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

Friendmonton said:
Agree with the high floor spaciousness.

New low floor has many more accessibility features though (low height buttons that blink, bright colours, large screen font).

Wheelchair issue shouldn’t be as bad as you’ve described but disappointing if it’s widespread. The elevator issue at Davies is ridiculous as well.

Disagree on the major destinations point - Milner Library, Winspear, AGA, RAM, Citadel, Muttart, river valley, French quarter and Ice District are now all either next door or a 5 minute walk from several stations. What other destinations do you want minus WEM? Haha
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Also Grey Nuns Hospital which my dad was sent to for testing despite living downtown and Mill Woods Rec Centre where I've had to go for rec leagues.
 
occidentalcapital said:
Sad that they went with the 2009 era pronunciation of Muttart for the voice announcements rather than the original.
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What's the original? I met a lady on the HLB streetcar who said she the couple it's named after. She said rather than "Mootart" or "Muttert", it's "Muh-tart" - with the "Muh" spoken quickly, so it comes out more like "M'tart" if that makes sense. I don't know if she's right or not, but I thought it was interesting.
 
I rode this again on Sunday, and I have a very unpopular opinion: I think low floor was the right choice for this line. Sure, it is a bit slower than the high floor lines, but I really like how the stops are closer together. I think it allows for a level of access to amenities, businesses, and houses along the right of way not possible with the Capital and Metro lines. I also saw a lot of families using this, perhaps that's related to this achieving more of a balance than the other lines with commuter and local needs. I think that since the 30-ish minute timing can be consistent, the extra few minutes compared to the other lines isn't terrible. I saw these areas in a much different way than when I drove, and I like that more than zooming by everything and struggling to see what amenities are nearby on the capital line. It was beautiful seeing passengers so transfixed by the views offered to us.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Capital and Metro lines suite their roles well, and I wouldn't want that to change. But I think the Valley Line will allow more access to local communities rather than just faster service to downtown, and I'm happy about it.

As you can see from these pictures, it was very busy for a Sunday. The Capital Line train I rode to and from there was dead. This is just speculation, because I know lots of folks are riding it for the sake of riding it, but I wonder if it might see more weekend/holiday use compared to the other lines since it has more of a local focus rather than being a funnel to downtown.
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CplKlinger said:
What's the original? I met a lady on the HLB streetcar who said she the couple it's named after. She said rather than "Mootart" or "Muttert", it's "Muh-tart" - with the "Muh" spoken quickly, so it comes out more like "M'tart" if that makes sense. I don't know if she's right or not, but I thought it was interesting.
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Yup. M'tart was the original.
 
I think a bigger reason we will see an increase in LRT usage is that more people from othe parts of the city now have easier access to the LRT network. I live in millwoods and found it a bit of a hassel getting to the LRT. Now I can either walk a few blocks to millbourne stop or Grey Nuns stop or take a short bus ride to millwoods town center stop, or take a short drive to Davies park'n'ride and Im on the network.
 
CplKlinger said:
I rode this again on Sunday, and I have a very unpopular opinion: I think low floor was the right choice for this line. Sure, it is a bit slower than the high floor lines, but I really like how the stops are closer together. I think it allows for a level of access to amenities, businesses, and houses along the right of way not possible with the Capital and Metro lines. I also saw a lot of families using this, perhaps that's related to this achieving more of a balance than the other lines with commuter and local needs. I think that since the 30-ish minute timing can be consistent, the extra few minutes compared to the other lines isn't terrible. I saw these areas in a much different way than when I drove, and I like that more than zooming by everything and struggling to see what amenities are nearby on the capital line. It was beautiful seeing passengers so transfixed by the views offered to us.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Capital and Metro lines suite their roles well, and I wouldn't want that to change. But I think the Valley Line will allow more access to local communities rather than just faster service to downtown, and I'm happy about it.

As you can see from these pictures, it was very busy for a Sunday. The Capital Line train I rode to and from there was dead. This is just speculation, because I know lots of folks are riding it for the sake of riding it, but I wonder if it might see more weekend/holiday use compared to the other lines since it has more of a local focus rather than being a funnel to downtown.
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Yeah, I'm in the same boat here. The approachability of the stations and of the line in general is nicer than the Capital/Metro lines. I honestly don't mind it taking 30 min to get downtown, as long as there's consistent 5-10 min frequencies.
 
Also, the capital line, at least in the southside, is not very close to homes.

Health sciences is more a destination, but it’s primarily surrounded by big/busy arterials and not a ton of homes (new apartments are being built a bit closer though).

Mckernan/Belgravia is very low density, but likely the most similar to a VLSE type station/area.

Southgate and century have some apartments nearby, but are separated by huge swaths of parking lots and border massive arterials of 111th, whitemud, 23ave. These don’t feel like local stops, even if you’re less than 600m away. The VLSE feels much more integrated to the communities aside from Davies.

I think hospitals are a big deal to connect in both valley lines btw. I’d count those as destinations. And both connect to smaller shopping centres that might not be a tourist draw, but are legit destinations for locals needing to get groceries, head to an xray, drop off mail at canada post, buy some makeup at shoppers, etc.

Tbh, not a lot of stops in a place like Vancouver are “destinations” either. It’s essentially local nodes and then downtown. And a few stations near downtown have a bit more appeal (broadway city hall, Olympic village). But not a lot after that.
 
Kosy123 said:
Yeah, I'm in the same boat here. The approachability of the stations and of the line in general is nicer than the Capital/Metro lines. I honestly don't mind it taking 30 min to get downtown, as long as there's consistent 5-10 min frequencies.
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I agree and would add another point about perceptions of safety. The high floor stops can feel somewhat isolated on their own little islands and moats. Valley Line feels much more approachable and intimate and I didn't get that isolated, low grade anxiety feeling like I have had at Kingsway for example (when there's questionable people around). Again, I'll take an extra 2-5 minutes in commute time for that.
 
Friendmonton said:
I agree and would add another point about perceptions of safety. The high floor stops can feel somewhat isolated on their own little islands and moats. Valley Line feels much more approachable and intimate and I didn't get that isolated, low grade anxiety feeling like I have had at Kingsway for example (when there's questionable people around). Again, I'll take an extra 2-5 minutes in commute time for that.
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Absolutely! The stations are open and have a lot of "eyes" around it.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that Millwoods finally has consistent transit connection to a movie theatre! (Landmark)
 
thommyjo said:
nationalpost.com

Colby Cosh: A (three-years-overdue) success story in Canadian public transit

Riding Edmonton's new light rail train feels like receiving a gift of unimaginable expense from somebody who has historically mistreated you
nationalpost.com nationalpost.com
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This is actually a great little opinion piece that does sum up the sentiment around the Valley Line. I had coworkers who used it this week to commute downtown and were very pleasantly surprised, to the point they have been recommending others take it. This quote below really nails it:

" ...the surprise of taking an Edmonton Transit ride that was a cheerful, picturesque and neighbourly experience, as opposed to an exercise in low-level threat assessment."
 
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