Calgary Transit reduces CTrain service on weekends and public holidays
The change comes as part of an effort to reduce energy consumption and maintenance
Calgary Transit is testing shorter, two-car CTrain service over weekends and public holidays in a pilot project which began on March 22.
According to a city news release, the change is part of an effort to optimize the CTrain's weekend service, as well as reduce energy consumption and maintenance.
"We know how important transit service is for our customers and how critical it is to use our funds responsibly," Aaron Coon, manager at Calgary Transit, said in the release.
"This pilot allows us to match service with demand while maintaining reliability and availability for those who depend on public transit."
Calgary Transit said that while its ridership continues to grow and return to pre-pandemic levels, the CTrain is still seeing fewer riders than the 400-person capacity of two train cars on weekends.
According to transit officials, outside of special events, an average of 84 weekend riders take the train per trip, and up to 300 during busier times.
Some riders are concerned about reduced service
However, some CTrain riders on Saturday said that they're already noticing busier than usual train cars.
Amrit Sahota said he takes the LRT almost every day and finds it still gets quite busy at certain hours on the weekends.
On the first day of the pilot program, he felt the change.
"It's making a lot of difference because shorter carriages mean more people are fitting into it. Some people are pushing around and this is causing lots of problems [for] people with disabilities and [others]," he said.
"While I was travelling in the morning, there was a lady with a… kid. She [couldn't] go inside [the train car] because it was like pretty packed."
Commuter Lucynda Langley said reducing service by one train car does make a difference.
"There's just not enough room," she said. "You have people bringing bikes on and everything like that… dogs."
Special circumstances
While two-car service will operate on weekends and public holidays, the city said additional trains will be made available during times of high demand such as during sports games and concerts.
City-wide events like the Calgary Stampede will see temporary increases in train lengths from three to four cars.
The city said if the pilot program proves successful, Calgary Transit may consider applying the two-car operations to non-peak hours on weekdays as well.
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With files from Terri Trembath