St. Albert's bus system turns 40 — and reopens a longer history
St. Albert is marking 40 years since the city began running buses under its own banner, even as long-time riders and former staff say the story of local transit stretches back decades earlier. The municipality recognized the anniversary over the Canada Day weekend with cotton candy giveaways at Servus Place and has had buses wrapped in 1980s-themed designs since January.
The city’s independently operated service officially launched on July 2, 1986, when a new transit garage opened in Campbell Industrial Park. Before that, St. Albert relied on contractors and neighbouring systems to move commuters. The 1986 shift represented a step toward local control over routes, schedules and fleet maintenance.
From a scramble to service
Desmond “Dez” Liggett, hired in February 1986 to pull together the new operation, recalled the pace and pressure of those months.
“It was very much a scramble,” Liggett said, noting he had support from staff at city hall as hiring, building and scheduling were carried out ahead of the July launch.
The milestone has prompted a look back at what came before. Public transportation in the community began long before the 1980s, with efforts ranging from an early interurban streetcar to contracted buses tied to Edmonton.
Longer lineage: streetcar to contracted buses
According to local histories, St. Albert’s first mechanized link to the capital was Raymond Brutinelle’s Interurban Railway, an electric streetcar that began shuttling riders between downtown St. Albert and Edmonton on Oct. 8, 1913 for 25 cents a trip. That service ended on April 1, 1914 when the streetcar was destroyed in a fire.
Other operators came and went through the 1950s and 1960s. Municipal involvement started to take shape in the 1970s. Liggett notes the then–Town of St. Albert created “St. Albert Transit” on April 1, 1974, complete with its own tickets and schedules but without a fleet or drivers. The town contracted Edmonton to run three buses during peak hours, and roughly 300 riders daily paid 50 cents to travel into Edmonton, according to the city’s website.
By 1976, the town bought 10 buses to extend service to the University of Alberta and hired Briggs Bus Lines to operate eight yellow school buses for local trips. That period also drew in future civic leaders: Wes Brodhead, later a city councillor, drove the Edmonton–St. Albert route throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
“They were prized runs,” Brodhead recalled, noting the buses were newer and outfitted with cushioned seats.
Why the anniversary date matters
The city’s 40th marks the point when St. Albert moved from contracted reliance to a fully municipally operated bus system with its own garage and workforce. But for residents who rode the 1974-era commuter buses—or who remember the 1913 streetcar—the notion of when transit “began” depends on what start line is drawn.
- If the yardstick is the first city-run fleet and facility, 1986 is the anchor year.
- If the focus is municipal responsibility for service planning, 1974 stands out.
- If the criterion is first mechanized service moving people to and from Edmonton, the clock reaches back to 1913.
That layered history explains this year’s celebration—complete with retro bus wraps—even as it acknowledges earlier chapters that set the stage for 1986.
What riders are seeing this year
Commuters and families will notice visible nods to the milestone around the system. The city marked Canada Day with “40”-branded cotton candy at Servus Place, and 1980s-themed artwork has been on buses since January. Those elements are meant to connect current riders with the era when the city took the wheel on local transit operations.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1913 | Electric streetcar begins St. Albert–Edmonton service (25 cents) |
| 1914 | Streetcar destroyed in fire; service ends |
| 1974 | Town launches St. Albert Transit, contracts 3 peak-hour buses; ~300 daily riders at 50 cents |
| 1976 | Town buys 10 buses; Briggs Bus Lines drives 8 yellow school buses locally |
| 1986 | City opens transit garage; begins running its own buses on July 2 |
Looking back to move forward
The 40th anniversary is as much about revisiting the community’s choices as it is about commemoration. Contracting with Edmonton in the 1970s introduced transit to hundreds of daily riders, while purchasing buses in 1976 expanded local reach. The 1986 pivot to a city-run system concentrated oversight and service delivery inside St. Albert, from scheduling to maintenance—changes that still shape how riders experience the service today.
As celebratory buses continue to roll through neighbourhoods this summer, St. Albert’s transit story is being told on two tracks: the formal 40 years since the city took full carriage of operations, and the longer arc of public transportation that began, briefly, with a streetcar more than a century ago.
