a modest level of investment in comparison to costs of other recent LRT systems. Capital costs have been minimized and the effectiveness of the LRT mode has been optimized. This paper explains how Calgary has realized these achievements and become a leader in the transit industry.

• Record URL:
  • https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/17610
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00978515
• Authors:
  • McKendrick, Neil
  • Colquhoun, Dave
  • Charles, Bob
  • Hubbell, John
• Conference:
  • Light Rail Transit: A World of Applications and Opportunities. Joint International Light Rail Conference
  • Location: St. Louis Missouri, United States
  • Date: 2006-4-9 to 2006-4-11
• Publication Date: 2007-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 724-737
• Monograph Title: Joint International Light Rail Conference: A World of Applications and Opportunities, April 9-11, 2006, St. Louis, Missouri
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Circular
  • Issue Number: E-C112
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0097-8515

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Capital costs; Decision making; History; Light rail transit; Operating costs; Planning; Ridership
• Identifier Terms: Calgary Transit
• Geographic Terms: Calgary (Canada)
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; History; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01044137
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 19 2007 3:55PM