LRT Expansion Planning

[The_Cat]

Edmonton had poor planning during the 1990s, not to mention the dysfunction of having two airports. What was even worse was the bickering on City Council back then.

 

[TAS]

When Jan Reimer was mayor in 1989, seven of the 13 members on council were women. And several councils from that era had several women - yet today it's a different story. Maybe it's just timing. I don't think Edmontonians are reluctant to elect women. But aside from that, Reimer and her council for the most part were considered progressive I think, but they had very little money to work with from the province. In terms of infrastructure, not a lot was happening for a long time. I think her councils were also labelled as less business friendly or something like that.

 

[IanO]

https://pub-edmonton.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=78258

 

[The_Cat]

This layout (Toronto) might work for Edmonton Transit:

 

[IanO]

Current modal split

9% - transit
13% - walking/biking
75% - automobile
Other

---
Goal

30% transit
20% biking/walking/alternative
50% automobile

 

[IanO]

Instead of tollroads and raising parking rates, use the carrot by way of a low-cost of use, efficient and effective city-wide system that succeeds by way of being a properly good option for far more people??!?!

 

[Platinum107]

@IanO I agree. Our carrot is still a little too ripe to adequately deserve the stick. Let's have the raising car costs discussion in like, 5-10 years, once the first buildout of the LRT is done or near done

 

[CplKlinger]

@IanO I agree. Our carrot is still a little too ripe to adequately deserve the stick. Let's have the raising car costs discussion in like, 5-10 years, once the first buildout of the LRT is done or near done

I agree with you two. I think that the city should re-evaluate transit delivery once VL east and west are running, the bus redesign is out, and (maybe) once the Metro line goes beyond Blatchford. It's hard to evaluate how transit will perform in a few years when these fundamental pillars of transit are still in the works. Besides that, the city should also focus on improving and expanding our bike lane network so that residents have much more than the 10ish KMs of protected bike lanes which are maintained year-round.

 

[thommyjo]

I think vancouver has given a good example. Build out your transit, biking infrastructure, and create a culture where people want to live around transit centers or downtown. Then start adding more fees and restrictions and barriers so the switching cost isn't as extreme from a convenience standpoint. If 30% of people use transit cause it works, increasing "levers" to disincentivize driving makes sense.

Using those levers now would be a disaster. Especially considering how much of our transit ridership is linked to students who get passes that are automatically in their tuition and who are financially conservative while in uni.

True adults using transit for day to day and work commuting is much lower than the 9% represents. Thats the key metric we need to improve.

 

[The_Cat]

Also, Edmonton is not as centralized as Calgary or Vancouver. At this point, I think the city should look at more transportation options, like bikes, scooters, LRT, or car sharing. I sometimes wonder how much longer families will insure two vehicles, when insurance is increasing and people are working more from home.

 

[archited]

Insurance is going up now proportionately to driver liability. Within 4 years auto insurance will fall dramatically as electric car auto-driving becomes more commonplace -- and with the implementation of ever-improving battery technology the cost of electric cars will fall dramatically. I expect, then, that you will see more car options (e.g. small commuter vehicles, SUVs, vacation vehicles, sports-options) not fewer.

 

[IanO]

Um... you do know that larger vehicles account for 80% of total sales now... and many are phasing out sedans.

 

[ChazYEG]

Um... you do know that larger vehicles account for 80% of total sales now... and many are phasing out sedans.

Meanwhile, Tesla's compact sedan Model 3 leads the segment, no signs of stopping there.
The main reason why people want big cars, especially in sprawling North American cities is the combo AWD + space to carry stuff, usually absent in smaller vehicles.
With the lack of an ICE, even a compact sedan like a Model 3, has as much free space as my Kia Sorento, in terms of volume, while being AWD (which also increases range and power).
The market for electric cars cannot be compared to the regular fossil fuel ones. Their appeal is different and their build allows for such unconventional uses os space that we might yet see a resurgence of small cars

 

[archited]

Um... you do know that larger vehicles account for 80% of total sales now... and many are phasing out sedans.

Um... and did you see Sedans mentioned in my list?

 

[IanO]

Point being... the trend is for larger vehicles, SUVs, Pickups and not to your point.

I suspect things will ebb and flow back to smaller, more efficient, but not for awhile and back to my point about sales.