Valley Line LRT/ Valley Line West | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

[Avenuer]

The Report you reference does not break down by LRT Line on the last page of the PDF. It states at end of 3rd Qtr 2023 total LRT weekday ridership is 73,100 which excludes the new Valley line.

That seems quite low still compared to the pre-pandemic ridership which was consistently north of 100,000 iirc.

Fwiw the LRT between Stadium and Churchill looked packed this morning around 9 AM as I was biking along the shared use path, so I reckon 2024 numbers will be much higher than last year's for the Capital Line alone.

 

[BrettB]

In 2019, the LRT ridership report shows average weekday boarding on the Metro and Capital lines of 113,000

 

[Habibfazil]

Agreed

They do have recovery ratios in terms of fare revenue, but it does seem the current approach is based on this being a social service for the poor, not transportation for the masses. Besides revealing a disrespectful attitude towards lower income people, this approach also has the effect of making transit worse for everyone, including low income persons.

A few years back Mayor Mandel clearly stated the job of transit was to move passengers.
Then somehow "developers" appeared and it became transit orientated development (TOD), makes you wonder eh?

 

[occidentalcapital]

A few years back Mayor Mandel clearly stated the job of transit was to move passengers.
Then somehow "developers" appeared and it became transit orientated development (TOD), makes you wonder eh?

Not following you. Transit oriented development is aligned with and arguably requires transit that focuses on good transportation.

If anything transit being more of a social service makes transit oriented development much less likely, since transit becomes an undesirable thing to have beside you rather than an amenity.

 

[Habibfazil]

Not following you. Transit oriented development is aligned with and arguably requires transit that focuses on good transportation.

If anything transit being more of a social service makes transit oriented development much less likely, since transit becomes an undesirable thing to have beside you rather than an amenity.

I was pointing out Mandell change in philosophy once developers were involved.
If ETS tries to do too much, be all things to all kinds, then nothing is done well, stick to 1 thing. Yes, old time thinking to some...

 

[thommyjo]

I was pointing out Mandell change in philosophy once developers were involved.
If ETS tries to do too much, be all things to all kinds, then nothing is done well, stick to 1 thing. Yes, old time thinking to some...

The classic “stick to one thing” is such a strawman tbh. That’s not intelligent. Imagine telling apple to just do iPhones and not macs, iOS, App Store, AirPods, Apple Music, etc.

Translink is the best example of a modern transit agency imo. They’re city builders. Not just bus operators. They’re thinking holistically about Development, housing, biking, retail, land use, etc.

Great organizations use integrated solutions. Transit can’t be good without great land use policy, especially with our current state of affairs in Edmonton. TOD is key to ridership growth here because many of our suburbs are permanently stuck being inefficient for transit and will likely never see transit use peak 10-15%. But our LRT lines, if well planned for TOD, could see 100k plus residents living above stations in the next few decades. That’s a huge win and takes more than “stick to one thing” thinking…

 

[IanO]

^this.

Translink's integration and last two decades of work to be a more viable option (often primary) for far more Vancouverites has been incredibly impressive; I regularly use it when there.

 

[occidentalcapital]

I was pointing out Mandell change in philosophy once developers were involved.
If ETS tries to do too much, be all things to all kinds, then nothing is done well, stick to 1 thing. Yes, old time thinking to some...

Sorry how does this have anything to do with former mayor Mandel? (Who by the way was probably one of the greatest mayors we've ever had for actual city transformation)

 

[Gronk!]

TOP100 2024 Report - Report - Page 51

An annual report profiling and ranking the largest public infrastructure projects across Canada.

emagazine.renewcanada.net

https://twitter.com/x/status/1748093106275144061

 

[BASE]

TOP100 2024 Report - Report - Page 51

An annual report profiling and ranking the largest public infrastructure projects across Canada.

emagazine.renewcanada.net

View attachment 533965

https://twitter.com/x/status/1748093106275144061

Crazy seeing how it's really actually pretty far down the list in terms of value or transit projects going on around the country right now. Was neat to see it ranked like that.

 

[Glenco]

Judging by the cost per kilometre of track for other LRT projects around the country Valley Line West is pretty good value for money.

 

[IanO]

PLUS it is the true missing link for Edmonton given that WEM is out there.

 

[The_Cat]

I'm thinking that there may be greater per kilometer costs with the Ontario Line in Toronto or Broadway in Vancouver.

 

[The_Cat]

What's old is new again: https://globalnews.ca/news/10234878/anthony-henday-closure-edmonton-lrt/

 

[Habibfazil]

Sorry how does this have anything to do with former mayor Mandel? (Who by the way was probably one of the greatest mayors we've ever had for actual city transformation)

Agreed, look at the change of referendum results (shennannigans, 33% not knowing their address) and the resulting utopian wonderland known as Blatchford...