Anonymous Anti-BRT pamphlet sent to Southwest Calgary residents.

Recently, a pamphlet was circulated to citizens of Ward 11 from an anonymous source. Inside was a list of incredibly misleading, false, widely inaccurate and frankly confusing statements about the Southwest BRT project.

While virtually none of the information in this pamphlet is representative of the Southwest BRT project or the 14th Street Transitway, we thought we’d fact-check the top ten of our favourite “boondoggles” from the anonymous group that penned this leaflet.

Most of the information in these responses can be found in the City’s publicly available answers to public questions.

Here are our top ten favourite "boondoggles" from the pamphlet.

1. FALSE: "SW BRT will leave us worse-off than when we started"

The SW BRT will, in fact, improve mobility in Southwest Calgary by providng direct rapid transit to multiple high volume destinations that currently are served poorly by Southwest Calgary's feeder bus system. By reducing connections and running buses every 10 min during peak hours, the new service will also simplify the scheduling challenges riders must face with current options.

By comparison, the trips from Woodbine to Rockyview Hospital (currently a 45 min trip on transit) and Mount Royal University (currently over an hour on transit) will take 19 minutes and 30 minutes respectively, cutting the current travel times roughly in half, with rapid, connection free, BRT service.

No private property is needed to build the 14 Street Transitway and no travel lanes are being taken away.

Check out our Mythbuster #1: Transit Times in Southwest Calgary for more details.

2. MISLEADING: "Narrower lanes will be sandwiched between concrete barriers"

The stretch that this pamphlet is presumably referring to is along 14 Street S.W. between 75th Avenue and Heritage Drive. For these 940 meters, lane widths will be reduced from 3.7 meters to 3.5 meters. That’s a reduction of 10 centimetres per side, roughly the width of 2 credit cards. Arterial Streets in Calgary, like Bow Trail, typically have lane widths of 3.5m. According to the TAC Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads there is little safety benefit from lane widths beyond 3.3m. In fact, there's strong evidence that these narrower lanes will actually make 14th Street safer!

3. MISLEADING: "How can vehicles pull-over to allow safe passage for EMS traffic?"



The Southwest Transitway, which is a pair of dedicated lanes for buses, will be used by emergency vehicles in times of emergencies, so that ambulances can bypass any traffic on 14 Street. This project has been reviewed by the Rocky View Hospital and Alberta Health Services (AHS), and they have written a letter of support which you can read here.

4. FALSE: "Complete curb to curb snow removal is required, increasing bottleknecks"

Calgary has many other examples of roads without shoulders where snow removal is carried out without impacting traffic:

The 4th Avenue flyover

Stoney Trail NW bridge over the Bow River

Blackfoot Trail between 34th Avenue SE and Ogden Road

All of the above have been functioning in Calgary for years without issue.

Snow clearing along this stretch will be similar to the existing condition on Glenmore Trail.

5. FALSE: "Heritage & Rockyview intersections will be significantly slower during peak traffic"

Again, the City has designed and re-designed the intersections to eliminate these hypothetical impacts. Here’s what they’ve done for the 75 Avenue intersection / Rockyview Hospital intersection and the Heritage Drive SW intersection.

6. FALSE: "Ring Road BRT is the transit solution"

Without a local population or significant destinations, a BRT route along the Southwest Ring Road would lack the elements needed to be a successful and good-value-for-money transit service. A ring road-based BRT does not serve the people of Calgary, nor the destinations they are looking to access, while the approved SWBRT project already contains the elements needed for success. Read our Mythbuster #3: BRT on the Southwest Ring Road.

7. MISLEADING: "Transit must be Planned not rammed"

The Southwest BRT HAS been planned since 2006. Community outreach, stakeholder consultations and public open houses began in 2010. Detailed design started in 2015 after funding was announced. Community feedback has been incorporated into design improvements. See the overall timeline here for more details.

8. FALSE: "SW BRT is Obsolete Before Complete: future commuters choose micro transit & ride sharing apps"

Driverless cars will not make transit obsolete, and here’s why: Technology never changes the facts about geometry. A bus with 50 people moves more people in a smaller space than a car with one person in it, or worse: An autonomous car with nobody in it! It doesn’t matter who is driving or who isn’t: Transit succeeds in cities because people live together in a fixed space. That space is limited, and rapid transit like BRT respects that. You can read more about the topic from world-renowned transit expert Jarret Walker, or read about a Calgary-focused context from local PhD Candidate Willem Klumpenhouwer.

9. MISLEADING: "Empty diesel-spewing buses are not the 30 year transit vision we share"

While it is true that buses currently run on diesel, they most certainly will not be empty. Estimated ridership, based on a carefully explained and sound methodology, will be 12,500 riders daily using the service. That’s a lot of people who will no longer be driving on 14th Street. You can read about the forecasting process here that's been based on the same methodology as used for Green Line LRT:





Calgary’s Route Ahead 30-Year Vision states “The rapid transit network has expanded to connect more major trip generators, activity centres and corridors outside of the Centre City.” By connecting to transit starved neighbourhoods like Woodbine, Braeside, Cedarbrae, Marda Loop and Currie Barracks along with major trip generators such as Fish Creek, Southland Leisure Centre, Heritage Park, Rocky View Hospital and Mount Royal University the Southwest BRT is exactly Calgary’s 30-year vision.

This is the transit vision we share. Calgarians, especially those in the Southwest, need access to a rapid transit option that will get them where they’re going reliably and efficiently.

10. FALSE: "Transit is down by 28% since 2013"

From the City’s open data, there has been only a 5% decrease in transit ridership between 2013 and 2016. Interestingly enough, vehicular traffic decreased an even greater percentage on 14 Street between Heritage Drive and 75 Avenue (the narrowest portion of the roadway) by 11% in in the same period! Here’s the 2013 map and the 2016 map for reference.

11. TRUE: "Your vote can make the difference"

This is perhaps the only thing in this pamphlet that is true.

The truth matters in this election

Beware of the anonymously-provided misinformation being spread in this election. Research your candidates and the issues that are important to you. We've provided lots of information and facts on our website to help residents draw an informed opinion on the Southwest BRT.

Calgarians for BRT is a grassroots group of Calgarians championing cost-effective, environmentally conscious, and rapid public transit that promotes a more accessible and livable city that is competitive with other municipalities around the world. And unlike the anonymous group that wrote this pamphlet, we believe in transparency. You can find out more about us here.