Interesting takes, from a few people I recently spoke with, regarding the whole transit system.
1 - My neighbors moved in in October, from Toronto. They sold their car before moving, as they planned on getting one here, but we're afraid they'd have to buy it as soon as they moved, from what they'd heard/read.
1 1/2 months in and they still haven't bought one. They're both young professionals, with a 7 y.o. boy and a baby. Both of them work from home and have been relying on transit for most of their trips, with Uber/Taxi for stuff like grocery shopping.
Their opinion of ETS:
The good:
It works surprisingly well, albeit inefficient at times, especially for a neighborhood like ours (Summerside).
Generally very punctual, at least so far (no heavy snowfall yet).
The Valley Line made their lives a lot easier, as they were able to find a bunch of amenities in Bonnie Doon (doctors, dentists, grocery, etc.). I'm also made easier to get to Whyte and Downtown, which they had barely explored before, but went to every weekend since the line opened, with their children and alone.
The "bad"
Frequencies could be higher and routes could be more straightforward towards the transit centres/LRT stations.
The busses and some of the cars in the high floor lines could be cleaner (or at least look cleaner).
The perception of safety, especially in some transit centres and LRT stations is very bad. They did notice that there's not necessarily more sketchy people, but they're more noticeable and feel more "at ease" to interact with other people because of this.
Suggestions they had:
Having wi-fi and USB ports, like Toronto or Vancouver have on most busses would be a huge plus.
Not having the cloth seats in the LRT and the busses would make them feel a lot cleaner.
Tap with CC instead of having to buy the ARC card.
They'll still buy a car, but their plan is to wait until it becomes harder to live without one as much as possible, to save some money.
2 - a co-worker moved here from Vancouver, in September, in preparation as we're moving our HQ to Edmonton in May. He lived in Downtown Vancouver and chose to live in Oliver, around the 110 st area (close to the Government Centre LRT station). He didn't own a car in Vancouver, and immediately upon moving he bought one, because of his previous experiences in Edmonton (living here ove 2 decades ago, in Millwoods), and feedback from the majority of his friends who live here (all suburbanites).
He has now sold his car, less than 2 months in, as he barely used it, and could probably spend less money with an Uber to do the trips he uses his car for.
His takes:
The good:
Living Downtown/Oliver without a car is very easy. Most of what you don't do walking, you can easily get to by LRT, or busses in some cases.
The LRT is very convenient for DT-centric trips, but also made it easy to shop. He has used it to shop at Southgate (including groceries on Safeway), ECC and ICE District Loblaws (which is his favorite grocery store).
Bus schedules for lines DT are good and frequencies were surprisingly good.
The bad:
The underground LRT stations are generally gross, especially some of the entrances, that reek of urine and are littered with needles and others. They don't feel particularly unsafe, but they're certainly not pleasant.
He echoed the same point as my Torontonian neighbors, regarding the cleanliness.
Some routes are very inefficient, have too many stops and are too long (I assume he's referring to lines like the ones to WEM and Windermere, where most of his friends are).
His suggestions:
He found it VERY unusual that we don't have fare gates. His opinion is that it worsens the lack of safety perception, as it allows the problematic people on the trains, instead of limiting them to the stations.
He had the same point about CC tapping.
He doesn't really have a reason to use the Valley Line, but rode it once to check it out and found it to be great. In his opinion, that should be the standard the whole system should be held to, in terms of modernity, cleanliness, punctuality and general feel.
Now, these are anecdotal evidence, but they do paint a much different, and better, picture of our transit system and than I expected from people coming from these cities.
My own comments on their opinions:
1 - I agree with the low frequency issue, especially on suburban routes. Expanding the LRT will likely free up resources to improve that.
It could also be improved by changing the logic a little bit, and instead of linking every point to Downtown, or having lines cross it (most of the time), feed people into the LRT, with more frequent, shorter and more direct routes, whenever possible.
2 - I also agree with the cleanliness issue. Our busses feel very dirty and unpleasant, a lot of the times. The idea of having plastic seats only is a simple one that I loved. I think the Valley Line nailed it, in this point.
3 - I love the wi-fi and USB suggestion. It would make for much better trips, especially long ones. I'll extend it to: having wi-fi and/or 5G coverage on the underground stations of the LRT would also be great (and might even help with some safety issues).
4 - I cannot express how much I agree with the fare gates point. It's a LOT easier to have police/peace officers patrol only the outside of stations than keep track of sketchy people moving around the system, since you'd only need a couple of officers to be permanently posted in, or around, the most problematic ones.
Would also help make the trains safer, which can definitely improve the experience and increase ridership.
My argument for this being an investment, rather than an expense, like some here have treated it in the past, is that some of the most dangerous cities I know have some of the safest metros in the world, and having the fare gates is a major part of it. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bogotá...
I'll add that I really think the VLW will be a major gamechanger, probably the biggest step towards making Edmonton feel like a big, modern city, as it'll link not only our largest attraction to the system, but also our densest neighborhood, which also happens to be blooming into a great urban experience. We'll finally have connected the absolute majority of our main destinations to the LRT (Whyte being the exception, and a sore thumb, in my opinion. I blame terrible planning for this, as I find it very unlikely we'll ever see rail go on/around Whyte).
