A New Era For ETS
Every day, Edmontonians take over 400,000 transit trips, and every year ETS provides about two million hours of service. With our city growing at three times the national rate, and an anticipated 170,000 new residents arriving over the next decade, now is the time to start building for the future. The status-quo of our current transit system is no longer acceptable.
The way our transit system currently operates is inefficient and, in my opinion, has two critical flaws: it is both expensive to run and oftentimes unreliable to use. We’ve made strides in reallocating our transit resources, but our current system is operations-heavy and doesn’t put an emphasis on people. After an extensive, two-year long public engagement campaign, administration has released a plan built around five “pillars” with a hope to encourage more people to choose transit:
- Build transit-friendly neighbourhoods and places.
- Offer fare categories that are consistent and easy to understand.
- Provide service that reflects the different preferences of inner and outer neighbourhoods.
- Elevate the importance of safety.
- Keep up with trends in technology and the environment.
I’m pleased to see that many of the recommendations in this report came directly from the feedback users provided. If this plan is approved, transit users will see simplified, more direct community buses that connect local destinations to the major backbone routes. Suburban residents stressed the need for high-speed peak-hour routes to facilitate an easier commute and downtown core residents requested high-frequency systems available for short trips during any part of the day and more service on weekends.
The last major review and update to our bus service happened in 1997 and our city has grown by leaps and bounds since then. A change this transformative will certainly not be easy and we will experience growing pains as we move through the process. Some routes will be lost, some people will have to travel further to reach their bus stop, and we will have to think creatively about how we continue to serve seniors and those with mobility challenges. But we must evolve our thinking to deliver better transit service to Edmontonians and provide a service that more people will actually want to use.
As I’ve said before, having a high performing transit service supports increased productivity, reduces traffic congestion, achieves our shared environmental goals and stimulates economic activity. Building our city with an ‘urban-shift’ in mind, with a goal to achieving greater density by concentrating growth along our key corridors, requires the support of a high functioning transit system. This report (to be discussed on July 5th at Urban Planning Committee) gives us a window on bringing that vision to life and I’m interested in your thoughts.
My hope is that this review and implementation moves us to a ‘main line’ model of transit offering frequent, more direct service, thus giving many more Edmontonians options to leave their cars at home. I believe our role as leaders is to answer the question how do we build a city for people? Without transforming our transit system, we will fall short of that mission.
*Update:
After hearing from many people at Committee last week, there is clearly some confusion around privatization and the proposed transit strategy. It’s important to note that the discussion around these alternative options is solely focused on the ‘first and last mile’ of a person’s trip – how they make the final leg of their journey, whether it’s by walking, taking a taxi or riding a bike to their destination. We need better options for this part of people’s trip today, regardless of any future changes to transit routes. The concerns raised last week about privatization and ridesharing has, in my opinion, been blown out of proportion as Council explores ways to deliver our $300 million public transit service more efficiently.
Part of the motion put forward directs Administration to look at all options for the first and last mile, from ridesharing, to Dial-A-Bus, to Driving Miss Daisy and more. Council has made no decisions when it comes to this and will have the opportunity to debate options further. This is not the main issue up for debate though. Our city does not have a coherent strategy for transit and we desperately need one. The proposed transit strategy is about shaking up a status quo that I believe isn’t serving riders very well – and instead building a transit service that can better meet the need of many present and more future riders.
20 thoughts on “A New Era For ETS”
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I am hopeful that the changes will allow for faster travel times for moving people from one point to the other for at least the routes that are focused on. Also, as LRT is expanded I hope the highest priority is on efficiency rather than budget so that routes like the Metro line by 111 ave are not repeated.
I feel like this might be considered counterproductive as far as finances go, but lower fares might help with increasing the amount of people taking transit, thereby contributing to decreased overall emissions from cars. I use ETS to go to work (I work at the RAH) and school, both of which are downtown while I live in the north end. Being a student, affording to keep a car on the road is difficult and right now a bus pass is almost equivalent to what I would pay in insurance, which doesn’t make sense as transit is ideally supposed to be the cheaper option. A lot of people skip the fare boxes because they don’t have the change for the fare on them and then have to pray they don’t see a peace officer and get slapped with a $250+ fine. It’s not that they necessarily *want* to break laws. It’s that this might be the last train they can take to work and still get there without being late and they forgot to grab change or don’t have time to break a bill and if they’re late because of transit again they might get fired. Generally decreased fares could help combat that.
Subsidized passes for lower-income brackets might also be a good idea, as people of lower incomes tend to rely on transit more to get to work.
Extended hours for trains and major buses, if not 24hr service altogether for major routes, is what I personally consider an eventual must for ETS. This is not a 9-5 Monday-Friday city. This is a 24/7-365 city that runs on shift work and has upwards of 1 million people within city limits alone and our transit system should reflect that. I myself work days, late evenings, and night shifts. I have two jobs and I work 8’s, I work 12’s, I’ve been known to do 14’s. When I take the train, as a relatively physically non-imposing woman in my 20’s, I get off at Belvedere and often have to walk to Londonderry area from there – at midnight, because there’s no bus running. Right now Belvedere is a seriously questionable area and sees a lot of issues, and it doesn’t put you in a good frame of mind when you know there’s no bus coming by that might see you if you need help and you’re not by a panic button.
On that note, more panic buttons. Scatter those things like Skittles. Have you not seen the stuff that happens on the late night trains, especially with major events like hockey or concerts? It’s pandemonium and often a panic button might not be in reach. Encouragement of use of the panic buttons is also essential, but this can be covered with good advertising like the etiquette tips that get posted on the digital boards at churchill and the like. Smart move, that, by the way.
Also, for the love of smooth-flowing traffic, please just bite the bullet and put the trains below ground or above any intersections. We’re sick of waiting at the crossings at Kingsway or NAIT for upwards of 10-15 min while the train crawls by.
STOP using ETS as school buses.
That is not what they are for.
More express service from Jasper Place and Winterburn to downtown.
Service from the West end to Century Park.
Great to read about some needed changes!
I’ve grown up in Edmonton and relied on public transportation and it was a headache at times. One of my complaints was the transit stations (i.e. Southgate, Milgate etc). I found these a waste of time actually. They were in my opinion not people friendly, time wasting and reliable. Creat bus lanes instead.
I now live in Seoul South Korea and in the mid 2000s the mayor created a new transit program (which was not initially well received) but it has now become a “why didn’t I think about that” moment. I would suggest you contact the current mayor to see how busses are operated. The city also has Night busses which have been popular.
I know Edmonton and Seoul are two vastly different cities in many ways, but I believe Edmonton can learn a lot.
I would also replace the monthly busspass (please don’t use specific zones as in Vancouver) and instead use buss cards which you can be recharged at conventient stores and at stations. Lower the fare and just have people charge their cards in increments of $5-50 or more. My explanation doesn’t due justice to Seoul’s bus system, so I found a good read, though 2012 but it provides some important information. I know there’s room for improvement here in Seoul, but it is one of the features of this city which give praise. I hope you contact Seoul to revamp Edmonton’s (even Alberta) public transit.
https://www.google.co.kr/amp/www.governing.com/columns/eco-engines/col-seoul-subway-offers-lesson-in-transportation.html%3FAMP
And here’s another-
http://www.korea4expats.com/article-seoul-by-bus.html
Sincerely,
Paulette
P.S. Don, I don’t know if you remember me me but I used to work with tou at Harcourt Gallery i with Christal back in 2000. Do you remember? Congrats on being the mayor if Edmonton!
ETS use to have an app that had the bus pass it worked extremely well! I have no idea why the city would move backwards an go to smart cards. Bring the app back!
Are the transit stations going to have turnstiles that scan busspasses ,take coins and tickets.
Or are they still going to use the honour system with transit cop dragnets to catch those leaving proof of payment area that tried to avoid paying fare or forgot their bus pass or validate their bus ticket?
never understood why the transit cops couldn’t just turn around and remind us it is a proof of payment area.
turnstiles would free them up so they could do other things like patrol the stations and platforms to keep the citizens of Edmonton safe.
We currently live in a newer neighbourhood in the west end where the closest bus stop is a 25 minute walk. It is unrealistic to expect my high school kids to walk that far in the winter to catch transit; therefore I will likely have to buy them a car to simply get to school otherwise they have to hang at the mall until we are off work and can pick them up. ETS has advised that our neighbourhood isn’t in the plans to have transit service for the next couple years so why does the city keep approving these new neighbourhoods without planning transit to support them?
Can Edmonton not learn from oh ,I don’t know,New York, Toronto or Vancouver? Why are we trying to reinvent the wheel? An above ground track running next to one of 2 major hospitals was poor design to say the least.seem more than once emergency vehicles waiting for up to 4 minutes to cross Kingsway ave. Now we want to go down Stony Plain road? Do it the right way ..the first time this time! Under or over but not ON!
I’m excited about the potential, but am reserving judgement until I see on the ground evidence that these pillars are being placed above other concerns (*cough* *cough* car flow *cough* *cough*).
In particular, I’m highly skeptical that the City of Edmonton can stick to “Build transit-friendly neighbourhoods and places.”
– I was at a consultation for Valley Line west the other day. The intersection in between my house and the station is still being designed to maximize car flow, not pedestrian access to the LRT stop.
– “Imagine Jasper Ave” intends to remove a bus lane so that changes to make it a more human neighbourhood don’t affect car flow. So we’re very familiar with sacrificing transit’s convenience & reliability for other priorities
– Parking minimums continue to make all new construction transit unfriendly unless in a specifically identified TOD zone (basically: near an LRT stop). So there’s never going to be new transit-friendly areas of the city, just slow redevelopment.
Hello Mr Iveson
Not sure what your dealing with in the large spectrum but I do have some suggestions I would like to be heard.
I try to ride public transit in every city I visit and the easiest systems to use have 15 min frequency set up on a grid system eg northbound bus when needing to travel nb get off where I need to go east and catch eastbound bus on eastbound route etc
Also … in areas where ridership is low offering start up service at a higher fare than inlying higher frequency ridership areas this way it doesn’t affect all taxpayers for service in weaker areas
Also safety is an issue at ets it’s almost a crap shoot getting to work on time as security isn’t responding as quickly as needed
Thank you so much for looking into this problem. I know I’m not alone when it comes to unreliable transit. The biggest problem I’ve had is when buses don’t show up during the winter time. When I come home from the University of Alberta, I often have to transfer to the 102 Lymburn at West Edmonton Mall. During the winter, this bus is often an hour and a half late (and sometimes, it doesn’t show up at all). This is the only bus I can take that goes to where I live, so if it doesn’t show up, then there are no other options available for me.
If you can work to fix this problem, then that would be great.
Suggestions to save money and stimulate ridership:
1, Improve interlining and reduce the amount of deadheading
2. Get rid of transfers (huge savings to the City)
3. Cash fares reduced to $1.00 per bus. (If it takes 3 buses to get home, it costs you $3.00)
4. Reduce the monthly passes to $30 to encourage more people to purchase them in lieu of the $1 per bus charge.
5. All the above have the potential of reducing driver assaults.
6. Listen to the drivers suggestions as well as the planners, as they are the front line people who can suggest reasonable ideas on improving service.
7. Reducing wages in this day and age of higher costs of living will erode the standard of workmanship. You get what you pay for.
Lofty words that ring hollow when considering the reality in Edmonton.
Did they address the mess on the NAIT line yet ?
Where is the west LRT funding to WEM ? A major bottleneck !
No admission of guilt ? Have transit or signal engineers been fired to show leadership ?
How about wifi or cell phone signals in the LRT tunnel downtown or under UofA ?
How about machines that take debit or credit cards ?
It takes me just under 2 hrs
At best 1:40
To go from Millwoods to Northgate
In the same amount of time I could go to Red Deer!
Millwoods was developed in the late 70 ‘s with the promise of LRT !!
*It takes waaaay too long for routes and connections to be developed.
*And for some unknown reason we just can’t build above ground!
We are small minded in our thinking and too conservative in our building.
Calgary is surpassing us and we look like the “poor relation”.
We are the Capital City and our development of Transit should be visible and reflect inivation and forward thinking.
Stop being so conservative.
We look like schmucks.
I am seriously concerned about the privatization of public transit but contemplating vouchers/market approaches for something that is fundamentally a public good. If our taxes cannot support the new neighbourboods being approved then please have the political will to increase taxes or stop approving sprawl. But please don’t sacrifice a critical public infrastructure. The privatized elements won’t have the same safety standards, promotes more precious work (vs good jobs in public transportation) and makes this less of an inclusive city with a two-tiered transportation system. Thanks for considering my thoughts.
A couple concerns:
LRT needs to be above grade in busy areas. This is best practice in major cities that don’t want to do tunnels.
When 3 buses leave from WEM for downtown at the same time (then nothing for 1/2 hour), the issue is with scheduling more than needing to restructure the system.
paulette hawkins says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
June 27, 2017 at 11:14 pm
Great to read about some needed changes!
I’ve grown up in Edmonton and relied on public transportation and it was a headache at times. One of my complaints was the transit stations (i.e. Southgate, Milgate etc). I found these a waste of time actually. They were in my opinion not people friendly, time wasting and reliable. Creat bus lanes instead.
I now live in Seoul South Korea and in the mid 2000s the mayor created a new transit program (which was not initially well received) but it has now become a “why didn’t I think about that” moment. I would suggest you contact the current mayor to see how busses are operated. The city also has Night busses which have been popular.
I know Edmonton and Seoul are two vastly different cities in many ways, but I believe Edmonton can learn a lot.
I would also replace the monthly busspass (please don’t use specific zones as in Vancouver) and instead use buss cards which you can be recharged at conventient stores and at stations. Lower the fare and just have people charge their cards in increments of $5-50 or more. My explanation doesn’t due justice to Seoul’s bus system, so I found a good read, though 2012 but it provides some important information. I know there’s room for improvement here in Seoul, but it is one of the features of this city which give praise. I hope you contact Seoul to revamp Edmonton’s (even Alberta) public transit.
https://www.google.co.kr/amp/www.governing.com/columns/eco-engines/col-seoul-subway-offers-lesson-in-transportation.html%3FAMP
And here’s another-
http://www.korea4expats.com/article-seoul-by-bus.html
Sincerely,
Paulette
P.S. Don, I don’t know if you remember me me but I used to work with tou at Harcourt Gallery i with Christal back in 2000. Do you remember? Congrats on being the mayor if Edmonton!
There should big corridors (eight lanes wide) leading in all directions with lrt above ground. If you look at big american cities ,lrt is all above ground because vehicular and lrt don’t mix well.Lrt should have modular stations and tracks on big poles that could be installed with little interruption in traffic.As demand changes ,lrt could be easily adjusted particularly at night..Low cost high rise housing should be assembled about lrt stations for the benefit of patrons.Lrt should be run out to bedroom communities such as Spruce Grove,Fort Saskatchewan,Leduc with airport access into the terminal,Toefield etc etc
I have had concerns about the LRT line running up 66th/75th Street for quite some time. I live in the area, and 66th brings traffic throughout the Southside. The expansion in South Edmonton has been substantial. There is only a single lane road from 23rd ave south the the ellerslie area, which is densely populated. Now, an ON THE GROUND line is being run in the area, and all the way up 75th, which is already congested. I do not have the opportunity to take the LRT to work, and now, from the looks of it, I can expect an hour long drive to work (I hope this is not the case, but I am skeptical). I am certainly not the only one.
I understand this is a legacy project. As opposed to moving with the times, we are completing an old plan to honour what exactly? Whose legacy is this? Thus far, LRT lines have negatively impacted traffic. The example being the line on 111st. I avoid the area, but this 66th line will be unavoidable for me and thousands of others. Above ground or below ground would be the smarter way to construct this. Why spend so much money doing a job poorly? I’m not sure this is a great legacy to be associated with. I am certainly not an engineer, or a city planner but the “common sense” tells me this will be a mess. It is easy to say “you knew about this for years”. I’ve lived in Millwoods my entire life (I’m in my mid thirties) and had not heard about it, or received information regarding the layout plans or town halls about the LRT line. LRT is an old, tired idea. I do not understand why we haven’t moved towards fresh, innovative options in transit. We are using 1970’s ideas for transit in 2017!
I sincerely hope these lines do not create the amount of headaches, accidents and traffic jams I foresee. A projected 600 m line up to get onto the Whitemud is crazy!
The goal is to have people take public transport. While that is fine, not everyone works downtown. People will still opt to drive. Making drivers have to spend more time with their engines running surely won’t help. Streamlining current bus routes, schedules and repairing roads probably would have helped alleviate issues. Looking at the information, I will have alter my route, because I won’t be able to be able to exit my neighbourhood onto the main artery and then, after being held up there it will be difficult to get onto the Whitemud.
Below is the report that really drove home the issues:
http://globalnews.ca/news/3676948/city-releasing-intersection-details-on-wait-times-around-southeast-valley-line-lrt/
As a student at the U of A this plan looks very very promising. That being said, fears around replacing drivers with Uber are very concerning. It’s comforting to know no official decisions have been made. But let’s hope it’s a decision that supports a fully PUBLIC system of transit.
Also, what are the options as to adding A/C to busses? This years heritage days festival highlighted exactly why A/C would be in the best interest of not only driver safety but PASSENGER and PUBLIC safety. A further issue that jeopardizes drivers and passengers is the lack of sufficient and GUARANTEED breaks and physical needs relief for drivers. Another concern raised DELIBERATE undertiming of schedules, which, in some cases make it so drivers must speed or make unsafe maneuvers. These three issues compounded have created a highly unsafe situation for the PUBLIC.
That said, keep up the great work, and good luck!