Calgary Transit increased service last year but ‘tapped out' by funding gap
Officials from Calgary Transit were at city hall Wednesday to provide an update to the city's Infrastructure and Planning Committee on RouteAhead, a 30-year plan to significantly expand transit service across the city.
According to transit, ridership increased to over 101 million trips in 2024, an increase of 12 per cent over 2023 and on demand service was extended to 11 new neighbourhoods.
Frequency on the Red and Blue Line CTrains increased to at least every 10 minutes, 15 hours per day, seven days per week as well.
But transit officials noted costs to deliver the service are growing, including fuel, wages, and maintenance, with a request to council for $3 million in one-time funding from the city's reserves to help with service pressures in 2025.
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'We're looking at all kinds of efficiencies and trying to improve the routes we have but we're really tapped out,' said Calgary Transit director Sharon Fleming. 'We need to get to a point where we're truly investing in the lines in the primary transit network to provide the faster frequent service that Calgarians need.'
Currently, only 160,000 Calgarians or 10 per cent of the city's population lives within 400 metres of the primary transit network, Fleming said.
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Calgary's current primary transit network. Calgary Transit
Officials also asked the committee to prioritize funding for the RouteAhead strategy in upcoming budget deliberations, which envisions half of Calgarians, or nearly one million people, living within 400 metres of the primary transit network when it's fully built out.
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But the 10-year plan to implement RouteAhead includes an annual $15 million increase to transit's operating funding, an additional $45 million per year for new buses and trains, and a $500-million investment in a new fleet storage and maintenance facility.
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That funding would get transit up to 10 minutes service on the primary transit network at least 15 hours a day, seven days a week by 2034, the report said.
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Calgary's plan for a fully built out primary transit network including the Green Line LRT and bus rapid transit. Calgary Transit
'We want to serve Calgarians in the way they deserve to be served and we can't because we don't have the operating budget,' Fleming told reporters.
Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, who chairs the committee, said funding for increased transit service is necessary but wants to see a priority given to safety on the service; after a transit driver was assaulted Wednesday morning.
'I don't have a problem with the recommendations that are in front of us today. What I will say is we have a bit of a gap on putting a little more money into safety on our transit,' she told reporters.
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'You can put as much money as you want into transit but if people aren't taking it because it's not safe, then that is an issue.'
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said transit is an essential service and both safety and service must be considered.
'We get ourselves caught up in these conversations about what's more important providing transit service or providing safety? They're both important, they go hand in hand,' she said at a separate news conference.
However, experts note how to fund transit is becoming an issue across the country, with transit agencies across the country advocating the federal and provincial governments to pitch in on operating costs.
In Calgary, just 36 per cent of operating costs were covered by fare revenue last year.
'The funding model we have now of just fares and property taxes is completely broken,' said David Cooper, principal at Leading Mobility. 'We're not going to get people to realistically take transit unless we re-look at how we fund it and right now the model we have is completely broken.'
Calgary Transit projected a $33 million funding shortfall for 2025 in last year's budget due to growing costs of the low-income transit pass program, which sold more than 537,000 passes in 2024, Fleming said.
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Council stepped in during last year's budget deliberations with one-time funding to fill the shortfall.
The $3 million funding request was approved by committee 7-1 with Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu in opposition, and will now go to city council as a whole for a final decision.
Committee also approved the request to have administration prioritize RouteAhead during budget deliberations in November, with Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness the sole vote in opposition.
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Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account This month, he closed the Woodstock Duty Free Shop Inc. as lower traffic at the U.S.-Canada border dealt the final blow to a business already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, at 59, Slipp says he will have to find another source of income and is advocating for more government support for stores like his. Fewer Canadians have been heading south in recent months in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada, his comments about annexing the country and because of fears among travellers about treatment at the border. In the duty-free industry, Slipp said less border traffic directly correlates to fewer sales. 'It was very difficult. The business had many good years. 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'This should be our busy season during the summer, but it is not; it is pandemic-level traffic in the parking lots, and it has led to one store closing in the east. We are unfortunately afraid that we will likely see more closures as we draw to the end of the summer,' she said. Unlike airport stores, which are often owned by international companies, Barrett noted all of the land border stores are independently owned and are often family-run businesses. While Canadians shun U.S. trips, travel expert Claire Newell said many are opting for domestic and other international destinations. 'We live in a country where it's still very expensive to travel domestically. And while there are many people who are choosing to travel within Canada, we also see more people heading to popular destinations,' she said. She said she doesn't see Canadians changing their travel habits back to normal until there is a trade deal 'that feels fair.' As lower border traffic weighs on the industry, Barrett said she is advocating for 'small regulatory changes.' 'We have some taxes on our products that, believe it or not, in a tax- and duty-free industry that our U.S. competitors don't have. So we're asking for those to be changed so we can be more competitive,' she said. 'Also, we're asking to qualify for some of these tariff relief programs or pandemic-level supports along the lines of what they did during the pandemic with wage subsidy or rent subsidy.' Barrett said the government is the landlord for many duty-free stores and said a rent deferral or subsidy would help the industry until travel patterns normalize. She added that there have been conversations between her organization and senior government officials. Barrett said those officials agreed the association was putting forward 'small asks' to support the industry. An Aug. 2 release announcing the Woodstock Duty Free Shop's closure mentioned that the federal and provincial governments had promised tariff relief support programs to help businesses impacted by trade tensions. 'I pinned a lot of hopes on those when both levels of government made those announcements. I was reminded of the pandemic support programs,' Slipp said, adding that his business had benefited from such programs. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. His attention has now turned to advocating for rent deferral programs for duty-free shops renting land from either the federal government or from a bridge authority as well as loan programs for duty-free stores. When he looks at the future of the industry, he said the prospects 'are not bright.' 'I'm grieving the loss of my business, but I'm also accepting the reality that the business environment has changed and there is nothing in the bag of tricks that would suggest positive changes in this industry in the short to medium term,' Slipp said. 'I'm feeling bad that I was not able to succeed in the end and that I am having to lay to rest this business that my father and I have built and spent so many years working so hard on.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2025.
