[M II A II R II K]

Imagining the future of transit


December 20, 2011

By Tony Seskus



Read More: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Imagini...951/story.html

Imagine hopping aboard a train in Airdrie to get to work in Calgary. How about a trip for milk by streetcar? Or maybe avoid traffic altogether with a gondola ride to university. For the past few days of Project Calgary, the Herald has looked at the state of public transportation in the city. But observers also cast an eye to what the future could hold. Nobody is talking Disneyland-style monorails, but some of the ideas may strike Calgarians as fanciful. Others may sound surprisingly familiar and - possibly - within reach.

- Consider GO Transit, which has been operating in the Toronto area since 1967. The regional commuter rail service began as government-funded experiment in commuting. But the system has grown into a vital, rail-and-bus network that connects several suburban centres with the Big Smoke. When Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths looks at the success of the GO service, he wonders whether a similar approach could work here by using existing infrastructure. What Griffiths finds intriguing is how the Ontario transportation strategy developed, with government and industry making arrangements so commuter trains could operate on heavy rail lines owned by major railways.

- "I'd really like to see the discussion start to evolve about a GO Train for Calgary to help with some of those mass . . . transit issues, especially during those rush-hour times," says Griffiths, who is MLA for Battle River-Wainwright. "What excites me the most about projects like that is when multiple partners come together understanding the solution is all of their responsibility." Griffiths isn't the only one with an eye on commuter rail. The Calgary Regional Partnership has a transit plan that includes a long-term goal of rail transit links (commuter rail or LRT) to Airdrie, Chestermere, Cochrane, Okotoks and High River.

- A Canadian Pacific spokesman, Ed Greenberg, says the Calgary-based railway is open to working with the various partners involved in any potential commuter train service. "Our priority is to respond to our customers freight shipping needs; at the same time we've had success in other major centres in using our tracks for commuter rail," he says. "We're open to continuing to discuss the potential with the city and the Calgary Regional Partnership and the provincial government." There are other transit ideas out there, too. Although it might seem strange to look back to a commuter train started in 1967, Canada's centenary year, for a discussion about the future of public transportation, this next suggestion dips even further back in the history books.

- Some believe the city should explore a return of the streetcars in pockets of the city. Noel Keough, an assistant professor of sustainable design at the University of Calgary, says streetcars could be a way to intensify service in some areas of the city and create neighbourhoods with excellent transit. Streetcars are less expensive than LRT, more comfortable than a bus, they are efficient and a proven magnet for business investment, Keough says. In fact, a number of North American cities are exploring a return of streetcars. "It's not just a commuter system, it's a daily use kind of system, so you have more hop-on, hop-off," Keough says, suggesting the old Beltline loop running to the downtown as one possible route.

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The Go Transit system in southern Ontario began as a collaboration between private industry and government.