Calgary Transit riders face big changes with express route cancellation

Hundreds of riders who use Calgary Transit as their ticket to the city’s core are preparing for a major disruption in their daily routine.

The city’s final eight “express routes” — providing more efficient service from suburban neighbourhoods directly to downtown — are set to be phased out over the next two years.

“It’s part of the community,” explained Krystal Tait. “I’ve been riding the bus with some of the same people for 20 years.”

Ever since Tait moved to the Valley Ridge neighbourhood in Calgary’s northwest two decades ago, bus #70 has been her ride to work every weekday.

But on Dec. 23, Tait and roughly 100 other daily riders will have to find a new way to get around, as the Valley Ridge Express route ceases service.

The other seven routes — 62, 64, 109, 117, 131, 142 and 151 — will be discontinued in 2026 and 2027.

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“We need to clarify whether our neighbourhood is considered part of the city or not,” said fellow Valley Ridge Express rider Haleh Gerami. “What services are we actually receiving in return for the taxes we pay?”

Gerami tells Global News she moved to the area about a year and a half ago, using this route to get downtown since then.

“One of the main reasons we purchased a home in this neighbourhood was the existence of this bus, which allows us to commute to work conveniently.”

After the discontinuation of the express route, Valley Ridge residents will only be served by one bus — Route 108, Paskapoo Slopes, which serves the Brentwood LRT station.

Residents like Tait and Gerami would then have to board the C-Train to complete their journey downtown.

Using the Calgary Transit trip planner, a journey to Calgary city hall from near Tait’s home currently takes 42 minutes.

Starting Dec. 23, that same trip will take an hour and 19 minutes, nearly doubling the total commute time.

View image in full screen A side-by-side showing the current route (top) Valley Ridge residents can take downtown. After Dec. 23, residents will have to take a bus to the Brentwood C-Train station (bottom). Calgary Transit Trip Planner

“What it would mean is leaving home before my kids wake up and getting home after supper,” Tait explained.

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Gerami says it would take them even longer than that.

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“Using that other line takes more than two hours to get me downtown — a duration that is impossible for anyone to spend just to reach their workplace.”

Calgary Transit says low ridership is the reason for the change, promising “enhanced service for those areas.”

“We’re moving away from doing those one-way, a.m.-p.m. peak trips, to doing more two-way trips throughout the city that go throughout the whole day,” said transit relations specialist Amanda Bradley.

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“It offers more service to more Calgarians.”

Bradley explained that some of the most popular bus routes in the city average more than 10,000 daily riders, while stats provided to Global News by Calgary Transit show daily ridership on the eight express routes varies between 100 and 370.

“When we use that one bus, it drives to the area, makes those two trips, and drives back. It’s a lot of resources used for just that small area during that small period of time.”

“If we remove that route we can use those resources for routes that need it more.”

Both Tait and Gerami say the buses they take each day are nearly full by the time they’re heading downtown.

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“I understand there are cost pressures,” Tait said. “But to take away buses that are running full out of service, and continue service on (route 108) that is running empty, it makes no sense.”

“It’s almost impossible to find an empty seat — in fact, many passengers often have to stand,” Gerami says. “What more proof of strong ridership and public reliance on a bus route could there be?

“Now that it’s gone, if you don’t want to buy a car and start driving and paying for parking, do you sell your house and move?”

Tait says a fellow rider of hers is grappling with that massive decision right now, while another is shopping for a vehicle — but it will completely alter their financial plans.

“Everyone would be forced to use their personal vehicles and spend two to three times more than they currently do on transportation, which is incompatible with many people’s budgets,” Gerami says.

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“It also leads to even heavier congestion in the downtown area during peak hours.”

While Bradley confirmed no immediate route enhancements are coming for the Valley Ridge area, she says Calgary Transit makes quarterly updates based on demand.

“The service itself in that area might not get better right away, but the plan, the overall long-term plan is for all the areas of the city to be better connected,” she said.

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Bradley says Transit’s next changes will happen in March of next year.

Tait hopes those changes could include more direct service towards the C-Train line.

“If they actually want to make Route 108 a viable alternative, have it go to (the Crowfoot LRT station). It’s the nearest train station — just like every other community a similar age as ours.”

A petition asking Calgary Transit to rethink the decision regarding the Route 70 cancellation has garnered more than 700 signatures as of Dec. 3.

But Tait and others say they were never consulted about the change.

“I guarantee if (Transit) asked riders, and this community, they would gladly give up service on (Route 108) to keep (Route 70). So I hope Calgary Transit does listen to riders and these communities.”

Ward 1 Coun. Kim Tyers has been voicing her residents concerns at City Hall.

“Bringing this forward has actually allowed transit to step back and go, ‘Oh wait, we do need to communicate’ and we need to make sure we have feedback from our constituents and our riders before we make sweeping changes.”

“We don’t consult (the community) necessarily on a change to one route, or one route’s removal,” Bradley says.

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“If we’re making really broad changes in a community as a whole to multiple routes, we’ll do some consulting then, just to see if we’re on the right track to make sure we’re not missing something or we’re not taking something really important away.”

Tait says that’s exactly what’s happening in her neighbourhood.

“It’s not a perk. It’s not a bonus.”

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Calgary Transit is set to see more funding in 2026.

Budget amendments finalized this week approved a fare increase, taking effect Jan. 1 — that is said to bring an extra $4 million to the service annually.

Another amendment allocated an additional $1 million to fund the primary transit network and $6 million for the base network funded through property taxes.

The funding increase aligns with RouteAhead, transit’s strategy to expand service, which recommends annual boosts of $15 million to operations. The budget originally proposed a $14 million increase to improve frequency, but only on key transit routes.

“Given (the budget increases), discontinuing the main transportation link between this area and the downtown core appears to be completely unfounded and unjustifiable,” Gerami said.

–with files from Adam MacVicar