[mersar]

Crowds were definitely out for the long awaited opening of the Crowfoot LRT station today, there were probably over a thousand people wandering around the parking lot and the various booths (mostly from area businesses, plus CPS, EMS, Fire Department and Transit). Heres a tour of the station:

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/crowd-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The crowd out on part of the south park and ride lot

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/southparkandride-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
3 ramps up to the pedestrian bridge

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/station-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking north at the station from the park and ride lot

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/pedestrianbridge-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The pedestrian bridge which links the north park and ride and the bus look to the station, and to the south park and ride lots


http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platforminside-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking down to the platform level from the entrance way

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platforminside-crowfootlrt-jun13-2.jpg
Looking back to the entrance from the foot of the down escalator

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platforminside-crowfootlrt-jun13-3.jpg
And from the foot of the up escalator

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platformeast-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking west from the end of the platform to the station itself

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/signboard-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
New signs are up and in place for the start of service on Monday morning

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platformnorth-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking west along the north side of the station

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platformnorth-crowfootlrt-jun13-2.jpg
And looking back east still on the north side

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/elevatorplatform-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The elevator on the platform level

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platformsouth-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking east on the south side of the platform.

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/ct2271-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
#2271, one of the first A/C equipped LRV's sits on the platform showing the 'Crowfoot' destination on its display
http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/x-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/escalator-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking up the side of the escalator

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/foyer-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The entranceway with its ticket machines. Its a bit smaller area then I had thought, seemed a bit crowded

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/elevatortop-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The elevator access in the entrance

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/tailtrack-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking west from the pedestrian bridge at the tail tracks. In 3 years time the tracks will run west from the end under the bridge to the next, and final, station on the north west line of the LRT at Tuscany about 3km west

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/station-crowfootlrt-jun13-2.jpg
Looking at the station from the north side of the pedestrian bridge

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/northshelter-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The bus shelter on the bus loop

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/busloop-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The bus loop, a similar design to Dalhousie with the bays only around the outside and a fence through the middle to prevent people from cutting in front of buses

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/ct8095-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
The newest D40LFR in the Calgary Transit fleet that was on display (and full of parents with smaller kids taking a break from the heat)

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/southparkandride-crowfootlrt-jun13-2.jpg
The southmost park and ride lot, located about 500m from the station itself. Overall theres approximately 1350 parking stalls in the various lots at this station

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/scenicacres-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
One of the pedestrian accesses into the community of Scenic Acres south of the station

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/scenicacresparade-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking at the intersection from the connector bridge which crosses over Crowchild Trail to access the south park and ride lots. There is no road connection from the community into the parking lots, only a restricted road for buses equipped with an automated gate, so all traffic has to access the park and ride over this bridge, or off the offramps from Crowchild directly.

[eternallyme]

Looks quite stellar!

What will be the next extension to open - the NW to Tuscany, the West LRT or the NE to Saddletowne?

[You Need A Thneed]

Looks quite stellar!

What will be the next extension to open - the NW to Tuscany, the West LRT or the NE to Saddletowne?

My guess would be the NE, but they could all be close together.

[YYCguys]

Excellent pix, Mersar! Thanks! I've heard that the westernmost station isn't going to be named Tuscany/RockyRidge, that it's simply going to be called Tuscany.

[mersar]

Looks quite stellar!

What will be the next extension to open - the NW to Tuscany, the West LRT or the NE to Saddletowne?

Well if the current schedule holds, all 3 likely within a couple months of each other. My money though will be on the next NW station first, then WLRT, just based on the fact theres actually work happening on those

[frinkprof]

Nice pics mersar. I'm impressed with the interior finishings the most, but maybe only because I've seen everything else before today. It's too bad I missed the opening event. I wanted to get a picture of me with Transit Teddy!

[Jimby]

Nice extensive thread of somewhere I'll never see in person.
Is that new bus, the D40LFR, air conditioned? Are any of the CT buses?

[mersar]

Nope, none of the buses have working AC to my knowledge (just the fans at the front for the driver). Some of the ex-Connecticut Transit Classics had A/C, but like their wheelchair ramps it was disabled or removed.

[srperrycgy]

Speaking of the Devil (guy on the left is the "handler"):

http://members.shaw.ca/lrtincalgary/CRO-16.jpg

I thought this giveaway by Transit was very cool:

http://members.shaw.ca/lrtincalgary/SD160 Paper Model.jpg

Mersar's pics are pretty much the same as what I took today, so I won't duplicate.

[DarkKeyo]

Excellent pics, Mersar and srperrycgy.

I was amused by the 'Transit Teddy', and I was quick to grab one of the cardboard trains, even thought I'm having trouble putting it together. I also got the chance to look at all the new schedules. I really wish they'd run the 430 all day...

As for the new extensions, I hope they open as soon as possible. I'd bet the NW and NE would be done a few months before WLRT and at about the same time. Lots of new stations to go to all at once!

[Witty Nickname]

Thanks for the pics guys.

[ksnaden]

srperrycgy: Although I don't know "the handlers" name, I talked to him at the North Pointe Transit open house and he was pretty knowledgeable. It's always great to talk to another transit geek and talk about visions of the future!

[mersar]

srperrycgy: Although I don't know "the handlers" name, I talked to him at the North Pointe Transit open house and he was pretty knowledgeable. It's always great to talk to another transit geek and talk about visions of the future!

Yeah, I've talked with him before as well at one of the XRT open houses.

[skrish]

Nice pics, the station is looking sharp. Hopefully this means I can go to Dalhousie now.

[magnetite]

Hey srperrycgy, saw your video on Youtube. Just wanted to say I was right behind you when you were shooting that video. I was wearing black pants and a black shirt. Tall guy with the glasses.

[DizzyEdge]

I feel like I should take the Crowfoot line just for the hell of it, as I have never been to the last 4 stations built.

[mersar]

Yep, I'm thinking I may just park at Crowfoot and take the LRT to work just for the sake of it tomorrow, rather then park at McMahon and catch the bus or walk

[DizzyEdge]

Unfortuately I'm up centre, so taking any line is pretty much just for the fun of it.... I'll be dreaming of a centre street streetcar tonight.

[Wooster]

Unfortuately I'm up centre, so taking any line is pretty much just for the fun of it.... I'll be dreaming of a centre street streetcar tonight.

Are you joining the Centre Street metro bandwagon?

[srperrycgy]

Hey srperrycgy, saw your video on Youtube. Just wanted to say I was right behind you when you were shooting that video. I was wearing black pants and a black shirt. Tall guy with the glasses.

Here's the short vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P2bSKZ4aZA

Nothing too long, just the CTrain in the interlocking with Bronco driving and using the horn. He waves at the end.

[lubicon]

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platformnorth-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking west along the north side of the station

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platformnorth-crowfootlrt-jun13-2.jpg
And looking back east still on the north side

http://compscience.info/public/images/2009/platformsouth-crowfootlrt-jun13-1.jpg
Looking east on the south side of the platform.


Is it just me, or does the space along the platform between the tracks and the station look very small? Tough to fit more than a couple of people side by side here.

[mersar]

It's a bit narrow, however its no worse then the platform at University. The advantage here is the doors which are all along the sides, so there shouldn't be much traffic walking along the length of the platform

[DizzyEdge]

Are you joining the Centre Street metro bandwagon?

Well i love the idea of having some sort of train up Centre, just preferably in a way that doesn't involve 36 st NE style barriers at every intersection, or demolishing 200 homes.... I wonder if Centre would be a good candidate for a Skytrain style system or underground. I suppose the 200 home issue might be unavoidable unless it's a streetcar that follows road signals.

[freeweed]

It's a bit narrow, however its no worse then the platform at University. The advantage here is the doors which are all along the sides, so there shouldn't be much traffic walking along the length of the platform

And it doesn't matter if they don't park the train next to the platform, anyway. Or at least the majority of it.

It'll be interesting to see how this evolves, and what happens when we get 4 (and then 5) car consists.

[mersar]

I actually asked over on cptdb about that as theres a couple CTrain operators there, the one who replied said they were told to stop at the east end, however CT did install the loops so either end can be used and as I saw this morning some operators were stopping at the west end. I'd say its quite possible that once they've had a couple days they may change their suggestion. Plus if you really want to, phone transit and tell them the concern.

[magnetite]

Took this video this afternoon. Still in the process of being uploaded and approved. Can't find it through searching yet. I did make one from Dalhousie to Crowfoot, but for some reason my camera cut out on me right when I passed under Nose Hill Drive.

Anyways, this is from Crowfoot to Dalhousie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM7pxQ5IttQ

[Wooster]

Took this video this afternoon. Still in the process of being uploaded and approved. Can't find it through searching yet. I did make one from Dalhousie to Crowfoot, but for some reason my camera cut out on me right when I passed under Nose Hill Drive.

Anyways, this is from Crowfoot to Dalhousie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM7pxQ5IttQ

Wow, it's a hell of a long way between stations. thanks for posting.

[frinkprof]

^It really is. I rode today, and the long stretch (longest in Calgary) between Crowfoot and Dalhousie, followed by the almost-as-long stretch between Dalhousie and Brentwood is definitely a bit strange.

[freeweed]

In my selfish suburbanite brain, it's awesome to go that long without stopping. The C-Train annoys me many days with what seem like stations 500' apart, where maybe 3 people get on or off.

I realize that outside the rush it's a completely different story, but I do sometimes imagine what the system would be like if every station was as close as say Lion's Park and SAIT are. It would take 2 hours to get downtown from the end. At least this way you cover most of the inner city well, and us in the suburbs just know we have to take feeders everywhere. It works well in tandem, actually - there's not exactly a lot of reason to stop on the long runs anyway, it's just more housing and the vast majority of people would be taking a feeder from the intermediate stations regardless of how many you put in.

[magnetite]

The train seemed to be going a bit faster between Crowfoot and Dalhousie then when I was coming up to Crowfoot, say from Brentwood to Dalhousie. It's a straight stretch of track and all, but just for some reason it felt like the LRT operator was "flooring" it.

[mersar]

Yep, the longest stretch and I'm pretty sure also home to the straightest (from just before Sarcee to signal C130 nearly at Nosehill), enough that if you look forward from the first LRV you can see the caternary zig-zag (which it does so the wear on the pantographs is evened out) while the track runs perfectly straight ahead.

Speed wise they did do a pretty good job on the grades, I actually noticed this morning the driver was actually on the brake a bit as we approached Sarcee. This afternoon though the train I was on was pretty much running right at the allowed headway, from the first signal past Brentwood all the way into Crowfoot we kept hitting the signals within seconds of it changing to green.

[YYCguys]

Well i love the idea of having some sort of train up Centre, just preferably in a way that doesn't involve 36 st NE style barriers at every intersection, or demolishing 200 homes.... I wonder if Centre would be a good candidate for a Skytrain style system or underground. I suppose the 200 home issue might be unavoidable unless it's a streetcar that follows road signals.

I think a skytrain style system on Centre would destroy the character, or the potential for some character, of the street. An underground style system gets my vote.

[Wooster]

^It really is. I rode today, and the long stretch (longest in Calgary) between Crowfoot and Dalhousie, followed by the almost-as-long stretch between Dalhousie and Brentwood is definitely a bit strange.

Past the University, maybe Brentwood, it really does start functioning like a pure commuter train. Not much use around stations, just parking lots, wide gaps between stations.

[frinkprof]

^Yeah. I wonder if those intermediate stations (Northland, Silver Springs) will become viable once commuter rail to Cochrane starts up and the C-Train won't have to function in that role as much.

[freeweed]

^Yeah. I wonder if those intermediate stations (Northland, Silver Springs) will become viable once commuter rail to Cochrane starts up and the C-Train won't have to function in that role as much.

I'd say more once we see TOD prove itself here, and someone thinks about repeating that at a totally new location (Northland).

The C-Train isn't run for Cochranites; I'd be surprised if they're even 10% of the riders in the morning. Most of the commuter aspect is servicing the tens of thousands of people who live in the extreme NW, and none of us would be using a commuter train from Cochrane so nothing really changes.

[Stang]

And it doesn't matter if they don't park the train next to the platform, anyway. Or at least the majority of it.

I saw a train pulling up during a bit of rain this afternoon and sure enough, it went all the way to the West end of the platform. It was raining, too. I would imagine that they'll start doing that regularly once everyone gets used to it.

My other observations:

- The roundabout seemed to be doing its thing. Nobody going the wrong way or otherwise screwing up on it.

- The bus-only gate on the Silver Springs side seems well signed/marked and easy enough to understand. That's assuming that the average driver actually pays attention to arbitrary details like road signs. ;) Again - just a matter of getting used to it.

- The park 'n ride actually looked fuller than I had expected. Still plenty of excess capacity, but I think that's true at the majority of the lots these days. I would bet that it would be overflowing had the notorious fee not been introduced, but the feeder bus network has also been improved for the NW-fringe communities too.

- NW-bound Crowchild is going to be trouble for traffic (as freeweed and others have already pointed out) until the interchange at Stoney is finished. SE-bound Crowchild and access into the gong show that is the Crowfoot shopping area is actually much improved. This has never been good, dating all the way back to when there were lights at Nose Hill. With the new bridge linking the two sides of the station, traffic can use it enter/exit the shopping area. Obviously not a real benefit to transit, but I'd say that access to the area in general is much improved.

All in all a pretty slick station, including all of the access points, lots, etc.

After all of the anticipation of Crowfoot opening, I'm kind of over it already. ;) Let's get digging on the next leg!