Two months till the best Mensa meeting ever. Visit the Banff Regional Gathering (September 11 through 13, 2009) amidst soaring peaks and world heritage sites. Combine world-class scenery, unique fossil fields, the low Canadian dollar and top minds to manufacture a memorable experience. Check out the RG web site at www.mensabanffrg.com for details. Do you like music, the arts, math, science, politics, games? Add your requests to the mix and book early through Patricia (almostp@shaw.ca) or volunteer for this superb RG, the best of the best.

 

       

  

Should you move to Calgary? Well, there are the superb mountains, cool evenings and sunny skies. And it’s a great place to stroke your greed. Besides, there’s nothing like Calgary Transit to restore one’s faith in the invincible stupidity of the human race. On long weekends, when car-deprived families need public transit most, when the aged need visits and hard working people shop and kids crave something to do, the system often shuts segments down for repair and one can’t get anywhere without substantial delay. As for signage, forget it. But let’s attempt a sample calculation under optimal conditions. We’re going to visit granny at her old folk’s lodge, say, which is a great thing to do. You feel good and so does she. Here’s how your journey shapes up. Your friend hops in her car and it takes her 20 minutes to drive to the lodge. Add five minutes to walk from house to car and the same from car to the lodge. That’s thirty in all. Now travel the same distance by public transit. First, we need ten minutes to walk to a bus stop. Sometimes, you’ll want more, much more, but ten is a good average in summer for most parts of the city. The error, if any, favours Calgary Transit. But you’ll want to arrive before a scheduled bus in case it’s early or your watch is slow. We don’t want to miss a bus after all and wait for the next one. So arrive ten minutes early. Thus far our public transit journey involves 20 minutes. Figure the trip by bus to the Light Rail Transit trains takes at least five minutes. That’s 25 total. And it takes ten minutes to get from your bus to the LRT station, buy your ticket, wait for access to a time-punch machine, and get to the platform. If you have a monthly pass or a transfer from the bus, ten minutes from bus to LRT tracks is still a common experience. We’re now at 35 total. Allow five minutes for the train. You’ll sometimes wait more, especially off-peak, but let’s be optimistic and say five minutes for the train to come. Total so far is 40 minutes. Let the LRT ride be 20 minutes. We’re up to 60 total. Your walk from LRT platform to bus is five minutes plus a ten minute wait for the bus. Twenty minutes between buses, even 30 or more, aren’t unusual. Total time so far is 75 minutes. Oh, add five minutes for the bus ride to the lodge. We’re up to 80 minutes. Plus five minutes from bus stop to the lodge itself. That’s 85 minutes compared to 30 by car. Allow similar times for the other direction, and we face 170 minutes of travel by public transit vs 60 by car. In other words, for a normal week-day journey you need an hour by car and almost three hours by public transit. Enough said? And we haven’t even touched on Calgary’s numerous road closures and traffic delays. What a great place!