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

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Taken yesterday Monday February 26 2024 ,afternoon.
 
The_Cat said:
I think the LRT signals work in sync with the traffic lights. At some intersections (e.g. Churchill), the LRT can send a request to change the lights when they're ready.
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Thanks, I was curious as there has been quite the outrage in Toronto over the Eglinton crosstown not having full signal priority. I guess the systems will be very similar in operation.
 
I’m gonna sound like a broken record here but I still think the ridership numbers for the Valley Line are undercounted.

Either way, ridership will still continue to grow. Granted I mostly ride the line on the weekends so I’m not sure what other people’s experiences are like during the weekday.
 
I also think the current leg misses a few key stops that’ll grow usage in the coming years. Norquest & Macewan are both a sizeable walk from this train still, but that will change with the West leg completion. So much of the Capital/Metro line ridership is students. The valley line isn’t serving students as well yet, buses are still best for most.

But once the new west leg opens, I think ridership will be huge. Especially if they sort out the safety issues.
 
thommyjo said:
I also think the current leg misses a few key stops that’ll grow usage in the coming years. Norquest & Macewan are both a sizeable walk from this train still, but that will change with the West leg completion. So much of the Capital/Metro line ridership is students. The valley line isn’t serving students as well yet, buses are still best for most.

But once the new west leg opens, I think ridership will be huge. Especially if they sort out the safety issues.
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Yeah, I take the train to school and 95% of riders exit at university station.
 
I've taken it twice and both times were quite busy and not related to an event or the like, but regular usage midday.
 
goodcitywhenfinished said:
Does the Valley line currently operate with full signal priority, or do trams stop at red lights?
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A list has previously been posted if which intersections have priority or not. Contrary to another post, at Downtown signals the LRT does not have priority. It might seem like the train does, but that's just because it departs the stations when the traffic light is favorable. 97 St often stops trains.
And while at the majority of intersections the LRT has priority, that doesn't necessarily mean it gets automatic greens. If the train ends up out sync with the lights it will get slowed down. As an example, I've seen a train approaching an LRT signal that was a flashing vertical bar which means basically the same as a flashing pedestrian signal. Finish crossing if started, but stop if you haven't started. We stopped, but only briefly as the traffic light aborted it's sequence and we got a solid vertical bar and the traffic light remained green. Or, on approaching 34 Ave with a flashing vertical bar, we stopped, traffic light went red, east/west traffic recieved a green, but it was a short green. North/south traffic and the LRT then recieved proceed signals with no directions getting turn signals.
So, although it is considered full signal priority at a lot of intersection, it is not always non-stop. Pedestrian crossings are the worst for this. Pedestrian crossings are always walk signals unless a train requests it. If you are out of sync, the pedestrian crossing often won't start to cycle until the train has pulled up to it and stopped.
Additionally, the signal system is supposed to have a 4 minute count down timer at each intersection before the next train is allowed through in the same direction. I did see this working with Monday's issues. Often though the train will just be held at a station rather than being stopped at a random traffic light.
 
thommyjo said:
The valley line isn’t serving students as well yet, buses are still best for most.
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But what buses? The 523 is the only thing from Mill Woods to Downtown and serves students about as well as the Valley Line.

I did end up in an 500x yesterday at around 1230 and it was PACKED even though it was an artic. I do believe that ridership has shifted to this route since the LRT opened, where it was convenient for those riders. A year or so ago the midday 500x trips didn't even exist, let alone were run with artics.

I am not surprised with the low ridership. It matches my experience with riding the Valley Line at all different times of the day. I do agree with the comment though that some ridership isn't being counted. I was expecting ridership closer to 200,000-250,000 to put it on par with the 73.

LRT ridership is weak overall.
Back in 2019 there were 113,804 daily boardings. Given holidays and lower LRT ridership with school out, let's say 18 regular weekdays.
That was 2,048,372 trips on weekdays only in January 2019. For the entire month of January 2024 LRT mustered 1.2 million. You're looking at 1 million+ less LRT rides per month post COVID.
 
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