In the dictionary under "sprawl," no Calgarian would be surprised to see our city listed as an example of "the expansion of an urban or industrial area into the adjoining countryside in a way perceived to be disorganized and unattractive."¹

In short, Calgary has an urban sprawl problem. Not only has the city been gobbling up farmland for decades to build suburban communities, but an ill-conceived agreement between the city and developers ultimately subsidized the true cost of building water and sewer infrastructure for new communities. Taxpayers will be paying down the roughly $1.4-billion water and sewer debt for years through their utility bills.

And then there's commuting downtown from the fringes of the city.

Much of Calgary's public transit system is designed to shuttle Calgarians (about 95 million passengers use transit each year and ridership is growing at a rate of 2.5 percent annually) from their homes to the concentration of offices downtown where 25 percent of the workforce slaves away.

Some people move into new communities on the outskirts of town knowing that it will be a few years before public transit serves their 'burb, but (assuming they have a vehicle) they can rest easy knowing that they'll get a local bus route eventually.

Our colleagues at OpenFile Halifax wondered whether building mass transit options out into the suburbs actually encourages sprawl. Now, in Halifax they're talking more about ferries and rail links connecting outlying communities to the city's core rather than buses and C-Trains, but the question still stands: Could sprawl be reduced if transportation to and from the edges of the city was (even) more difficult?

In car-centric Calgary's case, working adults would not likely be dissuaded by limited bus service in their fringe communities. However, they might be worried for their childrens' sakes; there's an age when young people want to be able to leave their homes without bumming a ride from mom and dad.

OK, so it's not likely that the City of Calgary would withhold bus lines from outlying communities (in his election platform, Mayor Naheed Nenshi campaigned on the idea that transit should be "a preferred choice, not the last choice" [PDF]). Still, as sprawl continues to be a reality for Calgary, lack of public transit may become unavoidable for some residents.

Do you think that new communities should be served by public transit? Let us know in the comments.

¹ From the New Oxford American Dictionary.

With files from Trevor Scott Howell/OpenFile.

Calgary Transit currently reaches into parts of the deep south communities of Cranston, Auburn Bay and Chapparal. Blog photo via Calgary Transit [PDF].