Calgary Transit route 7 'Marda Loop'
| Calgary Transit route 7 | |
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History
This route was originally served by streetcars. Tracks were first laid in the south along 12th from 1st St West and 17th Avenue from 2nd St East, with the two lines looping around on 14th Street West. By 1912, the Beltline Streetcar had developed four branch routes: the 12 Avenue line was extended to 18 Street and was known as the Sunalta Line (today a part of route 90), the 17 Avenue line was extended to 24 Street and became the Killarney line (today's routes 2 and 6), and a 3rd branch was introduced heading up the hill along 14 Street to 26 Avenue which became the 7.
Originally, a grand union existed at the intersection of 17 Ave and 14 Street, however operators were later forbidden to turn right from 14 Street onto 17 Avenue after coming down the hill. This is because on December 15, 1919, an inbound car attempted to make the turn too fast, derailing and crashing into Crooks Drugs on the northeast corner of the intersection. One person was killed and 13 others were injured. After that unfortunate incident, the routing of the 7 from the 8th Avenue transit mall was as follows:
South on 1st Street West to 17 Avenue. West on 17 Avenue to 14 Street. South on 14 Street to the loop at 26 Avenue. Inbound: North on 14 Street to 12 Avenue. East On 12 Avenue to 8th Street. North on 8 Street to 8th Avenue. By the time the rails-to-rubber program started, streetcars ran in a loop around the neighborhood of South Calgary, using 26 Avenue, 20 Street, 34 Avenue, and 14 Street to loop around.
Streetcar service ended in 1949 and was replaced by trolleybuses. The new trolley route headed south on 14 Street to 33 Avenue, then west on 33rd to 33 Avenue Terminal, just east of 24 Street (Crowchild Trail). In 1966, the line was extended south along its current routing to 54 Avenue Terminal, while the old routing was preserved as the 7a to 33 Avenue Terminal only. The 7 was one of the last trolleybus routes in the city (alongside the 2 and 3), being dieselized in early 1975. All traces of 33 Avenue Terminal terminal were removed by 1982, and an apartment complex now sits on its site.
A 'Blue Arrow' express version of the route, designated the 107, ran until 2019.