Two Calgary city councillors want a narrowed bus rapid transit strategy for their communities due in part to the view that the Green Line LRT project to the north is ‘dead.’

Councillors at the Nov. 3 Executive Committee meeting voted in favour of a recommendation that city council direct administration efforts on one of four Max Green bus rapid transit scenarios that ranged from a curbside dedicated BRT lane from Keystone Hills to downtown, to a fully dedicated BRT transitway that follows the future Green Line alignment in the area.

The former had a high-level estimated cost of around $511 million and quicker turnaround, with the latter looking at a total estimated cost of $2.087 billion and a much longer construction time.

Sarah Huber, project director for the Green Line, said that the change in direction from council is really a question of timing and delivering rapid transit to existing ridership.

“We know that LRT and Green Line North, when it comes into this area, will take time, both from a funding perspective as well as a construction perspective,” she said.

“So, the question is really: Is the investment in bus rapid transit beneficial to customers today, or should we be waiting for the future LRT? And frankly, we think that we need to do a bit of both, and so we don’t think that the $500 million investment in scenario one for curb running BRT won’t be beneficial. We think that it would be used immediately, and the customers would really value it.”

Huber said that there would be some benefit to the curbside BRT plan for the eventual Green Line, including property acquisition and utility relocations that wouldn’t have to be done for a future LRT line.

Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule said that residents in north Calgary are tired of waiting for the promise of a Green Line – one that he feels may never come.

“I campaigned and said the Green Line is dead in Ward 3,” he said.

“I can’t wait 20 years for the potential of a Green Line to reach Ward 3. What we need now is service because we’ve been put off and put off with these BRT upgrades because it’s like, ‘oh wait, Green Line’s coming, Green Line’s coming.

“I don’t see the political will to get it up to my ward, and I need service now, and so that’s what we’re doing with the Max Green.”

Earlier in the meeting, councillors did endorse a recommendation to review a potential $12 million for continued preparatory work on the north portion of the Green Line LRT.

No cash for a full Green Line: Coun. Kelly

Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly said that given that council heard high-level estimates for the south extension of the Green Line to Seton would be $3 billion, and an LRT line to the north would be $4 billion, it became a question of what council could afford.

“We were promised that as part of this Green Line LRT, that we just spent $6 billion going to the south, that in order to be able to get it to the north, it’s going to cost us about $10 billion. We do not have $10 billion currently,” he said.  

“We looked at four scenarios to be able to get improved bus access, and the fourth scenario that we looked at would be preparing Center Street for LRT fully, and even that’s going to cost us $2 billion. We don’t have $2 billion to do that either.”

He said it’s all about getting service quickly.

“We get emails every single day from folks who are absolutely sick of the idea of having to wait for another bus. The bus comes; it’s entirely full. Another bus comes along; it’s entirely full. We are maxed out at the current capacity that we have on Center Street,” he said.

“We need to be able to make these improvements to be able to get dedicated lanes where they’re appropriate, signalized intersections in order to be able to speed up the bus, in order to be able to add more buses to Center Street, to be able to meet the demand that we currently have.”

Kelly said he didn’t want to take anything away from a future Green Line LRT, though he did note that they’ve spent 30 years on the project and only managed to get it to the south – and not even into the downtown.

He said he’d be happy to pause what they’ve proposed in favour of a windfall to push Green Line LRT north, but he says there’s no evidence of that happening.

“Frankly, those are pipe dreams that we’ve been living with for 30 years already in the north. We’re done. No more studies,” he said.
 
“Let’s get something built so that we can actually get some fast, reliable, and frequent transit for neighbors who’ve been demanding it for 30-plus years.”

Scenario 1: Comprehensive application of improvements

Huber said that scenario 1 would be an enhancement of what’s already currently seen along the Max Green BRT.

“You would physically see painted bus lines, the addition of Max stops. Further north in the corridor, you would see new lanes built for the curb only, that would be north of about 78 Avenue,” she said.

“Further south, you would get utility improvements, street lighting improvements, pedestrian movement improvements, and safety improvements.”

The proposal outlines a host of upgrades, including downtown bus lanes with a connection to the Green Line terminus on 10 Avenue S, a Crescent Heights bus station, and new terminals at 96 Avenue and Keystone (144 Avenue).

The report said that it had the lowest capital cost, limited land acquisition needs, a shorter implementation period, and built on existing curbside lane infrastructure.

Yule said that they need to clear the way for more buses to improve the commute for some 30,000 citizens who already use it daily. When the $6.25 billion Green Line opens, it will have roughly the same daily ridership.

“I am very frustrated because I’ve been working on this since 2017 as an advocate, and the writing on the wall right now is we’re throwing darts at a map, and what Calgarians need is service,” he said.

“That’s what I’m trying to bring to my Ward 3 residents.”

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that he would have preferred a scenario that provided an LRT-convertible option for the future. He said, however, that he was agnostic to the method, just as long as they were moving people through north Calgary.

“I think the most likely scenario for a Phase Two is an underground city-federal partnership from Second Street to the Eau Claire Station, and then at the Eau Claire Station, people would get off of the train and then hop on a bus, completely grade separated from Eau Claire all the way up to the far north,” he said.  

“We would build the necessary bridge across Prince’s Island Park. We would build the grade separation through north Calgary and along Center Street, and once we had the money, we would upgrade what we built for the buses to a spec that could allow the trains to operate. I believe that that’s the most realistic possibility to get transit to the far north.”

No funding for this specific project was approved. City administration will come back with a report on the cost, benefits, impacts and trade-offs on the Scenario 1 option for review by Q3 2027.