CALGARY – Premier Alison Redford’s latest rumblings that she could rework a $2-billion transit program to fund high-speed rail throw into question the future of bus and LRT projects for which the money is now earmarked.
Calgary has plans to use its share of the Stelmach-era “GreenTRIP” fund to buy replacement LRT vehicles, help pay for the west LRT and support a southeast line – and the province has already committed $500 million of the program to Edmonton’s new light-rail line.
But in one year-end interview, the premier hinted the government could rejig GreenTRIP to support bigger initiatives, such as a Calgary-Edmonton train link or new transportation hubs at major airports.
“To me, that’s what I thought GreenTRIP needed to be,” Redford told the Edmonton Journal. “What it is at the moment, and we are not so far along that we can’t shift it, is basically a funding envelope for LRT. That’s a good thing, because better to have people riding LRT than driving. But that’s not part of anything that resembles an integrated public policy or public transit hub.”
A program rejigging after years brainstorming – then locking in – plans to use the cash for transit projects in Calgary could mean big headaches, said Ward 12 Ald. Shane Keating.
“The $2 billion that’s already been announced, people have plans for it and Calgary is no different,” Keating said.
“If she (Redford) is thinking of reworking it, the first course of action should be to sit down with partners and discuss what their plans are for the immediate future, and discuss if this is a shift that’s acceptable.”
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A big ticket transit item such as high-speed rail is a worthwhile investment, he said. But it rings in low on Calgary’s medium-term transit priority list, Keating contended.
Ward 9 Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra said he was encouraged to see the premier musing about new investments to encourage Albertans away from “mandatory automobile ownership.”
He said he hoped if GreenTRIP is indeed reworked, it won’t lead to bickering about Calgary’s current transit needs versus the bigger projects.
Carra questioned whether the province is considering a new infusion of funds into the program.
“If she’s talking about spoken-for funds within the Green-TRIP, that’s worrisome,” he said. “My position is we need all of this.”
Redford said she wanted to see better connectivity among public transportation services, pointing to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris as and example.
“You end up with an airport hub that is then connected to public transit all over Europe and into Paris, that becomes a business centre, where you have people from other parts of Europe coming to that place to hold meetings and conventions,” she said. “An integrated connection around what public transit can look like. That’s where I’d like to go.”
Just what that might look like in Alberta remains unclear. Some observers have suggested a high-speed rail service should include stops at the Edmonton and Calgary airports, and connect to the municipal transit network.
During a PC leadership forum in Red Deer last September, Redford was one of the few candidates to suggest it was time to seriously investigate the possibility of high-speed rail in Alberta.
In her interview with The Journal, Redford said her views on transportation were influenced by a course she took from Anthony Perl, currently the director of urban studies at Simon Fraser University.
Perl has recommended Alberta move ahead immediately on high-speed rail as a way of reducing reliance on oil.
GreenTRIP, announced by the Ed Stelmach government in 2008, is a key component of the province’s carbon-reduction efforts. It was conceived as a $2-billion investment in building and expanding transit networks to get cars off the road.
The Calgary and Edmonton regions are each expected to receive $800 million, with the remaining $400 million going to smaller centres.
Under the program, a city puts up $1 for every $2 from the province.
In its first program application, Calgary has committed $241 million of its share for replacement vehicles for the C-Train system and a study into interim busways within the downtown-to south-hospital route of the future southeast LRT.
A spokesman for Alberta Transportation said about $600 million of the total has so far been committed, including $500 million toward Edmonton’s new LRT line to NAIT. A second round of applications is set to take place early in 2012.
“Traditionally what it has been used for is transit, but the premier also asked me to look at other avenues,” Transportation Minister Ray Danyluk said. “Everything is on the table.”
Danyluk said he has been approached by groups with different ideas for GreenTRIP, some of which he called “ingenious.” He has asked the groups to provide evidence their ideas will reduce carbon output.
Last summer, Cochrane scored $6.1 million from the province’s program for four double-decker transit buses and shuttle buses for service into Calgary. Cochrane Mayor Truper McBride said he doesn’t consider the premier’s comments signal an “either/or” proposal between current and future projects.
It appears the province is examining a “broader vision around transportation” in Alberta, said McBride, who plans to seek the PC nomination in Banff-Cochrane.
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