The wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round a lot more of the city than they used to.
Calgary Transit has added five new bus routes, and begun direct Northeast to Northwest C-train service to make transportation to the university and Foothills hospital easier for staff and students.
“They will be shuttle routes,” said CT Acting Superintendent of Services, Planning and Marketing Fred Wong. “These changes came out of a concerted service plan with the University of Calgary. They gave us access to student postal codes and we realized that there was a large market in the Northeast. We are attempting to improve that cross-town service.”
Of particular interest to students are routes 450 (MacEwan Hall to Foothills Hospital), 452 (U of C
to Westbrook Mall) and the direct C-train route.
“What we’ve done is meet with stakeholders of the community and university to look at revamping some of the current bus routes and increasing C-train services,” said Students’ Union Vice-president External Nassr Awada. “They’ve increased service from the university to Foothills. There’s also an increase from the Southwest to the university, but the biggest one is the direct service from Whitehorn to Brentwood station.”
Currently, C-train users traveling from Northeast Calgary must change trains downtown. The direct service is expected to save travelers as much as 20 minutes by cutting this transfer. There will be two direct trains in the morning and two in the afternoon.
“I think it’s great,” said third-year Communications student Kelley Smith. “I have been having to change trains for two years now. A direct service would be so much easier.”
Three of the bus routes, route 450 (MacEwan Hall to Foothills Hospital), 451 (Brentwood Station to Foothills Hospital) and 91 (Foothills hospital), are expected to make commuting in the Northwest run smoother, and increase access between the university area and Foothills hospital.
“The new shuttle service is intended to serve medical, nursing and biosciences traffic between the hospital and the university,” said Wong. “The 451 will run every 30 minutes between 6 a.m. and midnight and the 450 will run every 30 minutes between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.”
The service changes are the result of a year of meetings between Calgary Transit, the SU, the U of C, Foothills hospital and other community members. The SU sees this as just one example of how the university and the community can work together for change.
“In the broader picture, the more cooperation and interaction university students have with the community, the more we work together, the more the community will value the place of students,” said SU President Rob South. “I would like to thank all the stakeholders for their cooperation which made this project possible.”
Most of the new services are scheduled to begin operation Aug. 30, 1999. Route 452 (University to Westbrook Mall) will not begin operation until Jan. 3, 2000 and will run every 30 minutes during peak operating hours, and every 50 minutes in mid-day.
For more information, call Calgary Transit at 2621000.