City councillor calls for thorough investigation into fatal bus crash in Saddletowne Circle

A city councillor wants the city to leave no stone unturned when it reviews last week’s fatal multi-vehicle and bus collision in northeast Calgary that resulted in three deaths and 10 hospitalizations.

During Tuesday’s annual organizational meeting of council, Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal asked administration what the internal review process will look like as the city probes the chain of collisions on Oct. 15 that led to an eight-vehicle pileup, and a compressed natural gas-powered transit bus catching fire in Saddletowne Circle N.E.

Dhaliwal said he has full confidence in Calgary Transit and the city’s first responders, but that the city has a responsibility to examine the incident with full transparency and accountability.

He asked who will be leading the investigation, what guardrails it will include and how the assessment will incorporate independent technical expertise.

Julie Radke, the city’s acting general manager of operational services, said the city is following the lead of the Calgary Police Service, which is investigating the collision and has asked bus passengers who were involved to help investigators gather evidence.

“Once they’ve completed their investigation, we will proceed with further operational investigations,” Radke told council. “That will include any appropriate technical expertise to ensure we have a thorough process.”

Last Thursday afternoon, a Calgary Transit bus was travelling northbound on Saddletowne Circle when it collided with a white truck near 80th Avenue N.E.

That truck then struck another vehicle and collided with a cube van, while the bus continued down the road and hit a stationary compressed natural gas (CNG) transit bus, which caught fire after its fuel tank was ignited.

Three passengers were declared dead at the scene and 16 people were injured, several of whom were taken to hospital.

Just under one week later, Dhaliwal said his Ward 5 office is still fielding calls from constituents asking what led to the tragedy.

“As a responsible elected official, it’s my job and my responsibility to seek answers on behalf of the residents,” he said in an interview. “We lost three wonderful Calgarians. Many are in the hospital, recovering. I think their families all deserve (to know) what went wrong, how it went wrong and what could have prevented this.

“And, moving forward, how are we going to ensure something like this does not repeat itself?”

The city’s investigation should involve third-party subject matter experts, said Dhaliwal, who said he’s willing to bring forward a notice of motion to ensure the review is carried out objectively.

“When I’m saying independent, I’m looking for transportation and transit experts who are not part of our organization,” he said. “I’m looking for subject matter experts in CNG buses — someone who can come in from a forensic perspective.”

He noted that after the Bearspaw South feeder main burst for the first time in 2024, the previous council commissioned an independent panel to look into what led to that infrastructure failure.

While Dhaliwal said he’s not suggesting a similar task force to investigate the bus collision, the seriousness of the incident requires a comprehensive review.

And the city should not just focus on the collision or the type of bus fleet, according to Dhaliwal, but also the traffic engineering design of Saddletowne Circle, which he argued has always presented safety concerns.

“Let’s get to the depth of it,” he said. “I’m not doubting — I want to be open — our operation management and the integrity of these buses. All I’m saying is that after this, Calgarians need answers to make sure we give them certainty that this won’t happen in the future.”

At an unrelated news event Wednesday, two of Dhaliwal’s colleagues said they’d welcome an independent probe, including Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

“I fully support Coun. Dhaliwal in his call for an independent review to first address questions that might exist around our bus fleet, but also the road design and engineering in Saddletowne Circle,” he told reporters.

Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston also said he’d be in favour of an extensive review, noting he’s long had misgivings about the safety of CNG buses.

Calgary Transit’s vehicle fleet includes 347 CNG buses, according to the agency’s website, representing roughly 30 per cent of the agency’s bus fleet. The buses emit about 20 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than diesel buses and up to 95 per cent fewer nitrogen oxides. They also have lower fuel and maintenance costs.

If a probe determines natural gas-powered buses present safety issues, Johnston said it would be up to council to weigh the cost implications of pulling the vehicles from the street and replacing them with buses that rely on less combustible fuels.

“We are so focused on climate this, climate that, and this is one of those outcomes of not using what’s reliable, and that would be a diesel bus,” he told Postmedia.

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