[occidentalcapital]

ETS does not have a customer service mentality, they have a passenger service mentality. This is because ETS is not a business run for profit.

Agreed

They do have recovery ratios in terms of fare revenue, but it does seem the current approach is based on this being a social service for the poor, not transportation for the masses. Besides revealing a disrespectful attitude towards lower income people, this approach also has the effect of making transit worse for everyone, including low income persons.

 

[CplKlinger]

The head of ETS was on CBC Edmonton AM the other day, and she said Valley Line ridership was at ~138,000 in November, and more than 135,000 in December.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/16035656-valley-line-southeast-lrt-running-smoothly-two-months?

 

[occidentalcapital]

The head of ETS was on CBC Edmonton AM the other day, and she said Valley Line ridership was at ~138,000 in November, and more than 135,000 in December.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/16035656-valley-line-southeast-lrt-running-smoothly-two-months?

Is that daily or over the whole month? She also mentioned that they are now at service level 8 under their contract with transEd.

 

[Kosy123]

The head of ETS was on CBC Edmonton AM the other day, and she said Valley Line ridership was at ~138,000 in November, and more than 135,000 in December.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/16035656-valley-line-southeast-lrt-running-smoothly-two-months?

If this is daily ridership, then that's absolutely insane. Monthly ridership doesn't seem to be this number, that would essentially mean 5,000-ish a day.

 

[MacLac]

Is that a lot? 5,000/day is too much or too little?

 

[Seamusmuldrew]

If that is daily I'd be really surprised because the capital line isn't even near that level according to the 2023 Q3 ridership report by the APTA ( https://www.apta.com/wp-content/uploads/2023-Q3-Ridership-APTA.pdf ). 5000/day also seems dismally low.

 

[IanO]

Valley Line West: Bridge Girder Installation over Anthony Henday Drive​

January 17, 2024 News media are invited to join Brad Baumle, Construction Manager, Marigold Infrastructure Partners, for details about the upcoming installation of bridge girders over Anthony Henday Drive for the new Valley Line West LRT bridge. Date: Thursday, January 18 Time: 2 p.m. Location: Media Room, Main floor, City Hall Please RSVP to Sheila Keenan at sheila.keenan@edmonton.ca. News media will have the opportunity to ask questions.​

For more information: Construction Bulletin edmonton.ca/valleylinewest Media contact: Sheila Keenan Communications Advisor Integrated Infrastructure Services 780-886-6415​

 

[EdmTrekker]

Is that a lot? 5,000/day is too much or too little?

If you listened to the interview ETS is happy about the daily ridership - it was what they hoped for. If it stays at that level around 135,000 plus they will be well on target and increase frequency. Currently the train frequency is at Level 8 but they are increasing it next month towards a "train" in rush hour every 5 minutes. Whether that means 1, 2 3 or 4 or 5 cars was not discussed. Someone more knowledgeable will hopefully chime in and flesh that out in more detail.

 

[EdmTrekker]

If that is daily I'd be really surprised because the capital line isn't even near that level according to the 2023 Q3 ridership report by the APTA ( https://www.apta.com/wp-content/uploads/2023-Q3-Ridership-APTA.pdf ). 5000/day also seems dismally low.

The Report you reference does not break down by LRT Line on the last page of the PDF. It states at end of 3rd Qtr 2023 total LRT weekday ridership is 73,100 which excludes the new Valley line.

 

[occidentalcapital]

If you listened to the interview ETS is happy about the daily ridership - it was what they hoped for. If it stays at that level around 135,000 plus they will be well on target and increase frequency. Currently the train frequency is at Level 8 but they are increasing it next month towards a "train" in rush hour every 5 minutes. Whether that means 1, 2 3 or 4 or 5 cars was not discussed. Someone more knowledgeable will hopefully chime in and flesh that out in more detail.

What is the passenger threshold to go from 8 to 9 in the P3 contract? That should tell you the current ridership.

 

[Seamusmuldrew]

The Report you reference does not break down by LRT Line on the last page of the PDF. It states at end of 3rd Qtr 2023 total LRT weekday ridership is 73,100 which excludes the new Valley line.

Yup that's correct, my point was that the current LRT service including Metro and Capital Lines had a ridership lower than 135,000 according to the APTA report which makes me think the figures given for the Valley line were monthly ridership numbers. It's possible the current actual ridership is higher since much of Q3 has lower student ridership, but the Q1 report shows 76,500 and Q2 shows 77,200 so I doubt it is much higher. I just said the Capital Line since that's where the bulk of the current ridership lies, apologies if that was confusing.

 

[Avenuer]

The Report you reference does not break down by LRT Line on the last page of the PDF. It states at end of 3rd Qtr 2023 total LRT weekday ridership is 73,100 which excludes the new Valley line.

That seems quite low still compared to the pre-pandemic ridership which was consistently north of 100,000 iirc.

Fwiw the LRT between Stadium and Churchill looked packed this morning around 9 AM as I was biking along the shared use path, so I reckon 2024 numbers will be much higher than last year's for the Capital Line alone.

 

[BrettB]

In 2019, the LRT ridership report shows average weekday boarding on the Metro and Capital lines of 113,000

 

[Habibfazil]

Agreed

They do have recovery ratios in terms of fare revenue, but it does seem the current approach is based on this being a social service for the poor, not transportation for the masses. Besides revealing a disrespectful attitude towards lower income people, this approach also has the effect of making transit worse for everyone, including low income persons.

A few years back Mayor Mandel clearly stated the job of transit was to move passengers.
Then somehow "developers" appeared and it became transit orientated development (TOD), makes you wonder eh?

 

[occidentalcapital]

A few years back Mayor Mandel clearly stated the job of transit was to move passengers.
Then somehow "developers" appeared and it became transit orientated development (TOD), makes you wonder eh?

Not following you. Transit oriented development is aligned with and arguably requires transit that focuses on good transportation.

If anything transit being more of a social service makes transit oriented development much less likely, since transit becomes an undesirable thing to have beside you rather than an amenity.