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The Burden of More Green Line Delays Falls on Ward 3

  • 1 day ago
  • 3 min read
A sign announcing a future park and ride site for the Green Line at 96 Avenue NE and Harvest Hills Boulevard. The sign had been in place for decades. Photo by: ARYN TOOMBS for LIVEWIRE CALGARY
A sign announcing a future park and ride site for the Green Line at 96 Avenue NE and Harvest Hills Boulevard. The sign had been in place for decades. Photo by: ARYN TOOMBS for LIVEWIRE CALGARY

For decades, residents in Ward 3 have been told the same thing - build the density, and the amenities will come.


New communities across north central Calgary have been approved and built under the promise of a future Green Line connection. Thousands of families chose to move into these neighbourhoods believing that rapid transit would eventually follow. The City approved higher densities, reduced parking requirements, and transit oriented development plans on the promise and understanding that residents would one day have access to reliable LRT service. Yet year after year, that promise continues to move further away. The growth has arrived, but the transit infrastructure that justified it has not.


That is why the latest discussion surrounding the Green Line is so concerning.



If we are serious about ever bringing the Green Line north, our first priority has to be a commitment to get through downtown and across the Bow River. Without that connection, there is no meaningful way to plan, design, or build the northern extension. At this point, another delay downtown isn't just a setback - it's an ending.


Over the past few days, ideas have been floated publicly that would redirect provincial funding to extend Phase 1 of the Green Line further south while relying on a potential future partnership with the federal government to fund and deliver the downtown connection. The challenge is that this proposal hinges on commitments that do not currently exist. There is no agreement with the federal government. There is no approved funding framework. There is no clear timeline to move this work forward.


What is clear is the risk. If the downtown segment is delayed yet again, the entire northern portion of the Green Line is left in limbo. For north central Calgary, that means once again being told to wait while growth continues, congestion worsens, overcrowded buses become more overcrowded, and the transit investments our communities were promised remain perpetually out of reach.


Too often, conversations about the Green Line focus exclusively on city building. While that matters, we cannot lose sight of the people already here and the transit needs that exist today. For many communities in north central Calgary, this is not an economic development project - it is essential infrastructure to get us where we need to go. This is not a north versus south argument - every part of Calgary deserves quality transit - but indefinitely postponing the downtown connection while continuing south is not a neutral decision. It leaves north central Calgary without a clear path forward and asks residents to, once again, place their faith in promises that have not once materialized.


At some point, we need to stop treating north central Calgary as the future phase of every transit conversation. We deserve certainty. We deserve a realistic plan. And after decades of waiting, we deserve to know that when Calgary commits to building transit, that commitment extends to us too.


https://video.wixstatic.com/video/58567a_d5944c4e239641c2b556335599fcce65/1080p/mp4/file.mp4
Councillor Yule's questions from the May 2026 Infrastructure and Planning Committee (IPC) meeting reviewing the RouteAhead funding strategy to expand Calgary's Primary Transit Network and address growth pressures.


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Andrew Yule | Ward 3

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Land Acknowledgment

Ward 3 sits on the Confluence of Nose Creek and West Nose Creek, a place of significance to Indigenous Peoples. It's an honour to live, work and adventure on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations (including Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations), the Métis Nation (District 5 & 6), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.

© 2025 - 2026 Andrew Yule, Ward 3 City Councillor

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