I’ve had some more questions about my experience with public transit, particularly in Calgary.  Given my travels across Canada, I have used systems in a number of cities, hence I feel it would be adequate to compare experiences across the country in relation to Calgary.

In these travels I’ve had the pleasure of using public transportation in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Trois-Rivieres and Saint John.  Some experiences have obviously been far more enjoyable than others on a number of levels, but there are some things that Calgary could stand to learn from each.

My personal issue is with the value-for-money of the transit system.  It’s been said that if fares go up, then service should step up and vice-versa, but to have it both ways is incredibly foolish and can cause reduced ridership (something Calgary has suffered of late).

An excellent example of a value-added transit system is Vancouver’s TransLink system (which I used heavily while in Vancouver working during the 2010 Winter Olympics).  An integrated system more formally known as the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, TransLink provides bus and train service through Vancouver, the SeaBus commuter ferry to North Vancouver and the West Coast Express commuter train service.  Given the cost of a single fare zone ($2.50), of which Metro Vancouver is divided into three, the access options for information (by phone, mobile web (including an iPhone App) and SMS) and services available throughout the fare zones, a one-zone fare in Metro Vancouver proves to provide more value for less cost compared to Calgary Transit (with much of Calgary fitting geographically into a single fare zone).

Another example is with the Trois-Rivieres transit system, the Société de Transport de Trois-Rivières, where while they are a smaller area with a higher fare ($3.00 to Calgary’s $2.75), they offer a reasonable level of service within respectable hours.  One thing they do that I did like and wish was done more often is they published at what times past the hour the bus would run by the stop, i.e. x:15 and x:45.  The information is available on their website (French of course), but is useful all the same.  Another thing they provided at the time I was using the system was printed booklets with schedules and maps for ALL ROUTES, not just select ones.

While not quite as notable an example, Saint John Transit has done a reasonably good job of covering this wonderful New Brunswick city, save a couple areas, but they do offer one thing that Calgary Transit didn’t, which is a fairly reasonable degree of communication with their riders, including things like bookmarks being made available on the buses to notify of fare increases and releases in the newspaper and on the radio to keep people in the loop.

In effect, Calgary has much to learn in terms of communicating with their passengers, providing better communication of stop times, maximizing the level of service provided for money, making information accessible across more media than their (non-mobile) website and by phone, as well as stepping up with the safety with the system.  The number of serious incidents on Calgary Transit over the last few years makes this an area that Transit and Calgary city council can ill afford to ignore.

This is of course assuming that the incoming council does a value-for-money audit and picks up on things that could be done to better ensure Calgarians are getting their money’s worth from a public transportation system that does not currently serve well for what is being put in through taxes and transit fares.