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Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Edmonton

The_Cat

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I'm not sure if there's already a thread in this forum dedicated to BRT, but I thought I'd start a page dedicated to BRT. I'm guessing that initiating BRT will be very gradual, given that LRT is a higher priority. However, it will be of interest to many Edmonton area residents. What ideas do you have for BRT in Edmonton?
 
I'm not sure if there's already a thread in this forum dedicated to BRT, but I thought I'd start a page dedicated to BRT. I'm guessing that initiating BRT will be very gradual, given that LRT is a higher priority. However, it will be of interest to many Edmonton area residents. What ideas do you have for BRT in Edmonton?


Terwilligar, linking into South Campus LRT station, would be the first line I'd create.

Something connecting the south/SW main hubs, like Windermere, WEM, South Edmonton Common, Heritage Valley, Century Park, Millwoods. Possibly two lines there.

Whyte Ave, from Health Sciences LRT all the way to Sherwood Park Freeway, and into Sherwood Park.

112/111 Avenue, from Concordia University to the Telus World of Science, connecting with the LRT at the Stadium and Kingsway.

Kingsway - 118 ave - Groat rd - St Albert Trail, starting at NAIT LRT, all the way to St. Albert.

153 Avenue, from Clareview LRT to what will be Campbell Rd LRT stations.

97 Avenue, from the Garrison to Churchill

Not necessarily all should/could be BRTs, but can certainly be express, high level services.

Most of these routes could be targeted with relatively low costs and no big infrastructure spending (at least comparatively).
 
Terwilligar, linking into South Campus LRT station, would be the first line I'd create.

Something connecting the south/SW main hubs, like Windermere, WEM, South Edmonton Common, Heritage Valley, Century Park, Millwoods. Possibly two lines there.

Whyte Ave, from Health Sciences LRT all the way to Sherwood Park Freeway, and into Sherwood Park.

112/111 Avenue, from Concordia University to the Telus World of Science, connecting with the LRT at the Stadium and Kingsway.

Kingsway - 118 ave - Groat rd - St Albert Trail, starting at NAIT LRT, all the way to St. Albert.

153 Avenue, from Clareview LRT to what will be Campbell Rd LRT stations.

97 Avenue, from the Garrison to Churchill

Not necessarily all should/could be BRTs, but can certainly be express, high level services.

Most of these routes could be targeted with relatively low costs and no big infrastructure spending (at least comparatively).
New member, long time lurker.
As you say, not all should/ could be BRT. In fact, a lot of these routes already exist as express or limited stop service, or are proposed.

Already exists:
The 97 St corridor has the 120x, plus the 110x to Downtown via 118 Ave/ NAIT/ 109 St, plus other expresses in the 97 St Corridor (130x, 150x).
Existing regional transit systems with limited stop service already cover NAIT - St. Albert, Downtown - St. Albert by St. Albert Transit and University to Sherwood Park by Strathcona County Transit, granted, frequencies have dropped off from what they were prior to Covid when high capacity buses on 15 minute frequencies was normal.

No need:
112/ 111 Ave. The existing ETS route 3 is effective as is and a relatively quick option. Concordia is not a significant enough trip generator to justify a BRT/ express route. Right now, in addition to the regular #101 route, all that Concordia rates is a seasonal community (short) bus route from Coliseum. Ditto for the Telus World of Science. Sexy suggestion for a terminus for a higher order transit service, but how would it be justified as a trip generator?

Proposed:
There was supposed to be busways as part of the original Terwilligar Expressway intended to be for a South Campus service, but, after the Provincial funding cuts I don't know where that stands.
Besides existing Strathcona County Transit service on Whyte Ave, the proposed center LRT was not recommended as part of the most recent City Plan cycle, but, rather a BRT is recommended. The Future LRT portion of the City's website still shows the Centre LRT, but, that is more or less dead at this point as I understand it. This seems like this is the most likely to actually end up as a BRT in some form (dedicated lanes etc) in the future at this point, depending if any busways materialize with the Terwilligar Expressway.

Falls Under EMTSC:
From what I recall about the proposed EMTSC routes in their business case they would operate more like express or limited stop services. Clearly, this would be the case with some of the former regional transit routes, like to St. Albert. The EMTSC does have routes that cover the WEM - Mill Woods corridor, and the 153 Ave corridor.
I believe the EMTSC is still aiming to launch in Fall 2022, so, we could see these services sooner rather than later.
 
What is 'BRT' supposed to be for the purpose of discussion? Certain ETS routes (the X series) already incorporate rapid transit elements, but Edmonton doesn't seem to use the term BRT or advertise specific routes the way Vancouver does with Rapidbus/B-line or Calgary with Max.

Terwillegar Superexpress service is still on the books to start 2023 once the bus lanes are completed. The proposed transit corridors are mapped out in the City / Regional plans.

mts-citywide-map-png.238089


screenshot_20211016-154657-png.356191
 
What is 'BRT' supposed to be for the purpose of discussion? Certain ETS routes (the X series) already incorporate rapid transit elements, but Edmonton doesn't seem to use the term BRT or advertise specific routes the way Vancouver does with Rapidbus/B-line or Calgary with Max.

Terwillegar Superexpress service is still on the books to start 2023 once the bus lanes are completed. The proposed transit corridors are mapped out in the City / Regional plans.

mts-citywide-map-png.238089


screenshot_20211016-154657-png.356191

For me, BRT would involve a reasonable level of grade separation, physical barriers in bus lanes, heated stops akin to the Valley Line, but smaller (maybe enough to support a bi-articulated bus), articulated or bi-articulated busses, relatively high frequencies (5 to 15 minute headway, depending on the hour).

It has to have high priority in plowing and cleaning during the winter, to keep service reliable and more stops than the express routes, but less than the regular ones, spaced in a way that's similar to an low floor LRT.

The idea is that, in the long term, if ridership warrants it, the BRT could be converted to an LRT with less cost but, if ridership is not enough, you can just keep it that way and the service level would still be above average.
 
A FAST Airport connector bus to downtown would be better than the LRT connections we now have. Hopefully the Airport Express will leave from Churchill Square Station and stop off by Whyte Avenue / 109 Street before heading to last stop on the LRT then onward to Airport without further stops.
 
I think something like Ellerslie-Terwillegar-South Campus would be a good start. Also, I like the 97 Street route from Blatchford to Edmonton Garrison. There are connections at Northgate and Eaux Claires.

Stealing a page from Sherwood Park and St. Albert, I wonder if a route from Capilano-98/97 Avenue and River Valley Road to Westmount would also work.
 
If you look at my last post, they're two of the 'semi-exclusive' routes proposed in the Mass Transit Strategy. B1 runs north-south between Castle Downs / Century Park, while B2 runs east-west between WEM / Bonnie Doon.
 
From the report:

B1 Route (BRT): Castle Downs District Node – Century Park District Node

B1 is a proposed semi-exclusive transit route operating north-south from the Castle Downs district node to the Century Park district node connecting the following nodes and corridors: Northgate/Northtown, 97 Street, Centre City, Whyte Avenue, Gateway/Calgary Trail. The route would primarily utilize 97 St/101 Street and Gateway Boulevard/Calgary Trail and will require an exclusive river crossing from the Centre City to Whyte Avenue. The B1 service would stop every 1 to 1.5 km along its route and provide connections to numerous other elements of the mass transit network as well as the underlying network of other bus transit services. This adds significant north-south high-capacity frequent service to denser parts of the urban area.

In its early stages of implementation, this route could potentially feature a branch of service where a subset of the buses (due to less demand) continues south to Edmonton International Airport. The downtown section of this route was assumed to use bus or HOV lanes given that the streets it follows are physically constrained and spot widening, even to create medians without adding more lanes, could compromise sidewalk widths and affect access to this route. The northern section of this route, on 97 Street, is consistent with previous City (High Speed Transit, 2004) and Regional studies (Capital Region High Occupancy Vehicle/Transit Priority Study, 2016) indicating a desire for this corridor.

The dedicated river crossing included in this route proposal may be a new facility (bridge) or the future expansion (or repurposing) of existing bridges to create dedicated transit-only space.

As documented in Section 4 of this report, B1 is high-demand route with peak passenger volumes approaching those of the LRT lines.

B2 Route (BRT): WEM/Misericordia Major Node – Bonnie Doon District Node

B2 is a proposed route crossing east-west from WEM/Misericordia Major Node to Bonnie Doon District node connecting the following nodes and corridors: Meadowlark, University/Garneau, Whyte Ave/99 Street and Gateway/Calgary Trail in a semi-exclusive ROW (including an exclusive bridge crossing west of the University).

Long-term demand warrants further exploration of the river crossing connection, not only determining potential financial costs but also social and environmental costs associated with this option. Alternative improvements to support less direct routes via Whitemud Drive and possibly Fox Drive should be considered as part of a possible interim service for this route.

Similar to the B1 route, the B2 route is a high-demand route with peak passenger volumes approaching those of the LRT lines.

Map6.PNG


Section 4 starts on page 40, and it gives a really interesting breakdown of the ridership projections (including peak and off-peak) between the three LRT lines and the major rapid and regional bus routes. It's worth taking a look at if you're interested.
 
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