What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    14
soupcrate said:
The city isn't refusing, is just making it's way through our very slow process
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Uh, we have had the LRT for over 40 years now. It seems like the default for bureaucracy is to do nothing, pretend everything is fine and ignore any problems until it becomes impossible to do so.
 
David A said:
Uh, we have had the LRT for over 40 years now. It seems like the default for bureaucracy is to do nothing, pretend everything is fine and ignore any problems until it becomes impossible to do so.
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I think the motion was passed during the pandemic. I'm not very old, but I don't remember there being much in the way of safety problems before the pandemics.
 
soupcrate said:
I think the motion was passed during the pandemic. I'm not very old, but I don't remember there being much in the way of safety problems before the pandemics.
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I was in Edmonton for just about a year prior to the pandemic and, while less visible/frequent, safety was already an issue.
Having fare gates is also something that helps on other fronts, like fare collection (you wouldn't believe how many "good people" ride without paying theirs). It is also a good tool to understand ridership patterns, etc.
It will NEVER make sense to me that we didn't have those from the get go. I once heard the argument that it was a deterrent for riders, which doesn't sound reasonable, considering that it only takes you about an extra 10 seconds to get into the paid-fare zone and, if you are paying your fare like you should, you've got nothing to fear.
 
Fare gates and free parking to fix the downtown's woes... sometimes I wonder if Edmonton is even capable of change.
 
tkoe_ said:
Fare gates and free parking to fix the downtown's woes... sometimes I wonder if Edmonton is even capable of change.
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Sometimes the smallest things make one big difference, or are at least the first stone in an avalanche.

Fare gates would make the LRT safer, which in turn makes it more attractive for people to use it to come Downtown (and leave their cars home, or at park-and-rides). You wouldn't believe how many people I've heard, recently, that avoid the LRT, even if it would be convenient to use, because of the constant safety issues. And they end up deciding to drive to places like Windermere or the West Edmonton Mall, instead of coming Downtown, because if they're going to drive anyways, might as well enjoy the free, easily available parking and the perceived safety of these places.

One of my best friends is a Vancouver transplant who chose to live by the Stadium LRT station, so that she could commute to work at the U of A and come downtown for food/entertainment. She didn't even own a car until he moved here, and tried staying like this for a few months, and gave up because of the aforementioned perception of safety. Now that she owns a car, she could very well choose to at least drive downtown, but paid parking makes it a hassle she's not willing to overlook, especially considering that her options for food and entertainment in other places are at least just as good, but generally better, in other places. Having fare gates and/or free parking after 6pm in downtown would almost certainly change her mind on this.

No one here is saying that these two things are going to solve all of the problems in Downtown, but small actions can go a long way. You couple that with better upkeep and some beat cops patrolling, I'll bet you that the perception of people regarding downtown, and their willingness to come here, will change dramatically.

As it has been discussed here, and in other threads, here is a list of small, and relatively cheap and/or simple, things that would go a VERY long way towards improving people's perception of Downtown, and it's attractiveness to those living elsewhere:

Fix (and maintain) the sidewalks
Repave the streets
Install fare gates in the LRT
No parking fees after 6pm
Better ostensive policing
Maintain the cleanliness of roads and sidewalks (proper sweeps/washing of sidewalks, clean graffiti, etc...)
Better snow/ice removal from sidewalks in the winter
Some bike infrastructure (more bike racks, better intersections, etc... would help attracting more people who live in central neighbourhoods)

None of these is complicated, most of them are fairly cheap, all of them would help improve the area significantly and, if done together, could very well be enough to create some momentum, especially for businesses (which in turn, could help attracting more residents).

For instance, I would bet some good money that implementing all of these would cost a lot less than building (and maintaining) a goddamn state-of-the-art Rec Centre in Lewis Farms, which while needed, will benefit far less people, for example.
 
ChazYEG said:
Sometimes the smallest things make one big difference, or are at least the first stone in an avalanche.

Fare gates would make the LRT safer, which in turn makes it more attractive for people to use it to come Downtown (and leave their cars home, or at park-and-rides). You wouldn't believe how many people I've heard, recently, that avoid the LRT, even if it would be convenient to use, because of the constant safety issues. And they end up deciding to drive to places like Windermere or the West Edmonton Mall, instead of coming Downtown, because if they're going to drive anyways, might as well enjoy the free, easily available parking and the perceived safety of these places.

One of my best friends is a Vancouver transplant who chose to live by the Stadium LRT station, so that she could commute to work at the U of A and come downtown for food/entertainment. She didn't even own a car until he moved here, and tried staying like this for a few months, and gave up because of the aforementioned perception of safety. Now that she owns a car, she could very well choose to at least drive downtown, but paid parking makes it a hassle she's not willing to overlook, especially considering that her options for food and entertainment in other places are at least just as good, but generally better, in other places. Having fare gates and/or free parking after 6pm in downtown would almost certainly change her mind on this.

No one here is saying that these two things are going to solve all of the problems in Downtown, but small actions can go a long way. You couple that with better upkeep and some beat cops patrolling, I'll bet you that the perception of people regarding downtown, and their willingness to come here, will change dramatically.

As it has been discussed here, and in other threads, here is a list of small, and relatively cheap and/or simple, things that would go a VERY long way towards improving people's perception of Downtown, and it's attractiveness to those living elsewhere:

Fix (and maintain) the sidewalks
Repave the streets
Install fare gates in the LRT
No parking fees after 6pm
Better ostensive policing
Maintain the cleanliness of roads and sidewalks (proper sweeps/washing of sidewalks, clean graffiti, etc...)
Better snow/ice removal from sidewalks in the winter
Some bike infrastructure (more bike racks, better intersections, etc... would help attracting more people who live in central neighbourhoods)

None of these is complicated, most of them are fairly cheap, all of them would help improve the area significantly and, if done together, could very well be enough to create some momentum, especially for businesses (which in turn, could help attracting more residents).

For instance, I would bet some good money that implementing all of these would cost a lot less than building (and maintaining) a goddamn state-of-the-art Rec Centre in Lewis Farms, which while needed, will benefit far less people, for example.
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For the valley line lrt, especially for the downtown stations, are fare gates very doable or effective? They seem like really open stations and easy to access (being street level you can just walk on the street to get to the station) so just wondering how fare gates would work in some areas.

This is brewery district thread?
 
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ChazYEG said:
I was in Edmonton for just about a year prior to the pandemic and, while less visible/frequent, safety was already an issue.
Having fare gates is also something that helps on other fronts, like fare collection (you wouldn't believe how many "good people" ride without paying theirs). It is also a good tool to understand ridership patterns, etc.
It will NEVER make sense to me that we didn't have those from the get go. I once heard the argument that it was a deterrent for riders, which doesn't sound reasonable, considering that it only takes you about an extra 10 seconds to get into the paid-fare zone and, if you are paying your fare like you should, you've got nothing to fear.
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My recollection is quite different. They used to have ticket booths at the downtown locations when it first opened but it was considered uneconomical to maintain the manpower for such low ridership so they went to the honour system.
 
Glenco said:
My recollection is quite different. They used to have ticket booths at the downtown locations when it first opened but it was considered uneconomical to maintain the manpower for such low ridership so they went to the honour system.
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A ticket booth and fare gate are two different things. I don't think you need a ticket booth to have a fare gate.

I suspect in other places old ticket booths have also been now replaced by nearby ticket vending machines which we also have in LRT stations.

However, I agree our Brewery District thread is becoming quite a catch all discussion. This probably goes under LRT instead or something like that.
 
Here's some other news about the Brewery District. The Loblaws parkade from 120 St has been closed off since the cold winter started in December. However, I see no valid reason for this closure since there's no maintenance or renovations taking place. It's like they simply want to punish those of us who want to use the parkade by ensuring that we have to continue to share the ground-level parking with inconsiderate dumbasses. Thankfully the parkade entrance from 105 Ave is still open for the most part. Still, this ongoing hassle with the parkade plus Loblaws not supplying certain products will prompt me to shop more at the Kingsway Superstore.
 
Gronk! said:
Here's some other news about the Brewery District. The Loblaws parkade from 120 St has been closed off since the cold winter started in December. However, I see no valid reason for this closure since there's no maintenance or renovations taking place. It's like they simply want to punish those of us who want to use the parkade by ensuring that we have to continue to share the ground-level parking with inconsiderate dumbasses. Thankfully the parkade entrance from 105 Ave is still open for the most part. Still, this ongoing hassle with the parkade plus Loblaws not supplying certain products will prompt me to shop more at the Kingsway Superstore.
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Seems like a pretty dramatic reaction when you point out that you just need to travel another 100m to the entrance adjacent to MEC.
 
Loblaws City Market is about the only reason why I go to the Brewery District, therefore I'm miffed that their parkade entrance is closed. I forgot about the parkade entrance near MEC so thanks for that. Nevertheless, unavailable products at this Loblaws location and the Ice District location will be why I'll go elsewhere for my grocery shopping.
 
IanO said:
Either that or make parking fees mandatory for all surface lots at malls and power centres;)
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Now that's an idea I can get behind!
 
It's not so far-fetched. Translink in Metro Vancouver charges a parking tax per stall on businesses to pay for major roads and transit so it's an indirect charge. Not sure if municipalities have that power in Alberta, but it would help level the playing field a bit.
 
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