Seems to me the delegation went to Seattle, Portland and Vancouver with their minds already made. Something they have to consider (and clearly have not) is that transit ridership in Canada is much higher than the US, so these tramways that work in Portland will not have the necessary capacity for Calgary.
Ottawa did the same thing, with the mayor and a few councilors visiting a few cities to compare systems and again, they already knew what they wanted to do here, so it wasn't much more than a series of free trip on the tax payers dime.
Based on the video, it seems they only considered Vancouver's Canada Line, not the whole Skytrain System. Seems like their methodology was pretty flawed.
I agree that elevated guideways can be an eyesore if not done correctly (Vancouver's hit or miss, mostly wide structures with huge pillars, while the Sunalta section in Calgary is as good as it gets with a narrower guideway and slim pillars).
The way I see it though, if you're going to build light rail on the street, having to stop at red lights and letting people cross the tracks, might as well build BRT. Pretty much the same capacity, but for much cheaper and offers more flexibility in case of an accident along the corridor.
I think Ottawa is doing it right (and that's a rare thing). We are using low floor lrt for maximum flexibility*. It allows us to build at grade where possible, but still fully grade separated. The system is built to rapid transit standards, with platforms at 90 meters surface, 120 underground, expandable to 150 meters, capacity ranging from 18,000 to a full build out of 24,000. The system is automated, but with a driver in case of emergency (one day, it could be fully automated like Vancouver).
One problem with a low floor system is that it makes it easier for people to walk on the rail right of way, either to cross the street, cross the station or maybe even accidentally stepping down form the curb/platform. Ottawa mitigated this two ways; 1. all stations have a barrier between the two tracks and 2. Tracks are not embedded in the concrete, but set on top of the bed, which makes for a 2-3 foot drop to the rail bed, so not as intimidating or dangerous as rapid transit, but high enough to deter people from stepping down on the tracks.
*Full disclosure, they chose low floor lrt in order to run the trains on the Ottawa River Parkway (now the John A. Macdonald Parkway). This is currently the bus route (temporary solution 35 years in), about 3 kilometers with no stations, bypassing some of the densest areas in Ottawa. With the new train line, 2 stations would have been added, but they would have been a long, cold hike away from development. Luckily, logic prevailed in the form of the National Capital Commission, a Federal Government body that owns the Parkway, forcing the City to come up with a different route. The City had a long, multi year debate similar to Calgary's with Centre Street (Carling Avenue vs. Richmond Road, surface, elevated or underground). Ottawa came up with what I was rooting for since years before, the Richmond Underground where the two stations could actually be integrated with the community. This
link shows roughly what we're ending up with (a few modifications have been done since). The Sir John A. Parkway is the winding road on the north end of the diagram.
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