Calgary,(1) Alberta, developed an unusual means to curtail traffic in residential areas. Simply, the city wished to prevent automobiles from taking shortcuts through its neighborhoods. However, they still wished to serve residents with convenient public transportation. So, cars bad. Buses good.
Thus arose a devious little road feature called the Bus Trap. Actually, it’s more of a car trap than a bus trap, in spite of what people call it. The original design worked on a simple practical fact: the wheelbase of a car isn’t as wide as the wheelbase of a bus.
The Premise
In theory it made great sense. Construct a big ditch across the road and make it wide enough for a bus to pass by unmolested. Then make it long and deep enough for an automobile to get inextricably stuck in it. Effectively it’s a Punji stick trap for cars. People wouldn’t be foolish enough to ever try to cross a concrete chasm that would likely damage their automobiles if they encountered a huge sign like this one, right?
A large explicit billboard along with two additional stop signs, two “Do Not Enter” signs, an authorized vehicles only sign, and a gaping maw would be quite enough to dissuade me. In fact it seemed like overkill. I imagine the signs and barricades would be sufficient to persuade the vast majority of 12MC readers to avoid the roadway too. Or even convince anyone with a pulse for that matter. However, the Intertubes are filled with accounts of people foolish enough to attempt such a crossing in spite of the multiple layers of warnings. Results were predictable. It’s hard to feel sorry for them.
One can’t simply back out of a bus trap either. Automobiles need to be pulled out. Some bus traps snare short-cutters multiple times per week if one believes the frequent cautionary tales posted on the Internet. It must be exasperating for bus drivers to alter their routes in order to avoid boneheads who thought they could shoot the gap. How effective could a bus-only crossing be if an abandoned automobile repeatedly blocks the way?
The Rise of Bus Traps
Blame it all on the University of Calgary. Bus Priority Measures in Calgary: Past, Present and Future researched the history and said:
“Introduction of Bus-Only Crossings: As with other relatively young, western cities, Calgary’s streetcars and buses operated mainly in mixed traffic. In the early 1970’s, the concept of the bus-only crossing quickly became entrenched in Calgary (McCleary, 1977) The circuitous layout of the University of Calgary street network led to the introduction of a bus-only crossing between one half of the campus and the other.”
Government officials in Calgary seemed quite enamored of their solution as it spread throughout the city. Calgary Alderman Gael MacLeod went to lengths to defend the Centre Street bus trap on the Ward 4 webpage [link no longer works], as recently as February 2012. She explained that it both encouraged bus ridership and reduced automobile traffic.
Bus traps remain plentiful in Calgary, in concentrations found nowhere else from what I could determine. I discovered a few of them in Google Street View which you should feel free to examine on your own.
- 8500 block of Centre St., NE
- 5500 block of Pinetown Pl., NE
- 6000 block of 4th St., NE
Nonetheless it’s difficult to deny that a bus trap is a rather draconian, low-tech solution to a genuine traffic problem. In the meantime a lot has changed since the early 1970’s when Calgary began its love affair with its traps. The same dilemma can be resolved easily enough today with something as simple as a swinging iron gate operated by the equivalent of a garage door opener. In fact, that is exactly what has been happening. The bus trap is beginning to fade away even in Calgary.
Not Just Calgary
Sifton School Bus Trap, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Calgary certainly isn’t the only city with bus traps, just the place with the most. However, they also took root farther north in Edmonton. The city’s Bus Lanes & Traps page noted that “there are currently 2 bus trap locations” within Edmonton:
- 132 Avenue and 34 Street
- 134 Avenue and 40 Street. Actually it’s to the west in the 4300 block of 134 Ave next to Sifton School)
Not Just Alberta
My small sample size might lead one to conclude that bus traps are an Albertan peculiarity or a Canadian oddity. Actually, that’s not the case. They are not unique to Canada. Wikipedia has a bus trap page and included photographic evidence from Hillerød, Denmark, that I embedded above.
I couldn’t find that specific trap on a map. I have zero ability to work in Danish even with translation software so its exact location will remain a mystery to me. Maybe a 12MC reader from Denmark could lend a hand. We have one or two Danish regulars, I think. The trap is in this general area.
I did learn that the Danish term for bus trap is bussluse (bus gate?). The hole itself is a bussgrav (bus grave?). Those are my new favorite words of the day.
Completely Unrelated
Today (June 30, 2013) is the final day before Google pulls the plug on its popular Reader application. I noticed that lots of people made the switch initially and then it slowed down. Then subscriptions using Reader started going back UP… maybe from people newly discovering 12MC? I’d hate to lose all of you. Hopefully you’ve found a solution that works for you, and that you will continue to visit Twelve Mile Circle. Who knows what tomorrow will bring although it should be easy to remember twelvemilecircle.com.
12MC Loves Footnotes!
(1)I’ve had an uncanny ability to pick topics with inappropriate story locations lately, first with tornadoes in Oklahoma City and now with flooding in Calgary. So I waited a week with the hope that the situation had improved and that any 12MC readers living along rivers in southern Alberta may have put any difficulties behind them. No offense or insensitivity is intended. I’m almost afraid to write about any new places right now for fear that I may delivery another weather calamity.
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