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Bus traps could become a thing of the past as the city administration has recommended dismantling the vehicle pits.
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A memo sent to Mayor Jyoti Gondek and the rest of the City Council by General Manager of Operational Services Doug Morgan states that the use of traps as a form of traffic control is no longer viable and that the administration intends to incorporate a funding request to eliminate them in the fall budget.
“The cost to vehicle owners for non-compliance is significant, it does not serve its intended purpose when vehicles become trapped when transit service is interrupted, Calgary Transit community buses cannot use the traps, and technological advances have provided better alternatives,” Morgan’s memo reads. .
Bus traps are large potholes in the road that prevent vehicles smaller than city transit buses from entering bus-only areas. They barricaded themselves in Calgary in the 1970s and there are seven such devices that are currently active. All seven are in North Calgary.
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The administration memo was written in response to concerns raised by District 10 Councilman Andre Chabot.
“There are a number of concerns that have been identified by people who live next to these bus traps, as well as some residents, as to their feasibility,” Chabot told Postmedia on Saturday.
Chabot said the devices are contradictory to his purpose of ensuring buses have available access to certain communities. He said that when drivers ignore signs warning of booby traps ahead, they have their vehicles stuck in the road, blocking access until they can be removed.
“It’s created an additional challenge in having to allocate resources to redirect some of these buses that would normally have gone down that road,” Chabot said. “Not only that, but it also doesn’t work with shuttles. So while the intent was probably reasonable originally, it no longer works effectively or in the best interest of a community.”
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Chabot said there could be a number of alternatives that can be implemented that would provide various levels of access to different communities.
“The next question is, how much decommissioning are we going to consider? Are we thinking of allowing full access and limiting access to only local residents through signage and photo enforcement? Are we thinking of putting in a gate that activates only for traffic or limiting access only during certain hours for traffic? There are a multitude of different scenarios that we need to consider,” said Chabot.
He said it’s unclear how much it will cost the city to remove the barriers, but noted that dismantling could result in long-term savings for city operations.
The administration report shows that there are two traps in Edmonton and they have also been used in Denmark.
