Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm Southern Ontario born and raised, so I'm used to cold winters. But, having also spent one winter in the Canadian prairies, where there's a whole other definition of "cold," I know I could NEVER live in a place where temperatures can be so dangerously low that one has to plug in their car for it to run. And where homeless people frequently die from exposure.
It shocked me when I lived lived there, and the bitter cold is a serious negative for Calgary, no matter how nice of a city it may be. Having to plug in one's car because it's so flippin' cold is insane, imo. I can't even imagine.
There's winter, and then there's winter.
I grew up in Montreal, and never experienced anything of the sort... Are the prairies THAT BAD? I thought Montreal was known to be pretty cold in the summer. Hard to imagine another major city being that much colder.
That said, Detroit always FELT colder to me... Probably due to the lake effect though.
And I’ve been to Chicoutimi in the winter, and that was horrible. How people can live there baffles me.
I grew up in Montreal, and never experienced anything of the sort... Are the prairies THAT BAD? I thought Montreal was known to be pretty cold in the summer. Hard to imagine another major city being that much colder.
That said, Detroit always FELT colder to me... Probably due to the lake effect though.
And I’ve been to Chicoutimi in the winter, and that was horrible. How people can live there baffles me.
LOL. Sounds like you and I have lived in a couple of the same cities. I lived in Montréal as a teen, which I loved, but hated the winter (my mom told me when we lived there that Montréal gets more snow than Siberia). Lived in Detroit for 14 years, where I agree the winters seemed more severe.
But nothing comes close to the frigid temperatures I experienced in a large Canadian prairie city hundreds of miles east of Calgary. Winter living conditions there were something entirely different. I'd never live in the prairies year-round.
I grew up in Montreal, and never experienced anything of the sort... Are the prairies THAT BAD? I thought Montreal was known to be pretty cold in the summer. Hard to imagine another major city being that much colder.
That said, Detroit always FELT colder to me... Probably due to the lake effect though.
And I’ve been to Chicoutimi in the winter, and that was horrible. How people can live there baffles me.
*Too late to edit, but in case anyone is confused, I meant Montreal is "known to be pretty cold in the WINTER
Both cities have fairly decent transit, and are on the more progressive side when it comes to transit planning in the North American context.
Both have expansive LRT systems that have good coverage and service, and I believe both local governments have big expansion plans and/or projects under construction at the moment to increase their LRT network.
One thing I like about Calgary is its proximity to the mountains. I believe it's only about a 1.5 hour drive from downtown core to Banff, and the Canadian government recently announced an infrastructure project to connect Calgary Airport - Calgary Downtown - Banff with a new intercity train, which should make getting to the Rockies much easier without a car. https://cib-bic.ca/en/projects/calgary-banff-rail/
One thing I like about Calgary is its proximity to the mountains. I believe it's only about a 1.5 hour drive from downtown core to Banff, and the Canadian government recently announced an infrastructure project to connect Calgary Airport - Calgary Downtown - Banff with a new intercity train, which should make getting to the Rockies much easier without a car. https://cib-bic.ca/en/projects/calgary-banff-rail/
The same thing that makes the Canadian Rockies more pretty, the jaggedness and tightness of them, also makes it a bigger pain in the butt to build a road through them. Denver's mountains are a LOT more accessible and there's many many more small roads / dirt roads accessing most valleys in the Front Range. Calgary doesn't have this, it just has a couple routes available to get into the mountians, though you might not need a car to get there in the future.
I'd rather have Denver's configuration though as accessing only a couple valleys quickly can lead to overcrowding instead of spreading people out across the whole range. Denver, despite it's traffic and noteriety, still has many valleys and hiking areas that are essentially devoid of people within 1 hr drive.
Both cities have fairly decent transit, and are on the more progressive side when it comes to transit planning in the North American context.
Both have expansive LRT systems that have good coverage and service, and I believe both local governments have big expansion plans and/or projects under construction at the moment to increase their LRT network.
One thing I like about Calgary is its proximity to the mountains. I believe it's only about a 1.5 hour drive from downtown core to Banff, and the Canadian government recently announced an infrastructure project to connect Calgary Airport - Calgary Downtown - Banff with a new intercity train, which should make getting to the Rockies much easier without a car. https://cib-bic.ca/en/projects/calgary-banff-rail/
To be fair, Calgary's light rail has more than 3X Denver's ridership, so that has to count for something.
Also, since this thread is about Downtown, car-free living, if they're building a train to connect downtown Calgary with the mountains that's a huge bonus.
Denver's transit commute share is really bad, whether you're counting metro or inside the city limits.
Its in-city-limits numbers are particularly surprising. They just don't focus on close-in service.
That's a problem in both cities' transit planning, in that both have very good LRT/rail systems but they are primarily used for ferrying people in and out of downtown to the suburbs (the 9-5 commuter crowd). The intra-urban network/ridership is abysmal compared to the cities in the Northeast. I think that's something that has to be addressed in the coming decades if Calgary or Denver wants to up their urban planning game.
Also, since this thread is about Downtown, car-free living, if they're building a train to connect downtown Calgary with the mountains that's a huge bonus.
Correct. The line is called Calgary-Banff Rail, which will see 130 km of existing freight corridor being converted to passenger rail between Calgary International Airport (YYC), Calgary Downtown, and Banff Town Center, with 3 more intermediate stations at nearby towns/villages up to Banff. The government is planning 8 trains per day from YYC airport to Banff, along with express trains every 20 min from YYC airport to downtown Calgary.
One of my favorite intercity rail projects in NA today, along with Bright Line (Virgin Trains) in Florida, because it efficiently converts existing freight rail corridors into "sub-high speed" intercity passenger rail. It'll make getting to Banff and surrounding Rocky Mountain towns a lot easier, especially for tourists arriving in the international airport. The project is sponsored and funded by Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB): https://cib-bic.ca/en/projects/calgary-banff-rail/
But... This thread is specifically about DOWNTOWN, and an urban, car-free lifestyle. Why are you talking about suburbs, adjacent neighborhoods, and leaving downtown? You’re off-topic.
You can have urban, relatively car-free lifestyles in outlying towns - for a car-free lifestyle, neither Denver or Calgary or too much better than each other. He already addressed the urban center of Denver.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
