[3] During its planning stages, Mayor Naheed Nenshi insisted the new line be made his favourite colour purple, citing his family's personal connection to International Avenue.

[3][4] The MAX Purple has attracted local interest as a project that rectifies an over century-long promise to bring adequate rapid transit to Greater Forest Lawn.

[9] This was primarily motivated by the City's early plans to convert Forest Lawn's high street 17 Avenue SE into a six-lane thoroughfare at the expense of the neighbourhood's businesses.

[7] In the 1990s, neighbourhood advocates established the International Avenue Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ), as a vehicle to bring urban renewal to a largely neglected region of the city.

These attempts were advanced by the International Avenue BRZ, who in 1995 submitted two proposals to the City which outlined steps for Forest Lawn's urban revitalization through meaningful transportation planning.

[10] Another proposal was submitted in 2003 by the BRZ in collaboration with the University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design, which envisioned a multi-modal, retail-based boulevard supported by a light rail transit service.

The transitway also features the province's first U-turn signals as a means to address reduced vehicle access to the International Avenue's businesses.