[TAS]

I don't think residential is going to pick up there, at least not in the near term. I could see commercial / retail starting, but with the strip of industrial along Argyll plus all the surrounding, it's would be a relatively undesirable island of residential among a sea of industrial.

Use some of the parking lot for a 16 court pickleball centre. Maybe skatebord park, too.

 

[Gronk!]

Downtown Edmonton business owners call out transit lanes expected this summer | CityNews Edmonton

Business owners along 101 Street in Edmonton's downtown are calling out a city plan to create a dedicated transit lane in front of their businesses.

edmonton.citynews.ca

 

[thommyjo]

"An EPS-led initiative with Transit Peace Officers is making progress in curbing crime and disorder within the Edmonton Transit System.

During the first 90 days of Project Unify, there was a 290% increase in officer-generated calls, and an 11% decline in public calls for service compared to the same times and locations in 2024.

This means police and peace officers intervened and prevented criminal or anti-social behaviour before it caused issues for transit riders.

There was also a notable decline in public-generated occurrences during all hours and locations of the LRT system in these 90 days as well. Compared to 2024, disorder occurrences decreased from 222 to 186 and weapons occurrences dropped from 24 to 10.

“Project Unify is highlighting how our members are able to address crime and disorder when they are able to be in the right place at the right time,” says Superintendent Keith Johnson. “This shows the lasting impact of their work across the entire transit system.”

In the latest episode of The Quiet Professional podcast, Supt. Johnson talks in-depth about addressing crime and disorder within Edmonton’s transit system alongside Ward sipiwiyiniwak city councillor Sarah Hamilton and David Cooper of Leading Mobility Consulting.

Watch the latest episode here: https://bit.ly/3HvltQd"

Great to hear. And my cynical side remembers how the months before the last election we also saw a lot of positive police press releases…

 

[BrettB]

My first reaction was "tough!"

But I can kinda see their point. Would a rush hour bus lane 0600-1000 and 1500-1800 be possible through here? Or is the traffic that bad during the day?

 

[trevorhayden]

That article is a great resource to see which businesses to boycott.

 

[The_Cat]

I saw something on Global News about the businesses affected on 101 Street. I think bus access could give more access opportunities.

I think a cool idea could be an app that could access local businesses in close proximity to the LRT or bus routes.

 

[trevorhayden]

That app exists: Google Maps

 

[YEG Bus Rider]

ETS Fall Service Changes

A few other things ETS didn't mention...

- Merged route 114 includes 30 min Sunday early evening service for the Northgate-Clareview portion that route 123 had (Northgate-Coliseum).
- 914 runs every 20 mins in off-peak direction during peak hours. (used to be 15 mins in both directions) + shifted Saturday early evening schedule pattern from WEM TC
- Route 516 reduced to every 20 mins weekday midday.

 

[BrettB]

Statistics Canada published June transit figures across the country. Edmonton saw 5,539,000 riders in June, about 15% more than in June 2024. Leduc also saw a massive increase year over year. For comparison, Calgary's transit system saw about seven per cent more riders.

 

[trevorhayden]

Do we want to speculate on the role of route optimization vs. increased car costs on the ridership increase?

 

[Blizzard]

Little column A, little column B. I think the biggest factor that suggests ETS has been "successful" lately is that we are moving more people with essentially no increase in resources. If anything, because of the age of our fleet and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Proterra, we're actually moving more people with LESS resources than pre-BNR. The next Council will have to pay the piper regarding fleet constraints and I have no doubt it will be ugly.

 

[trevorhayden]

'Completely crushing': Edmonton Chinatown says it needs more parking, not a bus lane

The lack of parking is an issue for Edmonton businesses and the board of the Chinatown BIA, who all signed a petition opposing the new lane.

edmontonjournal.com

When will people get it through their thick skulls? It is a privilege, not a right, to park your private cars on public property. Public streets are for public transportation.

 

[BrettB]

My first reaction was "tough!"

But I can kinda see their point. Would a rush hour bus lane 0600-1000 and 1500-1800 be possible through here? Or is the traffic that bad during the day?

So, turns out the business owners on 101 St. are complaining over a bus lane that's TWO BLOCKS long and in effect between 6 am and 6 pm?!?

I'm sorry to say they've lost my sympathy.

https://edmontonjournal.com/business/edmonton-chinatown-parking-bus-lane

 

[Kosy123]

I'm mordibly curious how high our LRT and bus ridership get to once school returns next month. I'm personally hoping we somehow reach consistent 125-130,000 average daily weekday ridership at some point in the near future.

 

[BrettB]

Do you mean on just on the LRT?

The June figures show an average daily ridership across the system of >180,000 (that's dividing the monthly total by 30 days). I would guess that puts the weekday ridership well over 200,000 riders system-wide.

Last September, there were > 6 million trips, leading to a daily ridership of >194,000.