Buses are a good option for Calgary's transit system

Buses are faster, more flexible and can transport more people per hour to more destinations more cheaply than any rail system.

Calgary Transit is mired in the past by building an antiquated transit system designed for the archaic look of the city. Prior to the pandemic, transit transported 45 percent of downtown Calgary workers to work, but less than 10 percent of workers in the rest of Calgary, indicating that Calgary Transit does not actually serve all of Calgary; it mainly serves the city center.

This would have been the case in 1909, when Calgary's first electric streetcars began operating and most of the jobs were downtown. By 2016, fewer than 15 percent of Calgary jobs were located downtown, and the pandemic has further reduced that number.

Instead of designing a transit system to serve the entire city, Calgary Transit's light rail system has focused on the downtown area. Transit ridership has grown since the city's first light rail line opened in 1981, but at a faster rate than since before light rail began operating. Now, Calgary Transit is planning light rail lines aimed at downtown.

Light rail is an expensive form of transit with limited capacity. The word “light” in light rail refers to capacity, not weight: The American Public Transportation Association's Transit Glossary defines light rail as “an electric railroad with a light-volume traffic capacity.” A light rail train can accommodate many people, but for safety reasons, one light rail train can move no more than 20 trains per hour in each direction.

By comparison, Portland, Oregon, has 160 buses per hour on some city streets. Istanbul bus route transports more than 250 buses per hour. Bogotá Colombia bus routes move 350 buses per hour. All of these transit lines are cheaper per mile than light rail, but can carry more people per hour.

After leaving the busway, buses can travel along any street in the city, reaching far more destinations than rail. If a bus breaks down or a street is closed for some reason, other buses can find detours, and a single light rail failure can bring an entire rail line to a standstill. If transportation patterns change due to a pandemic, the opening of a new economic center, or the decline of an existing center, bus routes can change overnight, while rail routes take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to change.

To truly serve the entire region, Calgary Transit must recognize that buses are faster, more flexible and can carry more people per hour to more destinations at a lower cost than any rail system. It should also be recognized that modern urban areas have many economic centers and use buses to serve these centers.

In addition to downtown, Calgary's major economic centers are the airport, University of Calgary, Chinook Center, Seton Health Center, and more. mainly located on and off the highway. Calgary Transit should identify 10 or more hubs geographically distributed across the region. It should locate transit centers with no more than roadside parking for buses with simple bus shelters near each center's freeway interchanges.

It should then operate frequent (up to five times an hour) non-stop buses from each center to other centers. Several sub-transit centers may send nonstop buses to two or three other centers. Local bus routes should be located far from each center to serve all areas of Calgary.

Because the nonstop buses will operate at highway speeds, the average speed of this bus system will be twice the average speed of Calgary's current bus and rail system. Transit riders can get from any corner of the city to any other part of the city at speeds competitive with driving.

Such a polycentric system would serve a much higher percentage of workers and other commuters in the region than the current monocentric system, but would cost no more to operate. Since most of the necessary infrastructure already exists, it will be much cheaper than building a single rail line. Some may worry that buses will cause congestion, but the solution is to fix congestion for everyone, rather than spending billions on a slow rail system that serves a few in the region.

It's time for Calgary Transit to enter the 21st century. A polycentric bus system may be the best way to do this.

Randal O'Toole is a transportation policy analyst and author of “Building 21st Century Transit Systems for Canadian Cities,” a recent report published by the Center for Border Public Policy.

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