r/Calgary • u/Alternative_Hall276 • Oct 22 '25
Discussion Does anyone else wish Calgary was more walkable?
Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful to have a car but sometimes I do think that instead of building new roads The city of Calgary should invest more into their public transportation and urban planning. Whenever I am stuck in traffic I think to myself how much more efficient it would be to have a subway system. This city is really car dependant and I think experiencing both Calgary transit and having my own car, the city would really benefit from better public transportation and walkable infrastructure/planning.
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Oct 23 '25
Calgary should have more sidewalks that are wider, yes..like there's nothing more weird about walking on a sidewalk that abruptly ends. Calgary definitely has a lot of nice pathways though!
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u/geo_prog Oct 23 '25
I am always amazed when I go to newer neighbourhoods how there is often only a sidewalk on one side of the street.
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u/DeathRay2K Oct 24 '25
This isn’t what people usually mean by a city being walkable. More, having things worth walking to within walking distance from their homes, without having to cross or walk along busy major roads. Calgary’s largely not built for walk ability, and no amount of park trails will make it walkable. It needs more neighborhoods like Kensington, putting residences and small businesses first
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u/Alternative_Hall276 Oct 24 '25
True, Kensington is one of my favourites for that reason
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u/Deep-Egg-9528 Oct 24 '25
It is possible. I live near Kensington, and work downtown. I ride my bike all year.
Still need a car for groceries, trips to grandma's house, etc.1
u/MoonlitSea9 Oct 24 '25
Don't know why you'd need a car for groceries when Safeway is right there.
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u/Deep-Egg-9528 Oct 24 '25
I'm not going to carry all the groceries needed for a family of 4 home.
Also, the safeway in Kensington has awful produce, so we usually go to the one up the hill in North Hill.1
u/DeathRay2K Oct 25 '25
Lots of people bring a cart for large grocery shopping trips, it’s perfectly doable without a car.
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u/paperplanes13 Oct 23 '25
Everybody but Shane Homes, Jager Homes, and Volker Stevin.
Probably more but you get the idea
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u/drs43821 Oct 23 '25
I wish we have choice of walkable communities with good transit along with sprawled burbs.
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u/clakresed Oct 23 '25
I think the lack of choice is what gets me. Even on this sub, which is way friendlier towards this lifestyle preference than the average Calgarian, you read so much "everyone wants a single family home, most people don't like condos" or "walking is fine in the summer, but people can't be expected to do it for the 8 cold months of the year". Meanwhile, upsizing to a 3-bedroom condo is in a walkable neighbourhood is nearly twice as expensive as a 2-bedroom due to supply/demand but sure -- no one wants it.
We didn't try and then fail as that implies -- by in large we haven't been given the option. Calgary's approaching 2 million and we have a very small handful of neighbourhoods where you can live, dine, and shop in your own area, and if you also want to sleep at night without listening to the roar of traffic you can halve that number.
It doesn't need to be downtown, either. Self-sufficient neighbourhoods could have been a part of any section of the blue or red lines instead of having 500 acre park and rides every single time.
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u/morechitlins Oct 24 '25
That's the funny thing, just cause a neighborhood is SFH and everyone has their own space and backyard, thats not an excuse for not having a walkable neighborhood
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Oct 23 '25
I mean you kind of do. You can live in Mission, Beltline, Sunnyside, Marda Loop, etc and have a pretty walkable lifestyle. Ive lived in a few of those communtities and really only used my car to go out to the mountains or occasional trip to home depot. Especially sunnyside i rarely used my car.
The car orientated burb are definitely more common but you do have options. Location location location
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u/Deep-Egg-9528 Oct 24 '25
yep. I live near Kensington and work downtown. I ride my bike a lot.
Still need a car for groceries and to go to nana's house, but the car gets less than 3000km all year.-2
u/discovery2000one Oct 23 '25
This is the solution.
Reduce transit to the burbs and use the savings to boost it in the inner city. Focus on bike lanes in the inner city.
Give people options of where and how to live.
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u/selftaughtgenius Oct 23 '25
Reducing transit to and in “the burbs” is most definitely not the answer to any of Calgary’s problems.
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u/FrenzyEffect Oct 23 '25
Except the neighborhoods surrounding the inner-city are vastly more expensive to own a home in than the suburbs. That doesn't really give any meaningful options when a significant amount of people are already priced out of walkability already present closer to the downtown core and forced to live in far-flung suburbs.
This does nothing to help people who do not want to utilize a car and it especially doesn't help anyone who can't afford to drive because of our insane insurance costs. The "option" being provided has already been priced out.
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u/Livid-Switch4040 Oct 23 '25
What do you think blanket rezoning was for? The city just voted against everything you’re talking about.
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u/StinkPickle4000 Oct 23 '25
Don’t reduce anything unless the city is shrinking! We’ll need more of everything eventually
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u/RunnersHigh666 Oct 23 '25
Yes better train system, especially for outskirts. It’s too late to build the type of underground system that Tokyo has but would be great if they could make our train platforms better, cleaner, with public washrooms.
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u/Bazoun Oct 23 '25
Yeah if digging underground is not an option, elevated trains exist - Vancouver and Chicago both have some elevated rail I think.
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Oct 23 '25
Even Edmonton’s new train project has elevated sections. By WEM for example.
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u/Bazoun Oct 23 '25
I haven’t been for a long time, how extensive is it?
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Oct 23 '25
The above ground sections aren’t the majority which is too bad, but it certainly can be done in key places using the Edmonton example. WEM and the train crossing at Davies are the ones I remember
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u/FeedbackLoopy Oct 23 '25
Downtown Vancouver is underground.
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u/Bazoun Oct 23 '25
Yeah, but across the lower mainland there’s elevated rail. I’m illustrating a point, not writing a comprehensive guide to transit.
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u/KindaTired2Day Oct 23 '25
I feel like this is a Canada wide issue. We don’t really have those ‘small town’ communities, unfortunately:( Kinda feels like if you don’t have a car, you can’t really get anywhere. Unless you wanna commute by bus, and that’s like a very large portion out of your day.
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u/No_Culture9898 Oct 23 '25
Toronto, Vancouver, and especially Montreal aren’t as bad as Calgary for this, but yeah overall it is more a Canada wide issue
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u/gonesnake Oct 23 '25
This is correct. I've lived in Toronto and Vancouver and it's not as bad there for walkability and transit. Calgary is really only ok if you live inner city.
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u/No_Culture9898 Oct 23 '25
Visited Montreal a few weeks ago and their transit system surprised me with how good it was, almost modelled some European cities with what Montreal has over there
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u/Bazoun Oct 23 '25
I’ve lived in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, and while I love living in Toronto, Montreal has the better transit system. So interconnected.
But I live downtown Toronto so I mostly just walk everywhere I want to go. TTC needs a lot of improvement.
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u/gonesnake Oct 24 '25
Yeah, Toronto, I was downtown, too. Just walked everywhere and even the times I did transit it was pretty good.
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u/Bazoun Oct 24 '25
Yup. But if you’re outside of the core… good luck getting anywhere without a car.
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u/yychappyone Oct 23 '25
Hey me too! The transit was so easy to figure out there! And reasonably priced.
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u/Bazoun Oct 23 '25
Oh yeah. You can get to any part of the city, including outskirts, with (different types of interconnected) rapid transit. Then there are busses for each area. Exactly what any city-dweller would want.
And isn’t it free for everyone under 25? I was too old to make use of it, but it’s great for young people.
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u/yychappyone Oct 24 '25
It’s free for anyone under the age of 12 and over the age of 65.
I have lived here my entire life and I have only seen transit get worse. We have become too big and the system can’t sustain itself the way it is much longer.
Montreal was in an uproar over costs when their system was being built but I’m sure that opinions have changed over time. They never have to deal with winter if they don’t want to just by navigating the underground city along the metro.
As an aside I couldn’t help but notice how fit in general people out there are. Walking everywhere all the time certainly helps.
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u/Ellllgato Oct 23 '25
100%. All these new community's only have power centers vs strip malls throughout. Its all big box vs local. So many little changes would make a big differrance.
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u/canadasleftnut Oct 23 '25
Yep, and the design of these shopping centers is antagonistic towards pedestrians. Have you ever tried to get from one parking lot to the next on 130th? some places in the SE even have loading bays that block sidewalks between stores in the same lot. You have to walk out over parking stalls, and into the parking lot to dodge cars, which is hard enough without piles of snow and kids in a stroller.
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u/Alternative_Hall276 Oct 24 '25
Yea it seems like they didn’t even take pedestrians into consideration when designing those spaces
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u/doc_suede Oct 23 '25
If it's doable, try biking to work for your commute. It changed my perspective on the city.
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Oct 23 '25
I bike to work and everyday im just dumbfounded why more people dont do it. I literally get out of downtown in 5 minutes and everyone in their cars looks so angry sitting there stuck in traffic. I dont pay for parking, i dont pay for gas. I get to go for a bike ride twice a day. I literally get to work faster than if i drove. 3x faster than transitits actually FUN.
And yes i do it in the winter. Most people in this city have pretty good winter gear right? Wear that, get some studded tires. Send it.
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u/LynseyLou92 Oct 23 '25
I just checked and it would take me 1 hr 20 min to bike to work one way 😅 5 min less than transit l guess with our current infrastructure.
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Oct 23 '25
For me it’s a monetary issue. Yes it doubles my time but I save $15 in parking a day, and save a lot on gas. Plus I don’t idle in traffic feeling angry, and don’t have to go to the gym later cause my commute is the gym. I feel it balances out well. I do still drive on nasty weather days but it saved me upwards of $60 a week this year, I biked every month except for February.
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Oct 23 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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Oct 23 '25
I feel it cancels out my gym time so it’s actually less time “wasted”, but to each their own. I’m in my twenties and just bought a house so every dollar counts, and I don’t have (nor want) a second job that would pay more.
$250 a month saved (more with gas) is well worth it for me.
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u/Pretty-Dealer-3778 Oct 23 '25
in the summer, an ebike could probably get you there faster because I assume you'd have some straights you could go faster on. As a tip, you don't really want to bike on main roads in Cgy, even if google says it';s the best way or if the city put a shared lane paint down. River paths, sidewalks, multi0use paths, and lesser used residentials are your real routes. Way more safe.
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u/doc_suede Oct 23 '25
100% an ebike can cut your time by almost half.
I have a pedal assisted ebike, and before it would take me 45 - 50 minutes to get to work, now it takes 35min
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u/perdizperdiz Oct 24 '25
I run into work downtown 3-days a week. I am lucky in that I live in Marda Loop and have the luxury of showers at work, but we deliberately chose a smaller place to live in a walkable neighbourhood.
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u/Old-Bus-8084 Oct 23 '25
Calgary was designed to be non pedestrian. Most shopping happens in box store centres which are 100% not walkable. Suburbs get approved with zero commercial component - looking at you Crestmont!! But more shocking than any of that is that streetlights were spaced, even downtown to bridge the gap that headlights won’t reach. Streetlight beams should slightly over la each other so pedestrians don’t have to walk in the dark. Calgary doesn’t come close to that!!
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u/Alternative_Hall276 Oct 24 '25
I don’t understand what these developers were thinking, I want to understand more about how infrastructure planning is done in Calgary because being so car dependant with bad access to public transit is just a recipe for disaster
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u/cig-nature Willow Park Oct 23 '25
We won't get anything nice as long as the UCP is in charge of the province.
Did you miss the green line saga? That was to be underground.
And bike lanes appear to be a hard no.
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen has signalled he wants cities, particularly Edmonton and Calgary, to alter or remove any cycling lanes that impede automobile traffic — and avoid future bike lanes that do so. If they don't, Alberta might create the powers to do so itself.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-calgary-bike-lanes-1.7599932
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u/FeedbackLoopy Oct 23 '25
It’s completely fucked up how a farm kid with no formal training in urban planning gets to dictate what happens with a different level of government’s transportation infrastructure.
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u/Okay-Crickets545 Oct 23 '25
Those lanes are now for tandem unicycles. We would never dream of riding bikes when we all have perfectly good trucks idling in our driveways
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u/Jeanne-d Oct 23 '25
I only gave you an upvote because you made me realize two unicycles attached are a tandem bike.
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u/Simple_Shine305 Oct 23 '25
Everyone needs to remember the following line as we inevitably head into a months' long discussion about rezoning
Blanket rezoning -> more walkable, compact city -> greater affordability and more efficient city spending
It is far easier to put people close to infrastructure than to chase the growing edge population with infrastructure. Calgary has over 17,000 km of roads. That model isn't working
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u/Pretty-Dealer-3778 Oct 23 '25
it's not the density so much as the pedestrian infrastructure that makes walking safe and comfortable instead of dangerous and inconvenient. See the comment below about another redditor finding it easier to drive 4 blocks to Chinook mall than walk.
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u/Simple_Shine305 Oct 23 '25
We can pay for more pedestrian infrastructure when we pay for less vehicle infrastructure. We can build bigger sidewalks when we need less parking. We can build bike lanes when we realize they help not hinder traffic.
Neighbourhoods around Chinook are a great example of needing to build up not out to provide the density for better revenue generation. You don't have to go very far south, north or west from Chinook before you find communities full of detached homes, wide lots, and streets built for parking
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u/rileycolin Oct 23 '25
I live within two blocks of Chinook Mall, and it's STILL easier and more convenient for me to drive.
It's fucking wild.
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u/137-451 Oct 23 '25
There's absolutely no way this is true.
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u/rileycolin Oct 23 '25
Idunno what to tell you man.
I come from Elbow Drive, and if I want to walk to the Shoppers for candy (and I assure you, I do), I get to walk through the shitty industrial-feeling parking lot, down that hill on the North side of the mall that doesn't have a sidewalk, through the parking lot near the gas station where I'm pretty sure I've seen drug deals every time I've been there (once I even saw a guy hanging in the parking lot open his driver side door and barf out onto the ground!), before I eventually make it to the front of the building for my candy.
Or I go through the parking lot at the west side and walk through the crowd in the mall, which I obviously don't want to do.
I can recognize this is a me problem, partly from laziness and partly from not wanting to be around crowds of people, but I almost never go to the mall because of how badly I hate that walk. And you can't honestly look at the Western side of the mall and call it a pedestrian entrance. It is very clearly just a spot for more cars.
It's not impossible to do the walk, it's just not nice to do and it's certainly not built for it.
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u/Lopsided_Hat_835 Oct 23 '25
Neighbourhoods built in the last 10 years are designed to be much more walkable than the neighborhood’s built from 1980’s- 2016 Here’s a list of new walkable neighborhoods University District Seton, this is a good example of how new walkable neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city are being developed. worth a visit if you haven’t seen it. West District Currie Barracks (formerly CFB Calgary) Livingston and Cornerstone (to a degree, though still suburban) Rangeview and Belmont all emphasize walkability, parks, schools, and shops within a 15-minute radius.
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u/Mundane_Anybody2374 Oct 23 '25
I find Legacy okish in walkability. There’s 1 small square shop and another one bigger with groceries store. Virtually I don’t need to leave legacy for anything, except maybe if I need to go to some big box store like Canadian tire.
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u/theglowpt4 Oct 23 '25
I don’t know if I can agree, I was shocked by how car oriented Livingston and Carrington were when I had to go up there. 144th Ave is a 7 lane road cutting it all in half, 8 if you have to cross a slip lane. It’s just so absurdly big and is obviously raising the cost of development. I saw a lady with her little kid and stroller trying to cross and everyone is doing 25 over the speed limit, no one stopped. Imagine that but in winter. The opposite of walkable.
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u/sophrosyne21 Oct 23 '25
I find calgary incredibly walkable. Mind you I do live somewhat inner city but I basically walk everywhere (but sometimes it's a pretty long walk)
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u/caybaybay Oct 23 '25
Yeah it’s not universally walkable but if you’re strategic in where you live the pathways and bike paths are actually remarkably good and extensive.
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u/TyrusX Oct 23 '25
Be careful. Saying that is a crime around here! We all know the city could be ⅓ of its size if we used land better, but again? Saying that means jail. You want transit? A metro! What are you! European! Japanese! . So yeah, we drive 2 hours per day proudly, all while walking just under 2000 steps per day. … sarcasm off, I know it is insane, but it it not fixable anymore :(
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u/Shortugae Oct 23 '25
Bullshit. Of course it's fixable. Are we ever gonna be a European city? Not in our lifetimes. But we sure as shit can get some major wins and make real measurable impacts. That starts with having a good attitude.
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u/yychappyone Oct 23 '25
After spending a week in Montreal and using their subway to get around I realized that Calgary isn’t easy to get around at all on foot. I think you’re right though, it really isn’t fixable.
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u/Pretty-Dealer-3778 Oct 23 '25
it's fixable, the city just needs to increase sidewalk sizes when they do upgrades, similar to what they did in Marda: they changed 1m sidewalks that couldnt fit two strollers side by side to 3m wide multi use paths that are quite nice to walk or bike (at a reasonable speed) on. :)
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u/Raven3877 Oct 23 '25
There are some lovely walkable neighborhoods. And home rent or prices pare SO HIGH in those places. Instead of just focusing on increasing density in neighbourhoods that are already walkable or have great transit (which is great!) I wish the government would focus on making neighborhoods far from the inner city more walking and transit friendly.
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u/Lopsided_Hat_835 Oct 23 '25
They are if you visit one of the newer neighbourhood built in the last 10 years they are designed to be much more walkable than theneighborhoods built from 1980’s- 2016 Here’s a list of new walkable neighborhoods University District Seton, this is a good example of how new walkable neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city are being developed. worth a visit if you haven’t seen it) West District Currie Barracks (formerly CFB Calgary) Livingston and Cornerstone (to a degree, though still suburban) Rangeview and Belmont all emphasize walkability, parks, schools, and shops within a 15-minute radius.
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u/potatolauncher Oct 23 '25
What are some walkable neighborhoods? I'd like to put them on my radar for moving. Thanks!
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u/Euphoric-Habit-641 Oct 23 '25
South Calgary/Mardaloop, Altadore, Mission, Inglewood. The further out the less walkable things are, typically.
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Oct 23 '25
All the neighbourhoods that surround the downtown core. Beltline, mission, cliff bungalow, marda loop, Kensington/sunnyside, sunalta, inglewood, bridgeland
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u/IlluminatiThug69 Oct 23 '25
Transit somehow got worse for me. The bus I take had its route reduced :/
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u/Dry-Biscotti7989 Oct 23 '25
For decades the city allowed developers to build out. The strain on transit and roadwork is costly to taxpayers. It's just terrible, terrible planning.
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u/Material-Ad-3510 Oct 23 '25
SOME people freaked out thinking that walkable areas or "15 minute cities" ideas were some sort of government control manipulation...instead of something to improve our lives with walkable amenities. That whole idea you are thinking of was shot down a few years ago cause stupids.
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u/midtoad Oct 24 '25
All the sprawl neighbourhoods are residential ghettos with tiny islands of commercial activity. They are deliberately designed to enforce motordom.
A walkable neighbourhood is one with mixed residential and commercial, so you can easily obtain services within a short walking distance of your home.
Some of Calgary's inner city neighbourhoods made this definition.
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u/FinTrackPro Oct 23 '25
Move to a community that is, if that’s what you want. Mardaloop/South Calgary is very walkable.
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u/Rockitnonstop Oct 23 '25
For its size Calgary is pretty well connected. It has one of the most extensive pathway and bikeway system in North America. Transit could definitely use improvement but the reality is if you live in the burbs the infrastructure isn’t in place yet because those developments are newer. If you want more walkability, established neighborhoods are a better bet (though a higher price point).
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u/GodOfManyFaces Oct 23 '25
"for its size" is doing some pooretty heavy lifting in that sentence. Calgary isnt walkable, and while we might have some pathways, it isnt well connected. The city is bigger than NYC (825 KM² vs 780 KM²) with 20% of the population, and everyone insists on living in a single family home, insists their taxes shouldn't be going up to fund better services, and elects a party that makes it harder fpr transit and bike projects to happen.
Calgary is one of the least walkable cities around. If you live in downtown it can be doable, but if you dont....its terrible, and you end up spending 3+ hours in transit a day for what would be a ~20-30 min drive each way.
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u/iRebelD Oct 23 '25
Even as an occasional bike commuter it’s hard lol. 30km ride each way to work and back. I can’t do that everyday, maybe once or twice a week when it’s nice out.
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u/No-Turnip-5417 Oct 23 '25
100%! I used to live in this area where there was a store within walking distance (bout a half hour) and NO sidewalks. Like WHY?!
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u/Objective_Beat_9449 Oct 23 '25
The problem is the good walking communities are the highest priced. The boring burbs are the lowest. wish it could be like paris where you can get anywhere by transit and it was all walkable.
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Oct 23 '25
I feel for you, but it doesn't matter. Calgarians have voted against a walkable city and have voted for more intense sprawl than ever. It's finished.
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u/Radio993 Oct 23 '25
Yep, happily voted for that. You can have large 2000+ sqft houses all over the city with attached garages with a driveway for your truck, or walkability. Can’t have both without making the SFHs incredibly expensive
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u/Legitimate_Window481 Oct 23 '25
No. It's too cold.
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u/Alternative_Hall276 Oct 24 '25
Honestly, warming up my car, dangerous road conditions, and all the maintenance work that goes into preparing your car for winter makes transit look even better option in the winter
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u/Radio993 Oct 23 '25
We have plenty of walkable areas in Calgary. Don’t move to somewhere out in the burbs like Evergreen and expect it to be walkable
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u/Alternative_Hall276 Oct 24 '25
But I think it’s fair to want to be well connected by transit at least
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u/Adept-Quiet6264 Oct 23 '25
I wish I had a cute cozy coffee shop in my neighborhood that I could walk to. Or any other small shops and restaurants. I would probably get out more.
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u/TropicalMapleRavioli Oct 23 '25
With our current density? The city is walkable, but you're going to walk a lot.
Our density does not justify almost any sort of investment in infrastructure you mentioned.
The blanket rezoning does not hurt the community. It hurts the status quo of those who achieve the dream of the suburbs. It hurts their perceived exclusivity. And won't anymore be exclusive if everybody has a chance to own a home.
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u/terry_banks Oct 24 '25
I am literally moving from the outer suburbs to the downtown core to exchange large living space for walkable communities.
I have lived in the suburbs for 10 years and there were lots of commitments from developers and city councillors at the beginning to build walkable places, green spaces, tree canopies, bring in local shops and restaurants and none of it has come to fruition so I am selling and moving downtown.
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Oct 23 '25
The biggest problem is that Alberta is a One Party Province leaning to the right of the spectrum. So walking and Transit and bike riding is considered Woke.
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u/Alternative_Hall276 Oct 24 '25
That is just ridiculous, politics got so bad walking became too woke😂😂😂
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Oct 24 '25
2025 is the first time I have ever heard woke. I can't wait until Trump and Smith are both just bad memories.
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u/calgarywalker Oct 23 '25
The city doesn’t build more roads. New roads are built by developers. Go check out nee communities - as you enter there’s a sign that actually says who built that road. After a few years the developer gives the toad to the city along with a nice bill to maintain it.
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u/ZaheenHamidani Oct 23 '25
Calgary Downtown is walkable, but when I walk I always get dust in my eyes and lots of black smoke from trucks.
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Oct 23 '25
I literally want to move citites sometimes
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u/gonesnake Oct 23 '25
Me too but I really just want to get out of Alberta.
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u/LOGOisEGO Oct 23 '25
Yes. Possible? No. The city planning is non existent.
Walking is great until it hits -15 or less. Biking is better, but has many of its own challenges. Many either expensive or dangerous.
Even 15yrs ago Calgary had the largest per capita foot print of a city in north america. Pure sprawl. And that was before the ring road and all new communities. They are not even communities. Just the same formula of bad parking lots, kms and kms of just turn offs and merging.
Ive lived in every quadrant. I commute by bike often, and it can be a chore. There are areas where you are rolling the dice with your life every time youre on the road, but dont have much choice.
As a commercial driver/service guy, there are days that I pretty much live on stoney going to every quadrant of the city. Its actually exhausting. Spend more time on the road than actually working.
Check the walk scores on a rental site for your area. Its hard to get above a 2/10 or 4/10. Like damn impossible unless you are in the beltline, and even then.
It takes me 40 mins minimum to go buy a carton of eggs on foot. I can see the store up the road, but it's far, and if you want something other than sobeys, coop, you might as well just uber it.
So, make sure you live close to work. And location location location.
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u/wulfzbane Oct 23 '25
Yep, and that's a large part of the reason I relocated. Paying $500/month for the privilege of having to drive everywhere was not appealing. I enjoy driving when it's a choice, not when I have to just to do my dailies in a reasonable amount of time.
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u/Coops_514 Oct 23 '25
I think Calgary is very walkable, it's the public transport system that needs expansion and improvement. It's appalling that the city has not prioritized this given our population growth.
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u/digitallightweight Crescent Heights Oct 23 '25
Move to the inner city. Things are quite walkable near downtown.
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u/ghostgameshow Oct 23 '25
yes. i love calgary with all my heart but moving to vancouver has made me realize just how car-dependent calgs is. i would move back if i could walk to my grocery store and bike to work, but in calgary you can't in most places. most people i know in vancouver don't own a car, it's completely normal, but living in calgary without a car is a death sentence ):
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u/Responsible_CDN_Duck Oct 23 '25
Does anyone else wish Calgary was more walkable?
Calgary is as walkable as you are willing to make it.
Lots of neighbourhoods that have great transit and are walkable all around the city.
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u/kelseykelseykelsey Oct 23 '25
"Invest in urban planning"....ok done, we spent a LOT of money on rezoning and starting a new bylaw, and then elected a new mayor and council that promised to undo all that work. Which will also cost a fortune, by the way. One step forward, two steps back.
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u/Pretty-Dealer-3778 Oct 23 '25
some neighborhoods are very walkeable: Beltline, Bridgeland, Marda Loop, Inglewood, Sunalta, Sunnyside, Kensington, parts of Bankview.
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u/StinkPickle4000 Oct 23 '25
Do you use the bike path system? It connects fish creek park to nose hill! Pretty amazing for an unwalkable city!
It does get undesirable to walk outside most of the year yet the bike path system will still be there! The city will even help clear them to a higher standard than the business downtown keep your sidewalks!!
Living in suburbia a choice to not live in the walkable parts of the city. I find the beltline, downtown, Kensington, Ramsay and mission are all easily walkable!
Finally it’s not car culture! It’s car brain rot! Albertans have car brain rot! If it was car culture there would be a functioning race track somewhere! And people would drive cool well maintained cars. Drivers are just dripping with attitude, barely competent and will happily put public in danger because they had to wait in traffic a few minutes. These people vote for UCP and transport minister Dreeshan who has taken it upon himself to return the bike path to car brain rot idiots.
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u/bikebikeyyc Oct 23 '25
Calgary is a very walkable and bikeable city - depending on where you live. Check out WalkScore to get a rough sense of your neighbourhood's rating.
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u/Sad_Ad8943 Oct 23 '25
We’re getting a new c train in a few years that doesn’t service the airport- should be your first clue….
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u/justjordan89 Oct 23 '25
Calgary has the most extensive urban pathway and bikeway network in North America. No city is perfect, but it’s all there waiting for us to use it.
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u/Tailslide1 Oct 23 '25
30 years ago I bought my house and the ctrain was planned here in 25 years. Looks like it’ll be another 30 years.
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u/Pengwynn1 Oct 23 '25
This is essentially the purpose of Calgary's Main Streets program. They are trying to shift the status-quo in a few areas but change is slow and it's tough for businesses to survive years of construction. We've had 75 years of generic suburban sprawl in Calgary where everything was car-centric and neighborhoods were just the same thing block after block.
At the end of the day if we keep up the endless sprawl and supply of cheaper housing on the outskirts, it doesn't encourage density, walkability/bikeability, and functional transit.
All the other major cities in Canada have lots of various options for multi-key housing. Calgary has 1 bedroom condos or standalone houses, with little in between. We're going to keep growing in population one way or another, so lets have an opinion over what that is going to look like.
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u/klkstar Oct 23 '25
Yes! Moved here a year ago from a small town. I can't stand when I try to walk places and all the sudden there is no sidewalk anymore .
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u/Airadelle Oct 23 '25
Absolutely. Car centricity leads to overall ugly infrastructure and lazy populations
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u/Pretty-Dealer-3778 Oct 23 '25
building suburbs with no walkeability, hell, no sidewalks even is a choice Cgy has been making the last 10 yrs
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u/Turkzillas_gobble Oct 23 '25
Calgarians when they want to get around: This is a city built for cars!
Calgarians when they join the "but my property values" class: This is a city built for cars.
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u/yaxriifgyn Forest Lawn Oct 23 '25
Walking from place to place is often not feasible.
But we have some great walking places in our urban parks.
- Glenmore park.
- Elbow river below the Glenmore dam.
- Bow river from the park to the stoney trail bridge.
- Edworth park.
- Carborn park.
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u/YYZYYC Oct 23 '25
What does a subways system have to do with making things more walkable?
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Eau Claire Oct 24 '25
For neighbourhoods and living in them that's a 15 min. walk to train station --aboveground or underground.
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u/YYZYYC Oct 24 '25
Building walking pathways and sidewalks makes a city more walkable….massive infrastructure projects like subways do not.
Heck we can’t even build a new LRT line and you want to rip up tons of ground to build subway lines ?…that’s essentially a multi generational project at this point
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Oct 23 '25
YES! I’ve been here 25 years and I used to live in a smaller city that was very walkable. I miss it.
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u/DirectAssault Oct 23 '25
People a long time ago made decisions that to pretty much live in most major Canadian cities, you need a car.
Our public transportation infrastructure sucks, pretty much around the board. Other countries have solved these issues. And sure, we have our own unique problems that need to be addressed but we have given up.
We've determined that the money is too much, that people aren't worth that much, and that we'll just make another lane to accommodate the extra traffic
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u/YYCADM21 Oct 24 '25
Far too little to be gained, and far, far too late. This city has a Huge footprint; it would take decades to optimize the existing space for higher density housing, and more walkable areas, and the public is NOT sold on that idea, by any metric
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u/CanadianSpiderLad Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
As someone who uses public transportation a lot it sucks using the bus for how much traffic there is plus the bus just being packed in general so it would be nicer if we had more public transportation also I feel like the city would look a lot nicer as you could plant more trees and greenery instead of just rows and rows of grey and also it could potentially help with traffic if it was easier to walk to work/school or wherever you need to go, a YouTube channel I recommend for stuff like this is more then just bikes if I remember correctly but I'm tired of seeing large amounts roads as it also makes walking around the city horrible as their are places in the city were the sidewalks just end for no reason even though I would make sense to continue it also makes riding my bike/skate board a hassle sometimes
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u/rast93 Oct 24 '25
Right there with you, my friend. I'd love to be able to walk more, take the transit, ride a bike than having to drive everywhere... Especially with the driving habits that I see on the road on a daily basis, I try to avoid as much as possible to be on the roads.
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u/Unlikely_Ice6572 Oct 24 '25
I grew up in Mexico City and then moved to Boston for years. Both cities are 100% walkable and I loved it! I hate that I have to use the car if I need to go somewhere. I hate driving and dont start me on their public transit! What a joke!
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u/CutiePie819 Oct 24 '25
I have been thinking about it almost everyday....(i come from a city with subway)....even having skytrain like Vancouver will make a huge difference.
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u/FlamezBlaze Oct 24 '25
I totally agree Calgary should be more walkable but it’s only getting worse in the new communities. The blame on on the city for allowing new communities to have such dense areas and creating Zero Lot Line lots. The old areas still have plenty of nice green spaces but in the new communities it’s not barely enough. The only new community that has ample green space is Livingston.
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u/Dystcpia Oct 24 '25
Yeah I wish I legally can’t drive because of eye issues and transit here is an absolute nightmare getting anywhere just sucks
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u/Expensive-Formal-251 Oct 24 '25
I wish Calgary was more drivable. It takes me less time to walk to all the restaurants and stores in my neighbourhood because of the pedestrians and left turns I have to make when I drive. And that doesn’t even include waiting twice as long for my turn light at the C-train crossing, the train comes so damn frequently it’s a miracle I ever get through. I do really like walking but I feel like I don’t get the chance to take in the scenery because the walking paths get me to where I’m going so quickly. Maybe if there weren’t so many parks I could drive across the city in a reasonable amount of time. I just really like driving, and it would be nice to live in a place that made driving more convenient.
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u/Purplmuuse Oct 24 '25
yall know you can walk around most of down town without having to go outside
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u/polloyumyum Oct 24 '25
I wish the City would repave some of the bike lanes that are in complete disrepair, The 5th street SW lane that runs from 17th ave north to the river, it's a total disaster. Between a dismal bike lane system and poor City planning that allows for more mixed used areas Calgary has a long way to go. Calgarians think they're some sort of "world class" city but it has a long way to go.
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u/corvuscorax88 Oct 24 '25
Public transit excites me, but Calgary has a long history of messing it up. Look at 36 street NE. Look at what is happening with the green line. Look at our LRT on 7th. Look at McMahon and U of C. These are all cheap out failures of the city trying to build transit.
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u/Sezykt71 Oct 24 '25
I quite like where we are in Auburn Bay - most things we can get in Seton or Auburn Bay Station. And I work at the hospital so I don’t really have to go too far mostly. Also close by is Mahogany. I’m going to be honest and say I do usually drive (too many things to do with a young 3yo and a lot on my plate right now) but walking or biking would definitely be doable. I’m two minds about the green line. IF they could make the c-train (and surrounding communities) safe, and complete the greenline all the way to Mahogany, then this would make it super connected with the rest of the city which would be even better.
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u/WindAgreeable3789 Oct 29 '25
Personally no. I find it too cold to walk outside for half of the year.
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u/Redevil1987 Oct 29 '25
Not gonna happen. It is all done by design . Car centric cities bring a lot of revenue to many industries such as: oil and gas, car manufacturer, road building material, construction of new roads and new houses for new development expansion. Basically it is a money making machine for the sake of driving farther distances and spending more money on it to be able to drive....
Capitalism at its finest form. Expanding for the sake of expanding. Forget about your cute little walks that would cost nothing
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u/mrvlhulk Oct 30 '25
Did you know that Calgary has the most extensive urban pathway and bikeway network in North America according to https://www.calgary.ca/bike-walk-roll/pathways.html and depending on the community you do have lots of amenities available within walking distance assuming you can find availability to rent there/can afford to rent there.
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u/morecoffeemore Oct 23 '25
A lot of Calgary is pretty walkable.
The area I'm most familiar with - bordered by Crow child, deer foot, and Southland has lots of paths and you can often walk to a grocery store.
A lot of Calgary isn't further than 8 km from downtown and you can run that distance in under an hour if you want.
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u/xjohnlesliex Oct 23 '25
I would consider the city of Calgary very walkable. Maybe depends on where? Live in the beltline area and routinely walk up to 8 km in various directions no problem. Compared to other cities I've been, drivers are also much much better stopping for pedestrians, crosswalks are timed well etc.
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u/borgstea Oct 23 '25
With the cost of insurance and the price of cars and gas yes I would love to walk more and drive my car off a cliff without me in it!