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- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
EdwardEdm
Active Member
The 916 might not be a great one to get excited about. Although there's a service increase in the AM peak direction it's from 10 minutes to 7/8 minutes, which is good but, at the same time the AM peak is being ended 30 minutes early, while the AM counter peak direction is being reduced from 10 minutes to 20 minute frequency.
With the route report cards...
2025- 2928 trips, 43 riders per hour, 10% crowded trips, 109 trips per day
2024- 3036 trips, 44 riders per hour, 7.1% crowded trips 113 trips per day
2023- 2570 trips, 41.2 riders per hour 100 trips per day
Daily ridership dropped by 90ish riders, but with increased crowded trips presumably some of that ridership as shifted to the AM peak direction.
The AM Peak Lewis Farms to WEM trips right now are:
8:00
8:10
8:20
8:30
9:02
So, to end the AM peak direction 30 minutes earlier means those 8:10 and 8:20 trips are gone.
All in all, the 916 is probably using a similar number of service hours, but those hours have just been redistributed during the AM peak to focus on the peak direction from 6:00ish-8:00AM.
My interest lies primarily in the 500 series routes as those are the ones that operate in the areas I am most familiar with. None the less I did dig into some of the West Edmonton numbers.
Something to keep in mind is that we don't know the long term effects of the Great Ridership Slump of Fall 2025 and if this was a temporary slump or if they will recover.
The 900x has had grim numbers from 2024-2025
Productivity (riders per hour)
Wkd Sa Su
2023- 38.7 26.5 21.6
2024- 37.0 25.0 19.0
2025- 32.0 21.0 20.0
Ridership
Wkd Sa Su
2023- 4297 698 503
2024- 3071 725 456
2025- 2452 625 470
I was curious if those riders went somewhere else. Turns out the 7 lost about 2000 riders 2024 vs 2025 while the 2 and 4 lost riders, but relatively small amount (a few hundred per day). The 910x and 920x gained over 100 riders each.
The 7 did gain about 1800 riders in 2024, but I'm wondering if that's where 900x riders went when that route lost 1200 riders from 2023 to 2024. The 900x also has terrible on time performance, with the 2 and 7 offering better on time performance and all 3 routes have similar travel times to Downtown. Weekday AM peak to Downtown the 2 is 45 minutes to 101 St/ Jasper Ave and the 900x is 46 minutes to Thorton Court/ Jasper Ave, and the 7 is 43 minutes to 100 St/ 102A Ave.
fromyeg
Active Member
Great analysis.
This is from Taproot this week:
“NorQuest College in Edmonton is reducing its workforce by about 100 positions by mid-April 2026 due to financial strain and enrolment projections. The University of Albertahas also made strategic workforce reductions, while NAIT and Lakeland College report no current layoff plans. The trend across Alberta post-secondary institutions stems from stagnant provincial funding and a 65% drop in international student approvals following 2024 federal immigration cuts. The 2026 provincial budget includes a 3% operating support increase”
I didn’t realize how big the drop in international student approvals was.
Likely playing a role in the drop in ridership seen in Fall 2025.
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trevorhayden
Active Member
Just as the international enrollment was maybe too much, the reduction in international enrollment was also too much!
thommyjo
Senior Member
This is why the liberals under Trudeau failed us.
Spikes in population disrupt all the systems and any corrections become equally disruptive and harmful.
A steady rise in population, immigration, students, etc is sustainable to adapt to.
But the aggressive shifts led to HUGE strain on healthcare, schools, housing, etc. and made all these unis and colleges start over-relying on international tuitions.
Now that they’ve clawed it back, schools are scrambling. Unnecessary stress caused.
In the same way, rents, home prices, and pre-construction in the GTA has plummeted. Which is maybe good broadly, but devastating for buyers from the last 5 years left holding the bag….many first time buyers in their 30s now have lifelong damage done.
None of this had to happen. It was a choice by idiots, and here we are reaping the consequences of correction.
Spikes in population disrupt all the systems and any corrections become equally disruptive and harmful.
A steady rise in population, immigration, students, etc is sustainable to adapt to.
But the aggressive shifts led to HUGE strain on healthcare, schools, housing, etc. and made all these unis and colleges start over-relying on international tuitions.
Now that they’ve clawed it back, schools are scrambling. Unnecessary stress caused.
In the same way, rents, home prices, and pre-construction in the GTA has plummeted. Which is maybe good broadly, but devastating for buyers from the last 5 years left holding the bag….many first time buyers in their 30s now have lifelong damage done.
None of this had to happen. It was a choice by idiots, and here we are reaping the consequences of correction.
IanO
Superstar
Improvements please and thank you. These are in our Government area of the Capital of Alberta in front of many GOA folks who have just returned to work...
David A
Senior Member
Sadly I feel it is like an old circus routine where they follow the elephants around with shovels. Yes, we do need more regular cleaning, but we also need people not to regularly leave messes.
The_Cat
Senior Member
What about that person in the Corona Station that stabbed the police officers?
trevorhayden
Active Member
Probably left there by disgruntled GOA employees