Developing a long term plan for Calgary Transit is a top priority for 2012, says Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

In previous years too much transit planning has been done on an ad-hoc basis which has not always been in the best interest of customers, the mayor said.

Mayor sits down for year-end interview

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi talked about a variety of issues facing city hall and himself in 2011 when he sat down with CBC reporter Scott Dippel recently.

Some of those issues include a surprise federal government decision to not approve P3 funding for Calgary recreation centres, which was expected by the city, and how far Calgary's most popular mayor has to go if he wants to duck the spotlight.

For more on the interview, watch CBC Calgary TV News Wednesday at 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Nenshi cited the decision to exclude Mount Royal University from the West LRT line — set to open in 2013 — as an example.

And as far as Nenshi is aware, he said there is no planning document that explains why the northwest line needed to be extended to Tuscany right away. Yet the project was green lighted and is underway, he said.

“I’m not sure it should have been approved in the first place but a lot of money has been spent,” said Nenshi.

With Calgary Transit now facing several multi-billion dollar decisions about new LRT lines, Nenshi said the choices need to be based on more solid reasoning.

Calgary Transit needs a priority list as it begins to look at the next mega-projects, such as a new north-central and southeast LRT lines and putting the C-Train underground downtown, Nenshi said.

“We’ve got to have a good idea of which of those is the best bang for the buck, which of them we will want to do first, how do they get sequenced and prioritized,” he said.

Nenshi says improving links between the city's deep south and the east side are shorter-term priorities, as is improving customer service at Calgary Transit.