Rebuilding Canada: Can Our Crumbling Cities Save The Economy?
Each morning, Mike Rogers catches a bus at a stop four doors from his house.
Mike Rogers takes a Southland transport bus daily from Okotoks to downtown Calgary, paying $240 a month for the service.
The Okotoks resident takes his seat at the back--often dozing for a catnap--until he is dropped off an hour later in downtown Calgary.
"I pay a pretty huge premium," he says of the $240-a-month fee, "but it's worth it."
The daily service, operated by local charter bus companies, is offered in several communities surrounding Calgary, including Okotoks, Cochrane, Chestermere and Airdrie.
Not only is it convenient for the hundreds of commuters who use the service, it also relieves the pressure on Calgary's congested roadways and crowded C-Train cars.
With thousands of residents from outlying centres using Calgary's roads or transit every day, some municipal officials suggest bedroom communities should contribute toward the city's growing infrastructure costs.
"Calgary already picks up a disproportionate share -- for example, 12 to 15 per cent of our transit users live outside the City of Calgary,"Mayor Dave Bronconnier has said. "That is being picked up by Calgary taxpayers."
This summer, the provincial government announced a$2-billion public transit fund focused on regional co-operation.
The plan will be aimed at building public transit infrastructure, including projects such as buying new buses and trains, building regional transit and buying land for rail corridors.
Calgary city council will ask the province to pay for the $2-billion southeast leg of the LRT through the new fund, and hopes to improve its chances of getting funding by including commuter buses to neighbouring towns in the plan.
Unlike the private buses that Rogers catches each weekday, these ones would be publicly funded and seamlessly connect the bedroom communities directly to the nearest Calgary transit station.
Once there is a large enough population, the buses could be replaced by a passenger rail service connecting Calgary with Cochrane, Airdrie, Okotoks, Strathmore and potentially even Canmore.
Rick Butler, executive director with the Calgary Regional Partnership, which represents local communities, says the provincial money could go a long way to improving transportation in the region.
"The stars are lining up,"Butler says, noting the group had just received a $500,000 grant to explore new transit options when the provincial government announced the$ 2 billion for regional transportation networks.
The partnership, made up of 18 communities and one First Nation in the region, is also looking at water usage and land-use planning in southern Alberta.
Even companies running the existing private bus service between Calgary and several bedroom centres see a rapid transit commuter system as a good first step.
"Any time you put buses on the roads and take cars off the road, it's a good thing for everybody," says Tom Jerersek, general manager of Southland Transportation, which runs the commuter service from Cochrane and Okotoks.
Rogers, however, begs to differ.
He worries that any attempts to integrate such services will leave more passengers stuck in already crowded C-trains and transit buses.
"It would become too convenient," Rogers says. "It will get overused. More people would start to use it.
"The fear is that a rail system would probably increase the amount of people in Okotoks."
Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, December 19, 2008
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=6a4e0f33-a486-46d1-a7db-0c2761e551f8