Edmonton Public Transit

[canucklehead2]

Here, here!! That's also what I have been saying for years. Just get the G-D thing built already. All the potential lines have been planned out years ago, so don't stall anymore with more mountains of studies...

West Line-Via 107 Ave to Jasper Place, build it NOW!!
Northwest Line-Via CN ROW up 127 st to Castledowns, build it NOW!!
South Line-Via CP ROW to Mill Woods, build it NOW!!
West Line-Via 87 Ave to WEM, build it NOW!!
North Line-Via 105 St to Northgate, built it NOW!!

I still think we need to form a citizen's group and start a website, petitions, etc to make sure this is THE top issue during this fall's Edmonton General Election...

[RicoLance21]

Originally Posted by feepa

I like your idea, and its one that I have been thinking about myself.

This is more along the line that I thought

102 ave in oliver (111 st - 124st) would be used for transit only

see other alternations

My vision for 102 Ave:
-LRT ROW to WEM with stations on 116 St, RAM, 142 St, Jasper Place, Meadowlark and WEM.
-Streetcar line sharing the LRT tracks with stops on each passing track every two blocks (to let the LRT pass on a straight track).
-Temporary express route to WEM on 102 Ave. during latter phases of WLRT construction with a transfer stop at 116 St.
-Potential BRT ROW to St. Albert via Westmount.
-LRT/Streetcar/BRT transfer station can be 1-1/2 to 2 blocks long.
-Smarter rail crossing by placing the station before the crossing, while allowing traffic for a minimum of 30 seconds between bells. This is to prevent congestion, while having transit vehicles to accumulate for a short time before crossing the road together.

[adeep88]

Prices were raised today. $2.50 for a 90 minute transfer. $2.25 for Youths. Book of 10 goes from 18 to 21.

How does one get an incentive to ride the transit when they keep raising the prices every year?

[rapid_business]

Because it's still cheaper the car payments, insurance, gas, etc. Seriously, how can people complain about $2.50? Most don't realize that still doesn't pay for everything. Cities run public transit at a loss (yes, it cost them money!) as a service. It just can't be too big of a loss, hence, raised prices.

[CMD UW]

/\ I can guarantee you that ridership will continue to increase throughout the year, regardless of the price increase.

[adeep88]

What's the purpose of the proposed increase?

A 25 cent raise isn't much, but the prices have risen much higher than inflation. I guarantee if the prices are raised another 25 cents next year, ridership will decrease.

Instead of raising prices, go after those who don't pay on the LRT, or put in much less than the true fare in the buses.

[sdimedru]

would this fixed rail cost you anything? need a pass? a loonie to jump on?

i think the idea would be great, i live in oliver, and i think it'd be awesome to walk out to jasper ave and know that the "train" was comin any minute to drop me off near RHW.... rather than needing a bus pass and not having to wait around for 15 min!

great idea onishenko

[mersar]

And ETS is still a lot less then Calgary Transit for the monthly passes, and for the trip fares its only 25 cents higher. CT monthly pass is $75 here, vs $59 there. Our seniors pass is less ($35 vs $105), and our ridership is also increasing by leaps and bounds, and our fares just went up as well. Doesn't look like its stopping people here. These small fare increases don't mean much in the long run, and the rises on monthly passes even less since you can claim them on your income tax now anyways.

Going after the fare evaders on the buses isn't something the unions are going to allow, especially in Edmonton. There is too much risk to the drivers. And its been brought up for Calgary as well, but any measure to reduce fare evaders on the LRT systems costs more then it would benefit. You'd need to outfit every station with new equipment, hire more people to sit there and monitor it, deal with all the different fare types (I'm guessing the UPass that U of A and related are offering is similar to Calgary's, in that its a sticker on the ID card). All this for what may be a fairly small amount (I saw an article last year that mentioned that Calgary and Edmonton had some of the lowest evasion rates in NA). At best you could increase the number of transit enforcement officers (or your equivalent), but that still costs.

[Coldrsx]

transit prices are, to a point, relatively inelastic in demand. Sure if we put fares at $10, demand would fall, but 2.25 to 2.50 or 2.75....no meaningful demand side differences.

[adeep88]

Originally Posted by mersar

Going after the fare evaders on the buses isn't something the unions are going to allow, especially in Edmonton. There is too much risk to the drivers. And its been brought up for Calgary as well, but any measure to reduce fare evaders on the LRT systems costs more then it would benefit. You'd need to outfit every station with new equipment, hire more people to sit there and monitor it, deal with all the different fare types (I'm guessing the UPass that U of A and related are offering is similar to Calgary's, in that its a sticker on the ID card). All this for what may be a fairly small amount (I saw an article last year that mentioned that Calgary and Edmonton had some of the lowest evasion rates in NA). At best you could increase the number of transit enforcement officers (or your equivalent), but that still costs.

ETS security usually lets almost everyone go off with a warning (at least the minors). I recall reading an article a while back. Most violators don't get punished.

[adeep88]

Just have another few questions:

1) Will the South extension be honestly ready by 2009?

2) Has it been CONFIRMED that there is absolutely no chance there will be a Southgate station?

3) When will the city start planning/funding for LRT extensions from Century Park to Mill woods or West Edmonton Mall?

We're behind Calgary in terms of track length, but by 2020, we will be coming out ahead because of our Underground.

[mersar]

Just curious, but whats the fine for not having a valid proof of fare or pass up there?

Originally Posted by adeep88

We're behind Calgary in terms of track length, but by 2020, we will be coming out ahead because of our Underground.

Thats neglecting any and all the expansion Calgary will be doing by then as well. It's quite possible that we may have added 2 more legs (a total of around 30-40km) to our network by then, if not more. Plus we may also have started on our underground segment downtown by then (I'd hope).

[ibz]

Originally Posted by adeep88

Just have another few questions:

1) Will the South extension be honestly ready by 2009?

2) Has it been CONFIRMED that there is absolutely no chance there will be a Southgate station?

3) When will the city start planning/funding for LRT extensions from Century Park to Mill woods or West Edmonton Mall?

We're behind Calgary in terms of track length, but by 2020, we will be coming out ahead because of our Underground.

There 100% will be a Southgate Station. It was the park n ride component which is in question and probably wont be built.

[adeep88]

Originally Posted by ryanE

There 100% will be a Southgate Station. It was the park n ride component which is in question and probably wont be built.

I thought they were proposing the ''Southgate'' station would be moved a block north to where the Sobey's is? Or possibly moving it a bit south to Harry Ainlay?

[Coldrsx]

^WRONG!

it will be in the middle of 111st with a raised walkway to the mall.

[adeep88]

Originally Posted by mersar

Just curious, but whats the fine for not having a valid proof of fare or pass up there?

I think something around 120.

Originally Posted by mersar

Thats neglecting any and all the expansion Calgary will be doing by then as well. It's quite possible that we may have added 2 more legs (a total of around 30-40km) to our network by then, if not more. Plus we may also have started on our underground segment downtown by then (I'd hope).

I thought there are some serious roadblocks that would prevent an Underground down there?

Underground is the way to go. Personally, I'd rather have had the South extension all Underground, but that would cost much more and take more time.

Edmonton started out slow, but it's good the downtown core went Underground.

The potential is huge in Edmonton for the LRT.

[mersar]

Ok, so a bit lower then ours, which is $150 currently. And yeah, slow expansion is the tradeoff. But Edmonton's system is pretty good for what its got.

Calgary's only roadblock to underground is the cost, but its pretty much to the point where there is no other choice but to bite the bullet, within 2 years we'll be at the absolute lowest headways we can go between trains through the core, so we'll have to add another route through the core to give us back the capacity.

[rapid_business]

Originally Posted by adeep88

I think something around 120.

Underground is the way to go. Personally, I'd rather have had the South extension all Underground, but that would cost much more and take more time.

There is no reason to go underground unless there is enough density to warrent it. Anything out of DT and the Uni would be a joke. The cost would be 10 times that of laying surface track. It was a $100 mil. a KM of underground track... i'm sure that's much higher now.

[CanadianCentaur]

The actual fine for fare evasion here in Edmonton is $110.

Interesting that Calgary's fine is higher, but might be because since Calgary's ridership is higher, the number of fare evaders might be proportionally higher there. It's also possibly because there may not be enough staff to police the fare system for the ridership Calgary has compared to Edmonton's.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by onishenko

Because it's still cheaper the car payments, insurance, gas, etc. Seriously, how can people complain about $2.50? Most don't realize that still doesn't pay for everything. Cities run public transit at a loss (yes, it cost them money!) as a service. It just can't be too big of a loss, hence, raised prices.

Most people just buy the bus pass - which the price hasn't gone up in a long while.