Comments on: Edmonton, First North American City with Modern Light Rail, Plans Major Expansion

By: Matt Fisher

Matt Fisher — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:42:11 +0000

This will turn a lot. I rode LRT when I was in Edmonton in 2003 before it was extended south from the University of Alberta.

You can also see my map of LRT with current plans here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101996212121253487336.00046ebef4b8040671b42&z=10
They should bring LRT to the West Edmonton Mall, still the world’s largest. Of course, Calgary is certainly useful ‘cuz it’s more extensive currently, but what Edmonton is planning could put Calgary to shame. I want LRT to replace all of the Transitway back home in Ottawa – no more busways – and put BOTH to shame. :)
See it here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101996212121253487336.00046eaae108ae222cb98&z=10

By: AL

AL — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:44:33 +0000

Edmonton’s LRT planning is in fact *very* poorly done, with lack of transparency and accountability.

Take for example example the proposed route to the West end of the city. *All* city studies showed the 87th avenue option to be faster, higher ridership, less expensive, etc., than the now selected preferred rout along Stoney Plain Road. In fact, the 87th route was pubclically stated by city planners as the preferred option. But then the Mayor catered to a wealthy minority that would be impacted in their houses by this route and to a wealty minority that would benefit from commercial real estate on the SPR route, and after a rather brief re-study, SPR was suddenly the winner! I don’t dispute the long-term revitalization that can occur from a SPR route, but this can also be accomplished by improved bus service and improved urban planning in general. What is completely missed in the SPR is the ability to rapidly move people from the west end to the university and then into downtown… The university district with >60,000 students and home to one of the main hospitals has a disproprtionate need for tranport links. The mayor thinks downtown must be the transfer point, rather than the university (even though a one-seat ride could have been possible!).

Overall, this entire project shows tremendous evidence that the planners using their experience and technical skill can also be overridden by a mayor catering to personal interests rather than good planning.

By: kyle

kyle — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:21:25 +0000

Calgary has very strong restrictions on parking cars downtown (Nearly the highest cost of parking in Canada) and many of the LRT stations have large parking lots to encourage commuter ridership to the downtown core. The Calgary C-Train system functions much like a commuter rail system.

By: roberta

roberta — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:05:51 +0000

Edmonton and Calgary do indeed have similar populations of about 1 million. Calgary however has fewer “bedroom communities” (Edmonton has Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Spruce Grove, etc). and a higher concentration of workers downtown, both of which contributed to the higher success of their transit system. Getting a whack of money from the feds/province during the winter olympics didn’t hurt, either. That said, Edmontonians by and large have no sense of how imperilled their car-oriented system is and usually howl blue murder when anyone suggests funding alternative transportation: just wait until the bike transport plan goes to council mid-November 2009.

By: Woody

Woody — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:56:52 +0000

The Edmonton system looks good, like a pre-Metro. an An underground stretch downtown has six stations, and the rest is an exclusive separated ROW, but with grade crossings. Much of the original section was built on CN ROW, which is being used now for a one-station extension.

By: Jarrett at HumanTransit.org

Jarrett at HumanTransit.org — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:25:33 +0000

This sounds like it’s coming down right in between conventional LRT and what we’d call streetcars, at least as it applies to station spacing. But as always, exclusivity of right-of-way is what matters me in categorising a service.

Is the proposed Edmonton system largely exclusive ROW, like typical North American LRT?

By: NikolasM

NikolasM — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:12:47 +0000

Cities of less than 300,000 in Germany (Augsburg) have better mass transit options than this.

By: kyle

kyle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:28:15 +0000

While Montreal and Washington were trying to accommodate the urban transport needs of crushingly-dense populations numbering in the multi-millions, Edmonton was a backwater oil town of half a million who had a few bucks to spend on trains. It’s a miracle LRT was ever built in the first place.

Also, Edmonton and Calgary have the same metro population. Just over 1 million people each.

I think it’s great that a city of 1 million people has large goals like this to help shape the city for the future. Edmonton is a drastically suburban landscape. Remember, this is the city that built the world’s largest suburban shopping mall in the 80s. Nine billion $ for 450 000 additional LRT riders seems quite reasonable when you consider the cost effectiveness of similar lines planned for many American cities, and the wide-flung built environment of this chilly northern prairie town.

Built it all!

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:33:12 +0000

Well now Calgary is about twice as big as Edmonton and it’s light rail network is far more extensive, so I would expect ridership on Calgary LRT to be far higher. In addition most people I would think believe Calgary’s bus system to be far more robust than Edmonton’s.

In any case, Edmonton’s focus on closely spaced neighborhood stops will work, but only because the city itself is so small. Nine miles from downtown Edmonton gets you to the edge of town; nine miles from downtown LA gets you to someplace like Hollywood, still in the urban center.

Since buses are so successful at carrying passengers short distances it seems that rapid transit should focus on carrying passengers long distances if there is a conflict between the two.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:52:55 +0000

Edmonton gets credit for having one of the lowest-cost systems in North America per passenger carried – only Calgary has done better. But the ridership in Edmonton is disappointing, again when you compare it with Calgary. The C-Train opened in 1981, serving a city about the same size as Edmonton, for about the same per-km cost. The C-Train carries 250,000 people per day, Edmonton Light Rail 50,000.