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Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Edmonton

It looks like the area around 114 Street and the hospital is a real challenge. At least riders can take the LRT and transfer at South Campus to head to Ambleside or WEM.
 
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I think BRT could be pretty cool and transformative for the City. Hopefully getting three frequent, fast and reliable transit lines built out relatively quickly and affordably.

Having two rapid transit line going down Whyte should help to bring people to the area and encourage denser development in Old Strathcona.

Also nice to see 109 St potentially getting rapid transit along it, again should encourage development.

Transit in Edmonton could look much different by the end of the decade. 👍🚌🚎
 
The Whyte connection is very important. I do think that for this to work it'll need to be true BRT between University and Bonnie Doon. The BRT routes should feel like extensions of the LRT. It should be predictable, frequent, and have dedicated stops with wave on heaters in the shelters.
 
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Not good enough. Edmonton traffic is growing fast. This will be an obstacle for buses. To be truly rapid, it needs bi-directional bus lanes everywhere!
 
I agree Edmonton needs more in the way of BRT. I think these routes are a good start.

I'm guessing that there will be challenges with addressing potential bottlenecks like 118 Avenue/97 Street, or traffic in Strathcona/Garneau.
 
I'm very in favor of this. My only question is, do we really need BRT connecting the U of A to Century Park? Isn't that linkage very well served by the LRT?
 
Tropical said:
I'm very in favor of this. My only question is, do we really need BRT connecting the U of A to Century Park? Isn't that linkage very well served by the LRT?
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Here's a thought - The southern leg of B2 (to Century Park) could be swapped out for B6 (to Ambleside). This would mean investing in 2 lines instead of 3, with very similar coverage. (1. West Ed to Bonnie Doon and 2. Castle Downs to Ambleside - both via the U of A)

The operational savings could conceivably be used to fund greater frequency instead.
 
Tropical said:
I'm very in favor of this. My only question is, do we really need BRT connecting the U of A to Century Park? Isn't that linkage very well served by the LRT?
Click to expand...
SLRT has a capacity issue due to University Ave and the City not wanting to run trains more frequently than 5 minutes for fear of screwing up traffic with train frequency. pre-Covid, the SLRT was already the busiest leg, and while that ridership hasn't fully returned yet, the risk is that when they max out at 5 cars there could be a point when simply isn't anymore capacity unless they do something with University Ave.
The Southside BRT would also be used by a Downtown - Airport bus, and I am pretty sure a early BRT map showed a Mill Woods route using that BRT.
Edit: the more I think about it, I believe the original plan was Mill Woods to University via Gateways Blvd/ Calgary Trail. This made sense as Mill Woods doesn't have a direct route to the U of A, so some combination of taking a bus and transfering to LRT or another bus is required. You could then provide relief to the SLRT by diverting the Mill Woods riders.
 
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I think they should lean more on feeding the LRT. The issue at University Ave would fix itself after a short amount of time, especially if alternatives like the BRT will exist from the west side.

Maybe University Ave should be grade separated, or just blocked off permanently? I'm not sure what the obsession with clearing up traffic for 50-60 people in vehicles is about when a train carries many hundreds.
 
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