Wednesday, April 16, 2025
The City of Calgary announced plans to build a new South Central Bus Garage in the community of Alyth/Bonnybrook/Manchester.
Calgary Transit has identified several factors that impact bus service which require infrastructure changes to meet the needs of a rapidly growing city. These changes include modernization of Calgary’s bus fleet, increasing storage, expanding service levels to meet increased demand, and planned decommissioning of the Victoria Park Garage.
Over the next 30 years, The City’s population is expected to increase by nearly half a million people, significantly raising the demand for efficient and sustainable transit services. The new South Central Bus Garage will have room to double the capacity of the current Victoria Park Garage over time, increasing bus maintenance and storage capacity in central Calgary, to support the many buses that travel in and out of downtown.
“A new South Central Bus Garage will replace the Victoria Park Garage, increasing bus maintenance and storage capacity to support the transit needs of Calgarians for years to come,” says Sheikh Hossain, Leader with Facility Planning.
The new South Central Bus Garage will be built on two existing parcels of City-owned land. The Burbank Road site is a 74-acre parcel, located east of Blackfoot Trail, west of 11th Street, divided by the proposed 50th Avenue S.E. Extension right-of-way. The Highfield Crescent site is a 17.4-acre parcel located just east of 11 Street S.E., south of Highfield Crescent S.E., also divided by the proposed 50 Avenue S.E. Extension.
These two parcels of land were selected because they are centrally located, City-owned sites, potentially large enough to accommodate the size of the SC Bus Garage development. The plan for Rivers District redevelopment is also one of the drivers for the project. No other sites had adequate access, suitable size, or appropriate zoning for a new bus maintenance and storage facility.
Both City-owned sites involve land currently leased out to community organizations. The City reached out to directly-affected leaseholders in March 2025, to provide advance notice of its plans for these sites. The City will continue to communicate with impacted leaseholders to inform their site transitions and future business operations.
The City aims to put land designated for future projects to good use. These interim-use spaces provide opportunities for recreation, education, environmental initiatives and cultural activities while ensuring the land remains available for important city needs when the time comes.
Many lands are leased for temporary use by non-profits, businesses, and other groups, allowing them to serve a community purpose before they are needed for City projects.
The City strives to ensure tenants understand that the land will transition to its intended or alternate use. Lease terms are written with the understanding that use of the land is temporary and will eventually come to an end. The leasing and property management team tries to provide tenants with as much notice as possible before this happens.
The South Central Bus Garage project is now entering the Master Planning stage, which will take approximately 12-15 months. This stage will develop more detailed concepts, technical requirements, and updated cost estimates for the future South Central Bus Garage.
Featured image: (Calgary Transit)
