If you're a regular user of the bus or Ctrain in the city, you may have noticed the Calgary Transit fall services changes that took effect on Tuesday. There are now reductions in many bus routes and C-train routes in the city causing longer wait times at bus stops and delays for commuters. These changes were decided after the City Council made $60 million budget cuts and reduced funding for services such as Calgary Transit. Quarterly every year Calgary Transit reviews their service to make appropriate adjustments where needed, this year their task was to adjust to their new reduced budget. "This year, we were asked to find savings in our budget for the remainder of 2019, so our review of routes and schedules included identifying ways that we could save while taking least-harm approach to our service levels," the website states. Wait times for the C-train's Blue line and Red line have been extended throughout the day and on weekends from 10 minutes to 15 a miniute wait. The busses in the city have also seen longer wait times between services throughout the day and some routes stop service altogether after 10 p.m. Calgarians have taken to Twitter with their unhappy responses over the new transit schedule for the remainder of this year. Why is Calgary transit so fucking bad? Between the bus routes in the early summer and the train routes this week you have effectively made my commute unbearably long. Thanks for nothing you assholes— Sebastian (@Royal_Conquest) September 6, 2019 How do you justify increasing fare consistently yet reducing service frequencies?? Whether it be the bus or the train. What am I paying for? The shit app that hardly works? @calgarytransit— Whiskey (@C0ldEnigma) September 6, 2019 Hey so.....Fuck @cityofcalgary for cutting their budget for @calgarytransit— Complete gay disaster (@DustinFarron) September 6, 2019 So, because of the fantastic schedule of Calgary transit, I ended up being 20min late.— Malkavian Libra (@DaddyDafoesDick) September 6, 2019 Some chose a more passive-aggressive approach dripping with heavy sarcasm to express their concerns with the transit service. My favourite part of Calgary transit is that this is the fifth time this week my bus has simply not shown up— Emily von FireEmblem (@1wholeperson) September 5, 2019 There was even some interesting graffiti that was captured by someone at a C-train Red line stop stating the funding for Calgary Transit only comes from tax payers and not government funding. Graffiti Calgary transit Red Line(Tuscany train) pic.twitter.com/D4fZJy08yO— Syeda (@farinasyeda) September 3, 2019 There have been tweets about crowding on transit stops, busses, and C-trains alike. Since the routes have been reduced more people are having to wait at stops. This is everyday's Scene for Route145 at Saddletowne.I dont understand how @calgarytransit is managing it. I had to wait for another 25 mins after waiting for 15 mins for this bus. @nenshi how you will attract more people to @cityofcalgary ? pic.twitter.com/khqShcZtLq— Gurchetan Singh Brar (@IGURCHETANBRAR) September 6, 2019 @calgarytransit literally a mob rush for the bus every single day. No room on the bus every single day. There's an entire bus load of people left over. Every single day. I thought you'd be more prepared for this after four years of reporting to you....... pic.twitter.com/0PQtb9Nte6— Jess (@JessicaGenius) September 5, 2019 For the fucking love of god @calgarytransit can you do something about the 145 route. We need more goddamn buses on this route!! What do I have to do, who do I have to talk to. Do I have to go to Nenshi's personal office to talk to him about the absolute lack of service?— Jess (@JessicaGenius) September 5, 2019 According to the CBC, Mayor Naheed Nenshi is concerned about the future of transit as more budget and service cuts could be coming with the provincial government's fall budget. "If you cut transit too much, people are just going to stop using it and then you get into a death spiral," said Nenshi. The mayor said the City Council will need to have more discussions about the future of public transportation in Calgary as the provincial budget will be released in a few weeks. There are stories everywhere. If you spot a newsworthy event in your city, send us a message, photo, or video @NarcityCanada on Twitter and Instagram.
