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ucalgarywelcomecentre-blog · 7 years ago

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Using Calgary Transit

As a New to Calgary student, Calgary Transit can feel overly complicated and hard to navigate. With help from the information below we are hoping to make your transit trips as smooth as possible!

PAYING FOR TICKETS:

· UPass; Included in your student fees, if you are a full time student, is a UPass. The UPass is a small shiny sticker that goes straight onto your UCID and can be used through the semester as an unlimited transit access pass. Whether this be the buses or the trains, the UPass is an essential tool for the Ucalgary student, and you can grab your UPass in the Mackimmie Block Tower.

· Transit Pass; If you are not a full time student, or you are looking for a way for your family members to travel on Calgary Transit, you can purchase them a Calgary Transit Pass. Passes come in two forms; Day Passes and Monthly Passes. Much like the UPass, Transit Passes offer you unlimited access to buses and trains for the time allotted. The prices for both are linked below. You can pick up Transit Passes at most gas stations, grocery stores and also at city hall downtown.

· Single Fare; You can pay for your fares either on the bus (You must do so with exact change; the cost for a bus ride is $3.30), or on a train platform ticket machine – which can be found at any LRT station. The ticket machines take cash, credit or debit. Each individual fare is valid for 90 minutes from purchase, however you must ask your bus driver for a transfer in able to prove that you purchased your fare.

· Ticket Booklets; The final option for purchasing bus fare is to buy a 10 pack of transit tickets. This booklet comes with 10 prepaid fares and will cost you $33. Ou can purchses these ticket booklets anywhere Transit Passes are sold – Including the Stör in McEwan Student Centre

https://www.calgarytransit.com/fares-passes

CATCHING THE BUS:

· At each bus stop you will notice two things; the numbers of the buses that will stop at this location and a four digit stop number at the bottom of the sign. These numbers will help you find out how long your bus will be.

Text the number 740-00 with the four digit stop code followed by your bus number. You will soon get a follow up text letting you know when your bus will be arriving. Here is an example. I wanted to find out when the #65 bus would be arriving at stop 9042.

The LRT (also known as the CTrain) is broken up into two lines, the red line and the blue line. While you do need to pay to use the train, the small green space here on the map is the “Free Fare Zone”, meaning that if you stay between Downtown West/ Kirby station and City Hall station you are not required to pay fare

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davidmcclean · 8 years ago

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RVing in BC - tips and hints.

If you are contemplating a similar type of journey, here are a few thoughts and tips I have picked up on the way;

THE RV

The one we chose was big. Our thinking was that it had to cope with four for the first week, and Ann and I wanted an island bed so we didn’t have to crawl over each other for a loo visit during the night. That left two single overcab beds for Andrew and Rhys. Rhys was fine, but I don’t think Andrew was too comfortable. The overcab beds are best left for kids.

The RV had a slideout which moved the dinette seats and table out by 2 feet or so and created a load more space inside. This was most welcome when four were aboard. However, for two the van was a bit bigger than necessary.

These beasts have huge V10 petrol engines, which makes them superb long distance chuggers. The consequence is having a $150 fuel bill every refill. Canadians pay the same in dollars as we pay in Pounds which means at current exchange rates fuel is about one third cheaper. As you would imagine, all RV’s have an automatic gearbox, but no handbrake – so keep your foot on the brake at traffic lights or you will creep forward. There is a foot brake instead of a hand brake but it is awkward to use.

Our RV had both cab and habitation air conditioning, and both were necessary and welcome. All windows and doors had insect screens and night curtains. There were adequate mains sockets, 12v and USB outlets, but not always logically placed. Most rental companies will disable the awning (too many return damaged, apparently) and the on board generator (although CanaDream say you can use theirs, but have to pay $75 as soon as you fire it up). There is no need for either in any case.

You see rental RV’s everywhere. The big players are Cruise Canada, CanaDream and Fraserway, who all have depots in Vancouver. It is also possible to do a one way trip, say from Calgary to Vancouver, but it costs a bit more. It is worth remembering that no rental firm will allow you to drive off on arrival – you must spend at least one night in a hotel to get over jetlag. If you choose one of their recommended hotels near the airport CanaDream will collect you in the morning (you can book the hotel through CanaDream, but it will be cheaper to do it yourself either direct or through Booking.Com). We used the Sandman Signature as Andrew had a free voucher for it, but there are cheaper ones available. Note that breakfast will not usually be included in the price.

THE SITES

All the sites I chose had 50amp mains and water supply. There were some pitches that only had 30amp supply, but avoid these as it is not powerful enough to run the air conditioner. Most sites also had sewage disposal in situ, but if not usually had a disposal point by the exit. Servicing the RV with water input, and grey (sink, shower) water and black (toilet) water outlet is simple.

We paid anywhere between $36 and $50 per night on a full hookup site.

WiFi can be problematical. All sites (apart from the Parks Canada sites in Banff) offer WiFi, but few are powerful enough to be picked up from the RV. You will have to walk up to the office but even then we often found the service oversubscribed and painfully slow. Andrew got us a local data SIM which we loaded into my phone for emergency use, but overall communications in Canada is expensive – the SIM only gave 3GB of data for the same price that would get 10GB or more in UK.

Al l the sites had basic but clean shower and toilet facilities. Some had coin operated showers, and some also had laundry machines. Just bring enough clothes for a week and you’ll be OK.

There was a bench table at each pitch on all the sites we used, but these are not particularly comfortable for lounging. Andrew brought some folding canvas “director style” chairs, but you can buy them quite cheaply in any Canadian Tire chain store (think B&Q but bigger and better). Some sites also provided fire pits and supplied wood for it, but with the campfire ban in place at time of writing these couldn’t be used.

Because of the ban (which even includes charcoal BBQ’s – in fact anything that could give off embers) we bought a small unit powered by a small disposable screw on gas cylinder and found it more than adequate. It is possible to connect to the RV’s own gas tank, but the cost of the extension hose and special plug in connector is more than the cylinder. Work on the cylinder lasting a week.

There are mozzies and midges in Canada, but they are not as aggressive as in Thailand, or as persistent as Scotland. Buy some insect repellent spray on arrival, and use daily. The local wasps are inquisitive but harmless.

EATING OUT, FOOD AND ALCOHOL

Bloody expensive! Alcohol isn’t as freely available as in UK, and you have to go to licensed alcohol shops. There are one or two in each town, but the cheapest (and best) is BC Liquor, a Government owned and run chain. Expect to pay around $15 (£10) for an ordinary bottle of wine. Beer is a little more reasonable, but despite all the craft beers available, don’t expect too much of interest to the bitter drinking man. Pale ale seems to be an adequate substitute, but if lagers are your thing then you are in heaven (but in poverty).

Everywhere you go you will find Tim Horton food outlets. Avoid them like the plague, they are awful. There are loads of chain fast food outlets such as A&W and Dennys, which we haven’t tried, but we do like White Spot. This is a BC chain that is a step above the others both for breakfast or lunch. Again, though, don’t expect to find it cheap, but if you want decent pancakes or Eggs Benedict for breakfast then this is the place. Little diners attached to petrol stations can be a pleasant surprise.

This bit really riles me. It is the norm here to tip at about 15%. Credit card machines will add it on automatically, and not only that, the price you read on the menu is before tax! At the end of your meal you are paying about 30% more than the advertised price!

CANADIANS

Absolutely no complaints here. They are super friendly and helpful, laid back and non aggressive. However, you can get very tired of Country music on the radio very quickly. They really do want to be living the outback life here, and every house you see outside of the big towns has an RV on the drive, complete with canoes, fishing gear and mountain bikes, all ready to go at a moment’s notice.

DRIVING

Surprisingly easy, even in a big RV. The lanes are wide and you soon get over the tendency to position yourself too close to the right edge of the road. On the main highways the speed limit is usually 100 k/hr, and people stick to it in the main. Uphill sections usually are dual carriageway, and the left lane is only used for overtaking. Be very careful through road works as points and fines are doubled (and police patrolled), but you are given plenty of notice in advance of them. You will have cruise control on the RV, and it is easy to set and unset.

Junctions can be a bit confusing, and in town suburbs you can get a Canadian standoff where nobody has priority. You work it out between yourselves, but usually the first one there will take the lead. Sometimes you need a left turn off a dual carriageway, so if there is no filter lane give plenty of notice of you intentions – they will know what you are trying to do.

This is a big, big country and taking 3 or 4 hours to get anywhere is common. Just relax, enjoy the sights, and the miles will fly by.

PAPERWORK

Don’t forget you need to apply for an electronic visa well before you arrive, and these are valid for 5 years and multiple entries. Do not arrive without one or you will be in trouble. Immigration is done by electronic cubicles that connect your passport to the visa, and compare your face to the passport photo.

There is no need to get an International Driver’s Licence, but I would suggest bringing a spare pair of driving glasses.

MONEY

All petrol stations are prepay. Just insert your card, tell it how much in dollars you want and fill up. If you overestimate your needs the balance is refunded to your card later (but it may take a few days).

We made great use of a new system called WeSwap. You join up in the UK and get a WeSwap card in the post, load it online with Sterling and then do a swap with whatever currency you want. You have the choice of an instant swap at 2% commission, 3 day swap at 1.5%, or 7 day swap at 1%. The exchange rate used is way better than you get using your normal debit or credit cards. The whole setup is backed by Mastercard, so you can use it anywhere. Just go online to check your remaining balance or reload and swap. Simple and very clever. Look it up.

We did bring cash with us, but have used remarkably little (for Canada) so far.

Any questions? Email me on [email protected].

David

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