With Chestermere growing rapidly and new businesses setting up shop, the truth remains that many Chestermere residents do still commute to Calgary for work and many of those are travelling to Calgary’s downtown core. It goes without saying that this comes with its own set of headaches….traffic, icy roads, construction…but even then when you make it there safe and sound…then you have to attempt to find parking, which is both time consuming and expensive.
The CRP (Calgary Regional Partnership) is working with the Town of Chestermere to complete a Transit Feasibility Study for the Chestermere area to determine if a future public transit system would be successful. In March, a survey was conducted in which there were 450 responses which showed a strong desire to have a public transit system in Chestermere.
The Calgary Regional Partnership is currently developing a business model that would allow the Partnership to own and operate regional transit assets with the intent of finding the most economical, cost-efficient and effective way to implement regional transit. The transit system would not only be a way to get to Calgary and back, but would also connect eleven surrounding communities to each other – allowing someone in Strathmore to get to Airdrie and someone in Cochrane to get to Okotoks and so on.
There are three options that are being proposed: Strathmore to Chestermere to Calgary (Rundle LRT Station); Strathmore to Chestermere to Calgary (Rundle LRT Station) to Downtown; Strathmore to Chestermere to Calgary Downtown. These options range from one-way travel times of 25-30 minutes to up to 45-50 minutes. Possible transit vehicle types being considered are a double decker bus, a BRT bus and an Urban-style low floor bus.
There was no discussion of what the user cost would be to use the transit system, but as it would be a separate entity from the Calgary Transit System, is was said that the Regional Transit System would likely have its own ticket or passes for purchase to keep it simple for users.
November 20th, the Calgary Regional Partnership held an open house in Chestermere, Ettore Iannacito, Transit Planning Lead and Erin Russell, Public Engagement Consultant, were there to explain the transit system to residents and obtain any feedback. There was a pretty low turnout at the open house, but most of the feedback seems to be coming in via the online survey which you can take, until November 30th, by visiting http://fluidsurveys.com/s/chestermere/
With Chestermere’s population growing by more than 300% in the last 10 years, it is Alberta’s fastest growing municipality, and in 2011 Chestermere had the 5th largest population increase in Canada. The town’s significant growth is expected to continue, along with the rest of the Calgary Region, to reach an estimated population of 40 to 60 thousand in the next 30 to 40 years. Affordable and reliable transportation is one of the key factors in accommodating and encouraging growth, as well as improving quality of life for citizens. In 2013, at least 46% of Chestermere residents worked in another municipality, and Chestermere households spent an average of $20,465 on transportation, totaling more than $107 million for the municipality.
Chestermere’s Municipal Development Plan is intended to outline the long-term aspirations of citizens regarding community development, and recognizes public transit will likely play a role in the town’s future transportation infrastructure.
