Calgary Transit route 1 'Bowness / Forest Lawn'
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Calgary Transit route 1 'Bowness / Forest Lawn' is a route in the North West, South West, and South East parts of the city of Calgary.
The route starts at the Bowness Terminal, located near Bowness Park. From there the route runs towards downtown via Kensington before heading along 17th Ave SE out to Forest Lawn and the Penbrooke Terminal.
History
Route 1 was originally a streetcar route. The eastern part of the route was one of Calgary's first streetcars. Known as the East Calgary line, it ran along 9th Avenue from a loop located at 15 Street SE into downtown (where it ran along 8th Avenue). Streetcars then crossed the Louise Bridge and headed north on 10 Street to a loop on 5 Avenue. By 1912, the western portion of the line later known as the 1 would be extended in a loop around Hillhurst, heading west from 10th on Kensington Road, then north along 14th Street to 5th Avenue, then east to 10th Street where it would then head back south to downtown. Eventually, the tracks were extended east to 20th Street, where they then headed south. Streetcars would then loop around at 28 Avenue. East of downtown, this routing is nearly identical to today's route 101. In 1912, tracks were laid for the Bowness line, branching off from the 1 along Kensington Road and running to a loop located on the eastern end of the Hextall (Shouldice) Bridge. The line was soon extended across the bridge to a terminal at the gates of Bowness Park, which is still the western terminus of the route today. At the peak of streetcar service, there were two routes heading west on Kensington Road. The A followed the 1, heading west on 8th Ave instead of east onto 5th Ave. It then headed south on 24th Street to Kensington Road, terminating at 34 Street. Past downtown, the eastern half of the A is now today's 5. The B to Bowness simply continued straight along Kensington Road all the way to Bowness, running immediately adjacent to the Bow River in places, until it reached Bowness.
Streetcar service on these lines ended in 1950, with the final run into Bowness being driven by Billie Smith in April of that year. The Inglewood portion of the route was replaced with trolleybuses, but wires were only strung as far as 34 Street on the eastern end. One would need to catch a motor bus in order to go all the way to Bowness Park.
The 1 would be one of the first trolleybus routes to be dieselized, with trolleybus service ending in 1965.
Previous route maps
May 1998
December 2004
March 2006
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