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Coun. Richard Pootmans, who sits on the city’s transportation committee, said an increased use of public transit could be contributing to the decline in Calgary’s travel times.

“It’s a credit to the citizens of Calgary that they are huge users of Calgary Transit,” Pootmans said. “That does everything from keeping the environment clean to moving people around the city efficiently.”

Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia

The study showed travel time reliability has been improving over the past five years, with the exception of 2013 when winter conditions and flooding caused traffic disruptions and increased overall delays.

Pootmans said low population density in some areas of the city means public transportation is not always convenient or accessible for everyone, but future transit and infrastructure projects could continue to take congestion off major roads.

“I think that we are making steps with the Green Line, and a lot of other planning tools as well, to make sure that we have the density to enable proper Calgary Transit,” Pootmans said. “It’s one of those dilemmas that we face, and I think the Green Line will be part of reshaping the way we build communities . . . around transit lines as opposed to simply highways in the future.”

The study also measured the “buffer time index” — the amount of extra travel time needed to reach a destination compared to the average travel time — between 2012 and 2016, and found the buffer time was down just over five points to 53.8 per cent last year.

According to the study, Calgary commuters are living life in the fast lane compared with drivers in Mexico City — the most congested city in the world — with a congestion level of 66 per cent. Second and third places are held by Bangkok and Jakarta, with 61 and 58 per cent respectively.

Most congested Canadian cities:

Vancouver

Toronto

Montreal

Ottawa

Halifax

Winnipeg

Quebec City

Edmonton

Calgary

London

Buffer time index in Calgary by year (measured in per cent):