Commuters in southeast Calgary are cheering the Greenline transportation plan included in the new City budget.
If approved, the line will carry Calgarians along dedicated bus lanes to and from downtown – potentially in half the current travel time.
The Greenline is a long term transportation master plan to connect the deep southeast with the far north-central area of Calgary.
In phase 1, work will start next year on building bus only lanes linking the city centre with the southeast community of McKenzie Towne, ultimately connecting with the south hospital.
“It allows for separate lane ways. It allows for overpasses over the Deerfoot and over the river which are bus-only,” said Councillor Shane Keating, who has long fought for transit improvements in southeast Calgary.
It should cut the bus ride from the McKenzie Towne Park & Ride to downtown from an hour to 30 minutes.
“We can look at it as an hour a day for each commuter, so five hours a week. You put that into a month, that’s 20 hours not spent on a bus getting to and from your employment,” Keating said.
Mackenzie Towne commuters say it’s a great idea that will get them out of their cars and onto the buses.
“It would make me think about it twice to park … and just to make my trip more faster and make it easier on the mind,” said Rose O Driscoll.
Phase 1 also includes a dedicated bus lane along 4 St. S.W. in Mission, and bus priority routes up Centre St. North.
To pay for it, the new municipal budget has earmarked $52 million a year for the next four years. Both parts of the project should be complete by 2018.
The Greenline will eventually include a 40-kilometre LRT line linking the South Health Campus and Seton business district with a new northeast community called Keystone, which is between Panorama Hills and Balzac.
“(Then) you will also see a 60-passenger bus increase to a 600-passenger CTrain,” Keating said.
The LRT line could cost more than $5 billion, so the City would need funding helping from both the Alberta and federal governments.
Comments