Calgary has opened the bus doors on a potential fare integration strategy with Airdrie Transit, with more information expected next year.
Members of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee unanimously approved city admin recommendations to produce a scoping report and the feasibility of potential regional fare integration.
Those recommendations, if approved at a future meeting of council, would come back in conjunction with the Calgary Transit Fare Strategy document.
Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule said he’s done a lot of transit advocacy, particularly around the Green Line and Centre Street, and he said he learned back in 2014 that a lot of the congestion in that corridor is from other municipalities like Airdrie and Cochrane.
“If we can have a way of finding some integration, I think it goes a long way in clearing up the congestion on our roads as well,” he said.
“If an Airdrie resident is able to get on a bus and continue into the city through our system, I think that’s a win for both municipalities.”
In April of this year, Airdrie city council approved a new 10-year transit master plan, which was a condition for the municipality to receive federal Housing Accelerator Fund cash for Q1 – 2026.
According to ridership data included in the 10-year transit plan, Airdrie’s Intercity Express (ICE) Route 900, which goes from Airdrie Downtown, down to the South Terminal, into CrossIron Mills, and then to the Whitehorn and Rundle LRT stations and over to the Peter Lougheed Hospital, sees between 25,000 and 35,000 riders per month.
It’s not clear how many of those passengers make actual transfers to Calgary Transit services. When they do access city services, they’re asked to pay an additional fare, something the transit plan said was a problem for Airdrie residents.
“The Greater Calgary transit network should be further integrated in terms of service and fare,” the document’s transit policy implications read.
The plan also calls for more northwest Calgary connections and expansion within Airdrie city limits.
Integration is key, but so is cost recovery, Mayor Farkas says
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said these initial conversations on fare integration need to lead to bigger discussions around advancing regional transportation in general.
Wyness, whose north Calgary ward is a stone’s throw from Airdrie, said that she’s hoping a conversation on fares will change how the city itself takes fares from customers.
“I get a lot of complaints. I can go to social media and see a lot of complaints about how we take payment and validate fares on our transit network,” she said.
“So, I think this is a great conversation to start now because it does take time.”
Beyond fare integration, Wyness said that it’s worth examining how Calgary Transit hubs could be the terminus for Airdrie bus routes. Instead of having their bus routes deliver people to different points in Calgary, they could bring them to key points that connect to the Calgary Transit network.
“When I go to Google Maps, there are routes that are easier for me to get to Airdrie than probably to the downtown core, but we’re not servicing that,” she said.
“We’re doing these regional maps, and that requires planning. We’re building bus hubs like Sage Hill that could easily be a stop for someone from Airdrie to get into our network.”
While he was generally supportive, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said that through the scoping report he’d like the city to remain whole, and not subsidize regional transit. He said Calgary Transit is already heavily supported by Calgary taxpayers.
“I don’t want to see us further eroding the cost recovery that we’re getting at the fare box by providing a service to our external customers.”
Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that regional transit is a key cog in ensuring the long-term development and sustainability of the region. If Calgary Transit is providing the service, however, there has to be cost recovery in the conversation.
“I’m certainly supportive of ensuring that Calgary Transit can access our outlying communities, but I also want to make sure that we’re at least recovering our cost, as exists in our master service agreements for water,” he said, noting that Calgary provides Airdrie with water.
Farkas said that there’s already a blueprint for transit delivery to a regional partnership in Chestermere. Calgary Transit rolled that out five years ago, and it’s due for expansion. He doesn’t want a slower process with Airdrie to inhibit advancement on the city’s eastern neighbour.
In the not-so-distant future, Farkas sees a regionalized Calgary Transit service.
“I think that when we look at the say 10-to-15-year prospect, it’s very clear to me from my vantage point that we’re going to be looking at a Calgary Transit service that serves the entire region, ideally with provincial support,” he said.
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