Calgary Transit extending CTrain bike pilot

Calgary Transit is extending its pilot allowing bikes on CTrains during rush hour, through to Dec. 31, 2023.

The pilot is intended to help Calgary Transit see the impact of allowing bikes on CTrains at all hours of operation, instead of only non-peak times.

“Calgarians have told us that they value having options for how they get around the city, including how they access transit,” says Chris Jordan, manager of Transit Service Design. “We want to see if lifting the time restrictions for bikes on CTrains can provide more options, without negatively impacting other customers or the operations of our CTrains.”

The pilot began in May 2022 and was originally scheduled to end on March 31, 2023. Calgary Transit has seen a faster than expected return to pre-pandemic levels of CTrain ridership so far in 2023, and extending the pilot will provide better insights into impacts to customers and service under more typical ridership numbers.

“We want to be sure that we have solid and complete feedback about how bikes affect transit customers and operations, at all times, before we make a final decision,” Jordan says.

Calgary Transit is working on several additional initiatives to help integrate bikes with transit use, including installing bike racks on all buses and community shuttles by the end of 2023, and introducing a mobile practice bike rack for customers to learn how to use bike racks on buses.

Calgary Transit will continue to gather feedback from customers and staff throughout the pilot and provide an update and decision in early 2024. Input can be provided here.