In Transit by Chris Phalen

Chief Big Plume putting his people first

In Transit by Chris Phalen — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:55:12 -0400

With only one hurdle left, the southwest leg of the fabled ring road sits loosely in the hands and hearts of 800 Tsuu T’ina.

The First Nation’s band council signed off on a draft agreement recently, and a referendum set for June 30 will settle it once and for all; fittingly it goes to the Tsuu T’ina people.

Interesting that one of Calgary’s most important transportation projects — of the past, present or future — hinges on the approval of generations of ancestral traders, elders and a culture that doesn’t view land as a means to economic propensity.

I’m thinking the four levels of government needed to make this happen and might actually get this right, and although Chief Sanford Big Plume is apologetic for the delay, he shouldn’t be.

In the past, Calgary has been known to direct much needed infrastructure onto traditional First Nation lands to pad city coffers and appease voters, but Tsuu T’ina has been stout for 60 years ensuring the leverage of land wouldn’t slip.

Big Plume is thinking of his people’s future, a nuance that should be heralded in our more contemporary democratic forum.

Environmental concerns and the sanctity of traditional lands (Big Plume’s mother was born on a portion of the proposed alignment, and the ring road would skirt several burial sites) are of major concern to the Tsuu T’ina membership, and rightfully so.

Opportunity should not be overlooked however, and I think the band understands what the ring road could mean for the community.

“The road will mean more to Tsuu T’ina than just a cash infusion, it has to be built as part of a plan that allows us to develop businesses that will bring careers and hope for generations,” said Big Plume.

But the timing is right, the deal must be sweet and it’s hard to blame the band council for holding the four-kilometre-square parcel of land hostage for so many years.

In true Aboriginal tact, First Nation business has always been done with proper democracy and with generations in mind — time runs differently on the reserve.

With the unique geography of the nation being so close to a major urban centre, the Tsuu T’ina should be looking at this as an empowering business deal and a means to needed cultural and social programs.

You might say the ring road will be a saviour if not a really good friend to the Tsuu T’ina.

– Chris Phalen has contributed to Avenue magazine, the Prince Albert Daily Herald, the Globe and Mail and various magazines; calgaryletters@metronews.ca.

Ring Road, Plan It will go hand in hand

Chris Phalen, for metro canada — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:07:15 -0400

Just when Calgary’s identity is bordering on becoming akin to 100 suburbs in search of a city, along comes the giant perimeter to reel in the far-reaching corporate tentacles of developers — the almost mythical Ring Road.

I will venture to say that no road in the history or future of Calgary’s transportation infrastructure will impact the city as positively as this.

The very existence of this corralling corridor should have core homeowners jumping for joy as real estate will have no where to go but up. And although transit infrastructure is often connected to real estate value, no project can boast such a targeted impact.

“When development is curbed, that generally increases the value of flanking properties because there is only so much land in which they are allowing to be developed,” said Melanie Tennant, Real Estate Investment Network research manager.

A?2007 REIN?report contended Calgary transportation improvements will deliver a 10 to 20 per cent enhancement of property values in regions most affected by projects such as Ring Road.

So, reports of Calgary’s bid to halt green space development announced days after the draft agreement for the southwest leg of the Ring Road gives officials a handy scapegoat to push Transit Oriented Development investments in the wake of any perceived public outcry.

In this case, timing couldn’t be better for backers of Plan It Calgary.

Plan It’s reported capacity to sustain another 2.3 million citizens without viral development, perfectly timed with the last piece of the Ring Road puzzle, puts the writing on the wall.

The storied Ring Road and nurturing Plan It initiative will go hand in hand.

It’s a perfect irony.

– Chris Phalen has contributed to Avenue magazine, the Prince Albert Daily Herald, the Globe and Mail and various magazines; calgaryletters@metronews.ca.

Don’t blame Calgary Transit for missed trains

Chris Phalen, for metro canada — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:54:39 -0400

There is a shared story that could be told a thousand times among regular C-Train users.

It’s the story beginning with train spotting from a block away and a jaywalking mad dash to the LRT platform to catch it.

Usually the inevitability of being a split-second late leaves you arms-up defeated and hopelessly perusing the empty platform, glaring at the operator as he smugly shrugs his shoulders and silently whisks away.

It’s not his fault, however.

And although easy to blame, the operator is unfairly getting eyefuls of bad vibes from fuming riders who are unclear about the technical side of C-Train door operation.

Ron Collins, the communication manager at Calgary Transit, says it shouldn’t even be an issue because the operators have absolutely no control over how long doors stay ajar.

“The doors are activated when the trains stop and are open for 18 seconds, if you’re late, too bad; it is what it is,” says Collins briskly.

But it is so easy to blame public servants, and jaded commuters like Michele Jacobson, who recently voiced her complaint to Transit officials in hopes of retribution, on the C-Train operator’s inability to prolong the 18-second window of potential warmth and comfort.

She was, in her words, “curtly” brushed aside.

“How much more are we being asked to pay to be left behind in the cold, and to be treated with total indifference when we voice our concerns?” asked Jacobson.

Personally, I think this whole split-second late normality is commonly a fleeting frustration for most.

Simply, if you can’t mosey up to the ramp fast enough you’re going to be waiting and operators shouldn’t be made accountable for it.

While frustrating, for sure, there isn’t a light rail transit system in Canada that doesn’t adhere to some sort of schedule or safety issue; and whether a literal one-second or five-minutes late for a train, it’s all the same in the eyes and policies of Calgary Transit.

– Chris Phalen has contributed to Avenue magazine, the Prince Albert Daily Herald, the Globe and Mail and various magazines; calgaryletters@metronews.ca.

Fear of danger greater than danger

Chris Phalen — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:03:46 -0400

Refuge from fear and uneasiness among the majority of transit riders and employees isn’t coming in the wake of reported declining transit crime statistics.

Convincing patrons our transit system is already safe remains a big challenge for Brian Whitelaw, the director of safety and security at Calgary Transit.

With a projected 27 recommendations looming from the Intervistas security audit to be presented to council March 19, and crime reported lower on transit, it seems a balancing act might be needed to sort out the reality.

Aldermen should stop reacting to public fear and forget about handing over transit jurisdiction to the police, which would be a complete waste of time, money and resources.

Peace officers are sufficiently trained and equipped to handle the majority of trouble occurring in the transit system.

We shouldn’t create problems that don’t exist and we should trust transit security that, even without an external audit, has been working proactively for our comfort.

Chances of victimization are already low, but riders’ senses of personal safety can be overcome with a concept called a “reassurance gap,” which is false conceptualization between the real safety conditions and the perceived safety conditions, according to Whitelaw.

And although completely justified, what we might deem unsafe on transit doesn’t necessarily mean we are vulnerable.

“Our focus is to remove the visual signs of anti-social behaviours on the entire transit system,” White-law said.

And new peace officer deployment tactics like more visible nighttime platform patrols and more presence at bus malls and stops will help ease the less tolerant customer when sketchy characters invade transit space.

I believe Calgary Transit is a safe system, and I believe the implementation of security audit recommendations will make it even safer.

Bridging the gap in pedestrian transit

Chris Phalen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:43:55 -0400

If high-end design can uplift Calgary’s spectre of architecture, and include measures of transit infrastructure, I am all for it, especially the Santiago Calatarva-commissioned foot bridges to gap the Bow.

You’ve got to love Coun. Druh Farell, stout and pushing the perceptibly gaudy investment of $25 million to bring these bridges to fruition, even in the midst of a global recession.

But architects agree that thoughtful urban design can improve quality of life, a sure investment with greater returns than the most-obvious functions of design.

It’s about the poetics of space, or in this case, the meaning and effects of what a pedestrian bridge represents.

“The bridge is one of the most potent structures man creates,” said David Fortin, a local architect now teaching architectural design and history at Montana State University.

“The connection between two things has not just structural implications, but philosophical and poetic ones as well.”

Fortin explained pedestrian bridges “stitch the fragments of our cities together in a unique way, by heightening our experience of what it means to ‘connect.’”

And while less visionary citizens and leaders will forever be linked more to their bottom lines, philosophies of cost reduction and a focus on simple function, I suspect it’s just as important to recognize wealth in daily relationships with our community, including structures.

Bringing in a globally renowned architect like Calatrava to design the bridges also sends the right message to the greater Calgary public.

With this investment, council is saying, “we care about Calgary’s image as a major international city, and we are ready to move away from the primarily banal personality lingering amidst the urban landscape.”

“A couple of fresh and visually compelling additions along the Bow do make sense for the city by contributing to its evolving global identity,” said Fortin.

When you think of the greatest cities in the world it is no accident that some are identified by their bridges, but Calgary’s proposed pedestrian bridges signify an “urban maturity” and desire to exist in a well-designed city.

A sign perhaps that people like it here and, despite the get-rich-quick, get-out-of-town attitude prevalent in our city, people want to stay.

HOV lanes offer attractive incentives

Chris Phalen — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:04:58 -0400

I remember my first experience with a high occupancy vehicle lane during a road trip through Vancouver on my way to Horseshoe Bay.

Being from a small prairie setting, where the metropolis concept of traffic itself is an anomaly, I was left scratching my head as I whisked past the jam-packed motorists from the HOV lane discreetly taunting their hungry idling vehicles I’m sure.

I probably even infuriated a few motorists with my gaping smile while I zipped past, but the exuberance of unhindered travel from Metro Vancouver to the Sea-to-Sky Highway during rush hour was absolutely sacrosanct.

Yes, I just likened wide-open travel in rush hour to a spiritual experience.

The city is moving on a plan to go to council this June for a system of high occupancy lanes to bait drivers into carpooling and riding transit.

And while those choosing to ride solo might moan and groan over sitting idly peering into a wide open lane to the left, they should remember this is the point of the HOV lane, and a cost-effective measure for council to use in its quest to make Calgary more pedestrian, and cut back major road projects.

The city wants people to salivate at the sight of flowing traffic and empty lanes, they want motorists to experience the inertia and potential, and in effect prompt them to conjure passengers and let their vehicles stretch their legs.

Carpooling suddenly becomes more attractive, riding a bus becomes a reward, and cars dissipate.

For every three individuals who commute by auto each day, the right to use an HOV lane takes two cars off the road.

This is a good and thoughtful initiative but the best case scenario will only be attained by a shift in transportation consciousness.

For instance, according to 2006 transportation study completed by the City of Calgary, 140,000 vehicles pass Glenmore Trail S.W. and 14 Street. S.W. daily. If we assume every car is occupied by one person and applied the HOV rule of three to each car, we could potentially eliminate 93,333 cars in that area daily. A nice incentive indeed, but can it work in Calgary where failing past infrastructure plans have gridlocked most major causeways during rush hour? It is a wait-and-see scenario, and Calgary is at a tipping point when it comes to traffic.

If HOV lanes are positioned smartly, it could aid in free and blissful passage for accountable drivers.

Anti-idling bylaw comes down to moral fibre

Chris Phalen — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:40:45 -0400

I’m not against a law prohibiting carbon from swallowing up our skyline, and the moral aptitude for inciting such responsible behaviour is inarguable, but an anti-idling bylaw begins and ends with people becoming more informed and personally more accountable.

I’ll be honest; I was pretty ho-hum about the mass effects of exhaust wafting into the atmosphere and into our lungs until I became a father.

It really is about the kids, but our collective air consumption should be held to a higher standard.

In fact, I agree with theories claiming if we want to cut emissions, air or the atmosphere should be commoditized, boxed up, bought and sold like other valuable resources.

This way, vested individuals or companies would protect their marketable and profitable resource.

It isn’t really that far-fetched when you consider the relatively new and huge bottled-water market.

But until capitalism sinks its far-reaching fangs into the potential oxygen sector, pundits at councils nationwide will be squandering and dilly-dallying to come up with the best way to meet federal, provincial and municipal pressures to cut back carbon emissions.

I think council should focus on education, work to improve congested traffic conditions, and fund more specialized initiatives targeting clean-air aspirations.

Linsay Luhnau, co-ordinator of environmental education at the Clean Calgary Association (CCA), thinks a bylaw would at least give citizens recourse if others don’t heed educational campaigns.

“You can engage in all the education you want, but if I am at home and my neighbour gets up every morning at 6 a.m., idles their vehicle for an hour before they get into it, all the education in the world won’t give me any recourse for it,” she said.

Simply, it comes down to moral fibre and a desire to act on foresight for generations, meaning clean air should be a right for everyone.

CCA is launching an anti-idling campaign on March 17, aptly labelling it “Go Green for St. Patrick’s Day” in an attempt to contrast the finger-wagging, fear-mongering methods of deterrents employed by the City of Calgary.

“We are using a community-based, social marketing avenue, by encouraging people to join us in positive idle-free behaviour,” said Luhnau.

To change our physical environments, and begin to cut through the induced smog clinging to our horizons, we must change the environment of our minds by recognizing that danger can exist without the fangs and claws.

Crisis fuels applications for school bus drivers

Chris Phalen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:21:35 -0400

My wife and I got home from a Tuesday evening grocery extravaganza to be met in our ridiculously slow condo elevator by a woman wearing a Southland Transportation fleece.

I recognized the logo and considering my weekly endeavour with Metro, more specifically this column, I naturally engaged her in some small talk.

I made a simple statement about ongoing staffing issues and asked if the current economic collapse might bring in more would-be job seekers.

Her answer was to the point, as she wishfully responded, “Well, we’re hoping.”

A quick call to Southland head office, and a revealing conversation with June Read, the assistant manager in customer service, confirmed that indeed more people were applying due to “circumstantial life events” related to the economic downturn.

Good for Southland, good for Calgary kids.

Southland has been often swarmed in the past by news-hungry journalists bounding to report how horrible the school bus system is in Calgary, but I think the drivers and company responsible for the well-being of our kids in transit deserve a bit more credit.

We always hear stories of kids waiting hours for the bus in -40 C temperatures, or buses not showing up at all, and these issues, rightfully so, are deserving of criticism, but are addressed best as can be, considering supply will never meet demand.

We never hear about the veteran bus driver with 15 to 20 years behind the wheel who has devoted his life to the safety of children simply for the love of his job and the sacrifice of full-time employment.

There isn’t a job that connects you more directly to the community than being a school bus driver, according to Read.

But, offering only part-time work, split shift hours, and Calgary Transit itself who poaches Class 1 drivers away from private busing companies (after those same companies have trained new drivers for free) with the nuances of full-time employment, bubbling benefit plans and pensions, has transport companies like Southland forever scrambling. Read says Southland loses 25 per cent of its staff every year, and it struggles to keep up with a city constantly on the rise.

The school boards have been gracious in their attempts to attain new and retain existing drivers by amending contracts to inflate driver wages specifically, but school bus transportation will forever be a feeder system to municipal transportation services and mired in labels of part-time only.

Stop overreacting to transit ticket jump

Chris Phalen — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:14:17 -0400

Recent published comments about the increase in transit driver traffic violations would have the public believing our bus drivers are unkempt speeding huns barreling down the causeways of Calgary with blatant disregard for human life.

A call for concern over public safety by Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart is completely unfounded considering simple math puts approximately .12 tickets per driver per year on the entire transit crew.

And for the amount of total hours logged (2.31 million in 2008) by the entire transit fleet, which is more than 1,000 vehicles, we should be commending our bus captains who are battling poor infrastructure, out-of-reach schedule times, and the same snarling traffic we all face in Calgary.

Just because a professional driver clocks over the limit doesn’t mean public safety is in question, it means he got caught in the same revenue generation traffic units web of entrapment we all do.

From my own personal coil of transit experience which has me on numerous routes regularly, I can say emphatically that I have never felt unsafe on the bus or C-train due to speed.

Plus, I’d rather have a driver bust a red-light than stop short in rush hour and cause the jam-packed bus patrons to violently crash into one another like dominoes.

I am not advocating for operators to be granted a self-regulating traffic-god licence, and neither are Calgary Transit officials.

Ron Collins, the communications manager at Calgary Transit, says staff takes any kind of traffic summons seriously and all are handled and investigated, with multiple offenders facing disciplinary actions.

But, even a glance at the numbers doesn’t call for any kind of safety concern.

When I read the report, my first reaction was, “So what?”

I mean, a 40 ticket jump from 2007 isn’t a reason to rake transit operators over the coals.

The increase is more indicative of a naturally growing transit fleet, more drivers, and more hours on the road.

Dr. Richard Tay, of the Schulich School of Engineering, and chair of the Alberta Motor Association and Centre for Transportation Engineering and Planning of road safety, says he takes Calgary transit everyday and he has never felt unsafe on a trip.

The transit public should put its personal safety stock in the opinions of those who use buses regularly, not fearmongers who speak without mulling comprehensive data to win a few votes.
Council should focus on improving transit efficiency instead.

West LRT missing major employment centres

Chris Phalen — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:09:29 -0400

Council’s judgment to exclude Mount Royal College on the West LRT line is the kind of gaffe we’ve come to expect from our heralded leaders.

The approved alignment, which routed the train west on 17th Ave., and in doing so failed to pick up major employment centres like MRC, ATCO and Westmount Corporate Campus Centre in the Lincoln Park-Garrison Green communities, was completed with rapid disregard.

Naheed Nenshi, spokesperson for the Better Calgary Campaign, argues council needs to recognize transit should not serve the network, but that the network needs to serve where people want or need to go.

“There was very shoddy analysis done to justify the final alignment and it was done with enormous speed,” said Nenshi.

Nenshi said the city is leading the public to believe more people work west of Sarcee Trail than in the Lincoln Park area.

City planners have argued that compromising the LRT service to downtown by altering the route to include MRC would be counter-productive, as it would decrease downtown ridership potential, which the planners project will be far higher than the potential ridership from Mount Royal College.

But council’s insensitivity to taxpayers who don’t work in the downtown core is represented by existing and proposed transit infrastructure.

On a busy day, MRC hosts 18,000 people from the four quadrants of Calgary, and commuters go there at all times of the day — not just peak hours.

The point is, universities and colleges are major employment hubs, symbols of a community’s cultural entrenchment and should be prioritized on the chain of transit expansion.

Calgary Transit plans to add more Bus Rapid Transit routes to MRC and could integrate those routes immediately, but mysteriously dilly-dally on such a simple initiative.

While the West LRT, a grand-scale project, was approved with such enormous speed and incomprehensible analysis the whole scheme loses credibility in comparison.

Granted, the cost of routing the LRT to Mount Royal is greater and the logistics are more complicated, but if the city can spend $150,000 million to extend the tracks a couple of kilometres in the northwest to pick-up two low-density neighbourhoods such as Tuscany and Rocky Ridge, council could surely splurge for an established institution.

The 17th Ave. alignment goes against the city’s vow to attempt to reel in rapid sprawl, and routing it west means the rail will be chasing developments and not the other way around.

Time to change your transit sensibilities

Chris Phalen — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:15:30 -0400

It’s hard to discount the looming sterility of the suburbs.

Double garage doors face the streets emoting barrenness, and the squalid collective demeanour of the stereotypical urbanite complements the design malfunction, which is easily measured by an obvious lack of civic availability.

Auto dependence is the palpable thorn in the side of Calgary’s path to a more pedestrian, low-stress community of transit bliss.

The simple act of driving cuts off our access to daily human interaction and, sadly, in road horny, sprawl-savvy Calgary, we float from capsule to capsule without the reciprocals of social engagement.

Urbanites go from garage to car, to underground parking, to elevator, to office, without the simplest nod or gesture, without a notion of camaraderie, or even the opportunity to embrace a daily moment of greeting.

The suburban child meets adolescence without the rights of passage they deserve because their independence gets stalled by the walls of the suburban community blueprint.

Instead, kids rely on mom, dad and the trusty automobile for their transit needs.

We are literally living a box existence encapsulated and compounded by our perceptions or misconceptions of the car.

It got me thinking — if people could change their transit sensibilities and decry the overvalued and misconstrued convenience of driving, even if only once and a while, we could become pioneers of a Calgary cultural shift by simply acting on different transportation choices.

Perhaps commuters could replace old transportation habits and routines with a dose of social intrigue and a desire to break the monotony of suburban living while using public transit as a weapon to battle a lifestyle watered down by access inefficiencies.

For instance, think of how many embryonic conversations battle inertia every day on the transit commute.

But Calgary Transit served more than 90 million patrons last year, and you’d have to think it only human to desire some form of social embrace.

Transit routes also offer new scenery, and a jaunt through untried neighbourhoods, which in turn offers a refreshing perspective from daily familiarity.

Let’s recognize the serendipitous exchanges waiting to happen on public transit, the synchronicity of changing the pattern and embracing fellow commuters rather than battling the boredom that so easily wraps us up in routine.

Pre-pay leaves us fumbling at pumps

Chris Phalen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:18:56 -0400

It’s high time service stations moniker their businesses more appropriately, because they don’t offer much service any more.

Pay at the pump (a term conveying convenience and haste) was to be a certain boon to motorists, the new creed of gas station security nationwide. But it’s been a lot of grand delusion.

The pre-pay gas system became law in British Columbia last February after a 22-year-old gas attendant was killed in March 2005 trying to stop a $12 gas and dash in Maple Ridge, making pre-payment mandatory at every gas station in the province.

Now consumers are paying for the actions of a few hoodlums, and gas jockeys are taking jobs with self-preservation paramount.

Granted, many factors contribute to consumer angst, but this self check-out model of disguising work, with labels of convenience, is anything but friendly.

It’s as if the franchises privileged to sell a commodity without the risk of consumer-need waning are saying: “Sure you can have some gas, but, we’ll have to put it on lay-away for a couple minutes, just to make sure you’re not a thief. Oh, and by the way, on top of paying in advance for our product, you’ll have to do our work.”

While it isn’t mandatory in Alberta for gas stations to pull the plug on the honour system, many managers/owners feel it is only a matter of time before pay-at-the pump becomes the model to follow, and most are equipped and operating pay-at–the-pump and pre-pay technologies already.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has not expressed immediate plans to implement a similar law, and said government will be looking at the B.C. law very closely.

But here is the majority vantage of the consumer public wrapped up for you Eddie:

The hassle of this unneeded task is wrought with bothersome intricacies exploited by fuel pimps who know sales will never waver. Consequentially, we are left fumbling around at the pumps trying to make wind of the muffled voice transmitting from the cozy cashier trying to guide us in the complications of a transaction so embedded in our daily cultures my seven-year-old used to be able to do it.

Now consumers are left to navigate technological nuances at the pump and endure the pre-pay cash or debit guesswork accompanied by transactions that go back and forth until the right price is met.

But no price is worth measures of inconvenience, especially a price spawned by the terror of thuggery.

Spreading the wealth at parking lots

Chris Phalen — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:48:42 -0400

I happened upon a transient man in an Impark lot downtown after a quick romp up the Calgary Tower with my visiting family about a spring ago.

He scuttled up to me, discreetly tapped my shoulder, and politely asked if I would hand over my parking voucher. There was about one hour’s worth of time credit remaining.

I was impressed with his capitalist scheme — albeit a grey area as a prosecutable offence — and was happy to oblige, knowing the second sale of my receipt would go to this bohemian entrepreneur and not back to the self-proclaimed civil servants at Impark who unendingly pillage the pockets of Calgary motorists destined for the core.

This fellow wasn’t the run-of-the-mill crackerjack loiterer. He was personable, seemingly meeting a low-needs lifestyle in his rat-a-tat getup as the numerous pre-used parking receipts tucked into the palms of his tattered fingerless gloves could attest.

But his method got me thinking.

Why don’t citizens share the cost of parking?

How many unmilked parking receipts shamelessly slip into the abyss of our car vents without the privilege of running their course?

And, how much extra money are the parking-service corporate elite pulling by doubling up on the short-stay parker?

Granted parking companies offer a myriad of payment options these days, but patrons more often than not overpay just to keep the looming trigger-happy meter-man at bay.

Impark, for instance, incorporates technologies like wireless-cellphone payment options to rein in loitering and reselling stubs, as well as man patrol and other security measures.

The Calgary Parking Authority ties a single transaction to a licence plate rendering any receipt gifting futile.

It would be fitting though, in the spirit of the parking patron community to minimize effects of cut-throat capitalism, especially sharing the cost of an annoying expense such as parking.
Call it consumer-to-consumer goodwill.

In retrospect, ownership of your parking time and receipt begins when the coins drop; you should be free to use that product any way desirable.

But, this basic principle of consumerism is hindered by the concept of borrowed time being supplanted by bureaucratic hum-chuckers who keep finding ways of suppressing the Good Samaritan.

If only the pundits of the parking lots could help Calgary commuters dump some unprovoked kindness in the coffers of community, we might not only spread some miniscule wealth, but a few smiles as well.

Take the time, spend the money, use a scraper

Chris Phalen — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:44:00 -0400

I was on my way to work after Calgary’s first of many unpredictable torrid dumps of frosty glory last Monday and had a moment of nostalgia in the conversely predictable traffic jam jarring 9th Avenue around 8:15 a.m.

I pulled up to a red light, goose-necked left, leaned forward and saw a man in a Honda Civic frantically scraping the inside of his windshield, causing a small scale rime-storm inside his car; a consequential effect of not having the time to warm up his car, no doubt.

He would hunker down and dodge around like he was avoiding punches in an attempt get the best view possible. He seemed content with his visibility and continued to negotiate rush hour traffic using his four-by-four-inch windshield clearance.

I had to giggle. I have a friend who drove a 1966 Chevrolet Impala in high school, and I remember cruising around in the dead of Saskatchewan winter after winter, watching and helping him perpetually scrape the inside of his windshield with the approved tool of choice — the container of a cassette tape.

Yes, a cassette tape: Archaic and apparently diverse.

Granted, a ’66 Impala isn’t as equipped with today’s auto efficiencies, but after the wistfulness of observing this mad scraper wore off, I couldn’t help but think of the imposed danger — especially in Calgary.

Not to beget any philosophical undertones and please excuse what may seem like reaching, but failure to properly clear your window, or wait for your car to warm up, could be a significant comment on the rat race culture of Cowtown.

Or, to skip the profundity, maybe it was just pure laziness.

But it is worth asking: Is our deadline-oriented culture of time equals money worth battling it out on the Deerfoot with a dinner-plate sized view of the barrelling traffic and perpetual spraying of slush and snow barraging your car?

There is a charging section for driving a motor vehicle while unsafe due to obscured view through windshield/windows. In 2008 to date, there have been 165 tickets issued according to city police records. So, while not a big chunk of the traffic section’s total summonses issued, it is used but probably not enough.

But this responsibility of simple winter safety falls on us, the citizen driver.
Spend three bucks on a scraper and use it.

Fewer roads means better quality of life

Chris Phalen — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:00:31 -0400

It is easy to analogize traffic as fluid, assuming a certain volume flows through a road system, but urban traffic, such as Calgary traffic, is more comparable to a gas that expands to fill a space.

It’s simple. More roads breed more drivers. Transport economists call it induced traffic.

This concept follows the adage supply and demand theory indicating investments in roads (increased supply) always results in higher quantity (more cars on the road).

Road building to ease traffic flows has long been Calgary’s Achilles heel, but rapid outward growth and economic upturns in the last 20 years have forced the hands of the pundits.
We seem to build or improve and even want more roads.

But if Calgary is to break into the class of world class, taxpaying delegates like you, me, and even city council need to practise prudence, exercise some vision and let the experts chime in.
Professor of strategy and global management Jim Dewald says to build a city founded on roads is to turn your back on quality of life, fiscal responsibility and environmental sustainability.

“It (investing in roads) is wasteful and harmful, and it is time for our city council to lead on this issue for the long-term benefit of all Calgarians,” said Dewald.
It seems the city is on board.

The Department of Transportation is prioritizing a more pedestrian-friendly, customer-focused transit system, with more bike facilities and more compact communities making better use of existing transit infrastructure, according to director of transportation Don Mulligan.

“The city plans to invest in transit that supports transit-oriented development,” said Mulligan.
“But it will take some patience and vision on the part of all Calgarians to see these plans through.”

A $3.9-billion capital expenditure projection over the next 10 years outlined in the transportation infrastructure investment plan estimates $204 million will be spent on major road projects in 2009 and only $18 million in 2018.

With walking, cycling and public transit at the top of the transportation hierarchy, Calgary is moving towards a less congested future.

Citizens hankering for an extra lane here or an overpass there need to look a generation ahead, and trust the policies of trained planners now.

Calgary’s budding culture depends on it.

City council needs the moxie to stop falling back on short-term transportation solutions to appease voters, and put their city on the pedestal it deserves.

Transit dollars make sense for a traffic-snarled Calgary

Chris Phalen — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:03:33 -0400

It’s economics.

When the city decided to halt subsidizing drivers at park-and-ride lots by imposing a daily $3 user fee, it may have encouraged more people to hop a bus.

While successfully adding revenues of $6 million annually for increased security, cleaner facilities and general maintenance — city hall and Calgary Transit gave the transit public exactly what it wanted.

According to Dr. David W.D. Walls, a transportation economist at the University of Calgary, pricing parking competitively downtown and subsidizing it at other locations probably makes public transit look more successful than is really the case.

But considering the LRT system needs to remain progressive, the park-and-ride user fee has arrived in due time.

The far-reaching economic functions of the fee will undoubtedly have an effect on all commuters, who will now be forced to ponder the full cost of their decisions.

Considering the vast majority of park-and-ride users are destined for downtown, and only make up 10 per cent of the entire transit ridership, it would be difficult to conclude that any perceptible gains in traffic will occur even with the fee in place.

Walls said the imposed fee would have to be much higher.

Six million dollars a year won’t create miracles, but at least more dedicated and visible security detail in and around the LRT should make patrons more comfortable using transit.

The high price of parking downtown is far more complicated than the obvious fiscal ramifications. Where space is a premium, less traffic is better.

Revenues for an underdog transit system battling rapid growth should not be used to subsidize those choosing to contribute to our traffic dilemmas.

Infrastructure strains are already snarling traffic unnecessarily, and the user fee, although a drop in the bucket, sends the right message.

Urban sprawl a unique monster

Chris Phalen — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:17:34 -0400

Communities brooded by the concept of rapid leapfrog development are waiting longer for emergency services in deep suburbia, and an amended budget set to bolster front-line services won’t help.

The “blowback” of urban sprawl in Calgary revealed another unintended consequence of rapid growth when recent reports said emergency response times are up across the board.

We are outgrowing our services, no question about it.

While Calgarians deal daily with poor urban planning, the city seemingly put safety on the shelf as emergency teams are left chasing the dangling carrot, battling an infrastructure supply that is being squashed by demand.

Lack of stations, longer distance and traffic congestion are only a few of the obstacles facing emergency service teams.

EMS target responses are at eight minutes for life-threatening calls, but are only meeting that target about 75 per cent of the time. Fire Chief Bruce Burrell says 22 additional fire stations are needed over the next 10 years to accommodate ballooning population and sprawl, but the current budget has only room for four.

Dr. Bev Sandalack, professor and director of the urban lab at the faculty of environmental design at U of C, says arguments backing compact developments and denser communities would ease the access to citizens in crisis.

“Emergency vehicles likely have the same problem in finding the right drive, crescent, close, way, circle, loop, grove, rise — all with the same name,” she points out.

Most experts come to the same fledgling conclusions that patterns of growth need to be systematic throughout in order to improve the fiscal, social and environmental run-offs of urban sprawl.
We can only hope city hall is listening.

As it stands, the city, and not the developer, holds most of the responsibility for constructing stations within acceptable time frames and proximities of new communities, but the mark is being missed.

Brave homeowners settling deep in suburbia need to be told the straight goods — it might be 10 to 20 years before adequate infrastructure is in place.

Perhaps contract revisions between city and developer should bestow more responsibility on the developer to construct fire and police stations and EMS outposts rather than merely pencil in the space.

Urban sprawl is a complicated monster, and shouldn’t be confused with growth.

City officials need to slow down and think things through.