Valley Line LRT | TransEd/Marigold | City of Edmonton
- Thread starter Daveography
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J_gordo
Active Member
Another TPSS building up at Belmead stop
Gronk!
Senior Member
City underlines successes and challenges as the Valley Line LRT turns one
As the 13-kilometre Valley Line Southeast LRT rolls by its first year in operation, the City of Edmonton's head of transit says its reliability and ridership growth have made the year a "success story," even though shelter doors were removed from stations and numerous cars and trains have...
edmonton.taproot.news
Kosy123
Senior Member
The Valley Line coming every 5 min is probably gold standard. I can't emphasize how less stressed I am as a commuter rather than driving to downtown for work and I'm sure others feel the same.
Greenspace
Senior Member
2.25m riders is 6100 people per day. Latest figures is 9300 riders per day. The bare minimum business case for the Valley Line SE was 32,000 riders per day. Currently costs us $57m/year.City underlines successes and challenges as the Valley Line LRT turns one
As the 13-kilometre Valley Line Southeast LRT rolls by its first year in operation, the City of Edmonton's head of transit says its reliability and ridership growth have made the year a "success story," even though shelter doors were removed from stations and numerous cars and trains have...
Edmcowboy11
Senior Member
I just really hope we see continued increase at the Davies park'n'ride. Actually I'd love to see a business located nearby that would bring employees to the Davies area creating a constant larger usage in both directions.
Gronk!
Senior Member
CplKlinger
Senior Member
The development we're seeing along the line will help a lot, and that was only possible because of this investment. Remember, it was not too long ago when Clareview was just a station surrounded by barren fields, rather than being the major hub it is now. This is a long term, generational investment.
This is not based on any evidence, but I think (particularly once VLW opens) the Valley Line is better suited for post-Covid travel habits than the Capital/Metro lines, since it is designed to bring people to more local destinations (i.e., education, grocery stores, etc.) rather than primarily being a funnel for downtown commuting.
J_gordo
Active Member
To be fair, who could have predicted what happened in the last 5 years with the deterioration of downtown and WFH
Kosy123
Senior Member
Tbh I'm not worried that the Valley Line won't keep growing its ridership. As more development continues around it (and that is happening, take a walk around Avonmore for example), and as downtown continues to grow and recover (which is also happening, big difference of fall 2024 to fall 2023) then ridership will increase. Strong retail options in City Centre would probably boost this as well (Here's hoping this happens soon). Winners is already drawing some foot traffic from Millwoods.
thommyjo
Senior Member
When you say costs us 57mil a year, is that the cost of not hitting 32k riders (like the delta of actual vs expected)? Or the total cost not including the revenue?
Is the “business case” around anywhere to read more on from original approval days?
I’d be interested to understand how many net new users we got the last year, revenue increase, first time purchasers, etc.
Ideally this train attracts new users. Reshuffling bus users to a train isn’t super helpful cost wise.
thommyjo
Senior Member
One stat: at 2.25m rides. And 57mil expense. That’s $25/ride. Of which $2-3 is recouped in fares.
Pretty steep subsidy.
Pretty steep subsidy.
trevorhayden
Active Member
To paraphrase Iveson, LRT isn't about today. It's about rewriting the city's future DNA.
The_Cat
Senior Member
I think the LRT means higher property values along the line.
whattheheck
Active Member
But if the business case shows and was sold on more robust ridership compared to the reality, we have a problem then. Will the operations have to be further sudsidized via the tax base?
Listen, this is not about being anti-lrt, it's about respect for the taxpayer.
Listen, this is not about being anti-lrt, it's about respect for the taxpayer.