Moving around downtown Calgary is easy in the free public transit zone

One of the interesting things about Calgary is the city's Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system for public transportation. Built for the 1998 Olympics, the electric trains move people quickly in and out of the downtown core on three separate lines. The lines converge on 7th Avenue, where the major offices and shopping are located. It's really quite nice because in this stretch commuters can get on and off the train without paying. It's a free fare zone and it's a wonderful thing.

Calgary fulfilled a promise made by former premier Ralph Klein and joined a number of other cities around the world offering partial or free transit. It's a popular way to reduce vehicular traffic in downtown.

(You can see more about the Calgary Transit system in this information page.)

I believe subsidized public transit, made available for free to the public, offers many advantages for cities. Some time ago, I wrote a position in support of this idea as part of an on-line debate at Helium.com. The article is here. The debate is still active, so you'll see some of the arguments on both sides of the issue. My pseudonym is Pathseeker.

Related post: "Public transportation in Paris."

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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/

Finding a better way to move people in a metropolis

On this day in 1904, the New York City subway system opened for the first time.

In those days, the streets of Manhattan were crowded with all kinds of horse-drawn vehicles and congestion was the order of the day. So New Yorkers thronged to try this new underground railroad. When the subway opened to the public at 7 PM that day, more than 100,000 people rode the line. It cost a nickel to board the train.

The first line traveled about 15 kilometres and stopped at 28 stations. It ran from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal and then on to Times Square and north all the way to Harlem. New York City mayor George McLellan was invited to inaugurate the line that afternoon of October 27th, and he was given the opportunity to drive the train. History.com reports that he liked the experience so much, he stayed at the controls from City Hall all the way to 103rd street.

The New York subway has now grown to 26 lines, operates 24 hours a day, and carries more than 4 million people every day.


For more information see:

http://www.nycsubway.org/index.html.
This site has a lot of information about the history of the subway, but also about what goes on in the subway system every day. It's more than just a transportation system, with many activities for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

For maps of the system and other information, here is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority site...also quite interesting:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm

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Photo courtesy of humdizzy
From...The stock.xchange (www.sxc.hu)

Public transportation in Paris

Further to my note in favour of better public transportation, read the item below that appeared in the New York Times in July.

Editorial writer Serge Schmemann describes how the city of Paris is providing incentives for people to use public transportation and bicycles in an effort to reduce automobile congestion and pollution.

The French have adopted novel solutions to problems before, and gridlock is another problem that is attracting special attention.

City officials have made tens of thousands of bicycles available to commuters and have built special lanes for public transit.

These are bold moves that should inspire other municipalities around the world.

Click here to read Schmemann's article called "I Love Paris on a Bus, a Bike, a Train and in Anything but a Car."