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Edmonton International Airport (EIA/YEG)

IanO said:
How we do not have a direct Churchill Square/102ave to YEG on a motorcoach for say $10-20 each way or something is odd.

It would be a proper service for business travels and visitors alike.
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My priority would be for the plebes and shoppers who are not prepared to pay a premium and who out number the business travellers by an order of magnitude.
 
$20 is less than a cab ride, so I expect this would appeal to others as well as business travelers. For those that are more frugal, bus/LRT and 747 already works.
 
A convention recently where they checked out Edmonton and Calgary and it was a no-brainer. Calgary has the airport connections, the Telus Convention Centre opening right onto Stephen Ave with tons of food/retail at the doorstep. Plus the foot traffic on Stephen Ave made the city feel alive plus all the hotel options. Some of the international visitors commented on how boring calgary was 😄 (i can only imagine what they would have said about edmonton!)
Edmonton’s nowhere close on this stuff right now. There are so many pieces that would need fixing before it’s even back in the conversation. The YEG-to-downtown connection is just one part of a much bigger puzzle. it would take a really coordinated effort and probably years before Edmonton is a proper contender on the convention front. The whole thing was a bit jarring in realizing how far behind we are.

with all that said, LRT or something to yeg would be a huge boon and like others pointed out, running it through what is currently fields feels like bit of a no-brainer. A clear straight line vs the current approach of LRT arriving decades later, rammed through windy roads and tearing up existing infrastructure to build.
 
MakeYEGGreatAgain said:
Edmonton loses (or does not even show up) many conventions due to lack of direct flights, decent transportation from the airport to downtown, decent supply of good quality rooms downtown and lack of entertainment/shopping downtown.
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Yes, while all of those are problems, the second and the third are probably easier for us to fix in the short to mid term. So maybe we should focus on them.
 
Ohman said:
A convention recently where they checked out Edmonton and Calgary and it was a no-brainer. Calgary has the airport connections, the Telus Convention Centre opening right onto Stephen Ave with tons of food/retail at the doorstep. Plus the foot traffic on Stephen Ave made the city feel alive plus all the hotel options. Some of the international visitors commented on how boring calgary was 😄 (i can only imagine what they would have said about edmonton!)
Edmonton’s nowhere close on this stuff right now. There are so many pieces that would need fixing before it’s even back in the conversation. The YEG-to-downtown connection is just one part of a much bigger puzzle. it would take a really coordinated effort and probably years before Edmonton is a proper contender on the convention front. The whole thing was a bit jarring in realizing how far behind we are.

with all that said, LRT or something to yeg would be a huge boon and like others pointed out, running it through what is currently fields feels like bit of a no-brainer. A clear straight line vs the current approach of LRT arriving decades later, rammed through windy roads and tearing up existing infrastructure to build.
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All true, except Calgary's 45-minute airport bus connection is no better than ours. Though I believe they have plans to extend LRT to their airport soon-ish.
 
degrandprix said:
All true, except Calgary's 45-minute airport bus connection is no better than ours. Though I believe they have plans to extend LRT to their airport soon-ish.
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Yes, lets not forget everything is not perfect elsewhere either. Interestingly, Montreal also does not have LRT to its airport either, although they are working on it.

I really don't feel it is productive to just hash out a long list of problems, we need to focus on and fix the ones that we can most easily deal with immediately.

So for instance a better airport connection to downtown now should be a no brainer, a lot cheaper and it can happen faster than LRT to the airport.
 
David A said:
Because the convention centre, larger hotels and major business offices are downtown.
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Exactly how would the link work? What would be the cost to the city considering we only just have enough money to cover current services?Once an hour? A city bus with 30-40 passengers or a van? If you are travelling in a group far better to hire a cab especially if you are on a business expense. Where exactly would the bus drop you off? Churchill square? Then what you have to do is get to your hotel. How much demand on a day to day basis be? Probably run empty most of the time is my guess.
 
Glenco said:
Exactly how would the link work? What would be the cost to the city considering we only just have enough money to cover current services?Once an hour? A city bus with 30-40 passengers or a van? If you are travelling in a group far better to hire a cab especially if you are on a business expense. Where exactly would the bus drop you off? Churchill square? Then what you have to do is get to your hotel. How much demand on a day to day basis be? Probably run empty most of the time is my guess.
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I don't think a 40 seat coach bus running an express line between YEG to, let's say ICE district, with a stop at the U of A, wouldn't see demand. YEG flies on average 20k passengers every day, I find it hard to believe that we couldn't get 240-300 people to ride it each way every day.

For reference, 3 companies run almost hourly (with two different stops within the city) buses between YYZ and London, a city about 1/4 the size of Edmonton Metro, with most of these buses being at least 70% occupancy, from what I have experienced.

There's a different perception between riding a $15-20 coach bus with comfortable seats and space for as much luggage as you can carry on a plane, directly to the places where most people would be going to. It is not the same as taking an uncomfortable city bus and then having to haul stuff around through a transit centre so you can hop on the LRT.
 
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