Edmonton Public Transit

[Spliff]

Originally Posted by Makenosmallplans

You are not wrong.

I have no idea whether the engineers looked at transition systems from overseas. I hope they did. I've lived in Europe and asia and travelled extensively in those areas and had the pleasure of riding on some first class, incredibly well designed mass transit infrastructure that would look great if done in Edmonton.

I feel like the Metro Line is a very very expensive lost opportunity. What a shame.

[McBoo]

So what was this latest screw-up this morning? Something about power?

[CMD UW]

Originally Posted by ciudad_del_norte

The article barely mentions the signalling issue, which, although there are some design aspects of the line that are a pain (the convoluted ped crossing from the station to kingsway mall), the train is still moving at half the speed it would otherwise be. A lot of the issues would be mitigated if the train was moving at full speed. It would reach intersections, and cross them more quickly. It would also be much more efficient for transit users.

If somebody wants to complain about the design of the line, whatever, but critique that on it's own merits and account for the type of operation it was designed for. I think there are legit critiques to be found, but most of them aren't nearly as sensationalist as this article makes them out to me. Instead the article purposely confuses design/operational issues and implies that they are all design for the sake of making things sound more interesting. I bet if the line had opened on time and at full operation we wouldn't see this kind of reaction. Yes, people would be annoyed about the changes still, but it would likely be some grumbling and a general collective moving forward.

Absolutely agree.

[mcc16]

Spadina extension 400 mil over budget... hopefully there is an equal article written about not to follow torontos lead.

[Spliff]

Originally Posted by mcc16

Spadina extension 400 mil over budget... hopefully there is an equal article written about not to follow torontos lead.

http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/chr...ension-a-classic-toronto-transit-screwup

[240glt]

^ exactly.

Folks here need to accept this criticism as valid, not try to defer or ignore it

[mcc16]

The Toronto article is about numbers and facts, the whiny 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 article about Edmonton's LRT was based on anicdotal half truths (6 riders at a time causing 15 minute delays) and misrepresentation by omission. Two totally different tones. A better article would be examining why this seems to be happening on projects across Canada rather than saying typical Edmonton, typical Toronto, typical Vancouver.

[240glt]

^ the TTC article basically states the project is late and over budget. That is not a huge surprise for a large public infrastructure project

In our case, it's late, over budget and is doesn't even work properly. This project and those responsible deserve all the public ridicule they're getting

[Hardhatdan]

It was significantly under budget...

[Hallsy's Toupee]

New transit boss says time is right for changes to Edmonton transit strategy
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-ne...for-changes-to-edmonton-transit-strategy

The stars have aligned for major change in Edmonton’s bus and light rail network strategy, says Edmonton’s new transit boss, now three weeks into the job.

“That doesn’t happen really often,” said Eddie Robar, formerly director of transit in Halifax. “That takes a lot. That takes a council ready for it. It takes a city management and staff that’s prepared to undergo that work, and it takes a public that hungry for that change as well.”

Robar said he spent his first weeks on the job meeting internally with staff. What he saw convinced him a large re-alignment is doable. “Are people ready for it? I think so,” he said.

In an interview Monday, Robar said the biggest weakness of Edmonton’s current transit system comes from competing philosophies. It hasn’t seen large-scale change since 1990. It was designed as a hub-and-spoke network, with buses and trains meeting at transit centres to accommodate transfers. Then it gradually shifted to a direct service model, where buses go to destinations with as few transfers as possible. It’s shifting back again, but these incremental changes can leave the system confusing and inefficient.

“That philosophy piece has been disjointed over years,” Robar said. “At some point, you have to retool that.”

Edmonton is in the middle of a $1.4-million public engagement effort to design a new transit strategy. Officials have finished asking “blue sky” questions on what people think of the current system, said Sarah Feldman, project manager for the strategy. They’ve also finished narrowing the conversation down to key themes and plan to release those in a report early February.

The next steps are to calculate specifically what trade-offs are involved for different options, such as more frequent bus service. They’ll start consultations on that this spring. Residents can follow the process at edmonton.ca/whatmovesyou.

[Coldrsx]

Anyone else want to lobby for a Jasper, 109st, Whyte, Scona Road circulator? I am happy to coordinate.

[Rocket252]

^^ This should be fun.

[technomad]

please please please... let this mean they are ditching all the billion dollar bus-on-rails LRT plans

would love to see the core circulator project happen, something like this: (99 st OR connors, not both)



upsides:

- unifies Edmonton's most urban communities
- vintage streetcars could be used along with new stock
- include a multiuse path with the streetcar bridge over Jasper/110 St
- salvages parts of the valley line, so engineering and util moves to date are not all lost..

downsides:

- loss of highlevel vehicle lanes southbound forces a doubling of walterdale bridge as prerequisite
- using 99 St route means a proper commuter LRT to the SE has to happen first, and likely also a trenched road from the walterdale bridge, under whyte, linking to gateway south of 76 av
- with the recent trackrecord of project timelines... I`ll be long dead before anything like this ever happens

[Coldrsx]

^don't complicate things, use 2 small buses on 15min intervals.

[technomad]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

^don't complicate things, use 2 small buses on 15min intervals.

um.. do buses from DT/whyte not currently exist? (and 15 minutes is acceptable frequency for such a short run?)

besides, economic slump and all.. just think of the jobs such a stimulus project would create

[Coldrsx]

to 109st or 99st, but a circulator would be far more efficient and well used.

[Black Star]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

^don't complicate things, use 2 small buses on 15min intervals.

Bingo

[technomad]

it could definitely be a good quick win, but a bus is still a bus...

ah well, enough dreaming for one morning I suppose

[Coldrsx]

What's wrong with a bus?

[MalcolmTucker]

In the esteemed wisdom of this board, what would the barriers be for the city contracting the railway society to run a regular service, either with existing equipment or could dig up a retiring U2 from somewhere?