Project Calgary: Half of downtown commuters take bus, C-Train
By Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald October 17, 2011
For decades, the most common morning routine for workers in downtown Calgary went something like this: shower, coffee and drive.
But new data suggests that’s changed dramatically.
Half of downtown commuters now arrive by bus or C-Train during morning rush hour, up from just 33 per cent in 1996, according to the city.
And that’s 13 years sooner than targeted under the GoPlan, the transportation blueprint the city penned back in the mid-1990s.
Increasing transit use is seen as key to mitigating traffic congestion in the downtown and surrounding communities without the expense and physical upheaval of adding major roadways into the core.
“It’s far better for people to spread the peak a little bit or use the other modes than for us to have to build new roads and bridges and interchanges, which costs tens of millions of dollars — if not more,” said Don Mulligan, the city’s director of transportation planning.
While 50 per cent of rush-hour commuters now take transit into downtown, 33 per cent are behind the wheel. That’s essentially a complete reversal from 1996, when 49 per cent of downtown commuters drove and one-third took transit.
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http://www.calgaryherald.com/Project+Cal...e+Train/5559360/story.html#ixzz1b4fJcgNn
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