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Woo, it's finally here!!! The opening day service plan.

Some highlights: There are 11 proposed regional routes to start with, and most will transfer at Government Center Transit Centre. A couple routes will be weekday only, but many will operate on weekdays and weekends. Extra service was added in Edmonton to address concerns of the current council regarding service levels for Edmontonians. The regional and local routes will be contracted to their current operators (ETS, PW, etc), and in cases where it's a new route, it'll be contracted out. No indication if this is just short-mid term, or a long term thing. Edmonton's local service will not be transferred over, at least for now. Services will be reviewed annually just like what ETS and other services do. Fares won't change to start, but they do want to harmonize regional fares in the mid term. And, crucially, all of this is subject to asset, staff, and service contract/transfer negotiations with providers and municipalities that are to take place in the lead-up to service launch in spring/summer 2023.

EMTSC9.PNG
 
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Well, I wouldn't call it a major rethink of transit service in the region -- at least not at this point. Service from Beaumont to the airport in the AM/PM peak is a good first day addition, but there is a certain tragedy that there won't be a stop or 2 in Nisku (I know it's political, but still). Ft. Sask is a big winner with all-day service and while I like the express services all in the city of Edmonton, I think they need to lose a few stops along the way and 60-minute frequency off-peak will have to be boosted to make it a real option for city travellers.

I'm disappointed in a couple of things, and it's taken me a while to put my finger on it.

1 - It's pointed out several times in the report that Edmonton won't transfer local service to the new commission, at least for the time being. Anyone know why that is? I've seen a couple of columns saying there are fears the city would somehow lose service, but I've never actually seen an argument. It won't be true regional transit until ETS buses are included, IMO.

2 - The report is a bit amateurish. The map above looks drawn on by less than expert hands. There are individual route maps that are a bit better, but still not professional looking. Plus there are grammatical mistakes in the report being presented to the board and sentences that repeat words. It really needed more polishing as a document to present an excellent public impression and excite people.
 
BrettB said:
- It's pointed out several times in the report that Edmonton won't transfer local service to the new commission, at least for the time being. Anyone know why that is? I've seen a couple of columns saying there are fears the city would somehow lose service, but I've never actually seen an argument. It won't be true regional transit until ETS buses are included, IMO.
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If I recall correctly from the original business case, it came down primarily to capacity issues. ETS local is by far the largest and most complex system out of any others in the region; it dwarves StAT, let alone Strathcona, which used to be at the table. So, the idea was for the EMTSC to operate regional service and the basic local services, then in ~five years time, ETS local bus service would hopefully be absorbed. That'd give them time to sort through the kinks, develop an internal capacity for transit ops, and revisit anything that doesn't work well, like organizational structure, procedures, etc. before taking on the beast that is Edmonton local. LRT is a separate thing though, and I think that comes down to politics - it'd be much more difficult to get regional buy-in if residents felt they were "paying for Edmonton's LRT" even though they probably use it if they take the bus from their home communities. It could be a different story down the road once regional transit is more integrated.

BrettB said:
Well, I wouldn't call it a major rethink of transit service in the region -- at least not at this point. Service from Beaumont to the airport in the AM/PM peak is a good first day addition, but there is a certain tragedy that there won't be a stop or 2 in Nisku (I know it's political, but still). Ft. Sask is a big winner with all-day service and while I like the express services all in the city of Edmonton, I think they need to lose a few stops along the way and 60-minute frequency off-peak will have to be boosted to make it a real option for city travellers.

I'm disappointed in a couple of things, and it's taken me a while to put my finger on it.

1 - It's pointed out several times in the report that Edmonton won't transfer local service to the new commission, at least for the time being. Anyone know why that is? I've seen a couple of columns saying there are fears the city would somehow lose service, but I've never actually seen an argument. It won't be true regional transit until ETS buses are included, IMO.

- The report is a bit amateurish. The map above looks drawn on by less than expert hands. There are individual route maps that are a bit better, but still not professional looking. Plus there are grammatical mistakes in the report being presented to the board and sentences that repeat words. It really needed more polishing as a document to present an excellent public impression and excite people.
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Agreed 100%, it's really bugging me that the Northeast route is mislabeled as Northwest lol

Another concern I have is regarding staffing, since there's no clear statement about whether the contract model will be a mid-long term approach, or if they specifically intend to transfer/hire their own operators, maintenance, etc. I understand this is a very high level document, but it'd be nice if they at least threw us a bone with a sentence or two.
 
CplKlinger said:
it'd be much more difficult to get regional buy-in if residents felt they were "paying for Edmonton's LRT" even though they probably use it if they take the bus from their home communities. It could be a different story down the road once regional transit is more integrated.
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The Heritage Valley Park and Ride, although replacing parking at Century Park to an extent, received regional buy in because it was positioned well to serve the entire region.

The express route from North Edmonton notes the access to the Eaux Claires Park and Ride there for regional residents.
 
EdwardEdm said:
The Heritage Valley Park and Ride, although replacing parking at Century Park to an extent, received regional buy in because it was positioned well to serve the entire region.

The express route from North Edmonton notes the access to the Eaux Claires Park and Ride there for regional residents.
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And on the flip side, I've heard councilors in Fort Sask express concerns about, and even vote against joining the EMTSC because they were worried about paying for Edmonton to expand its LRT system. And that was despite the business case making it clear that it was a bus only system for the forseeable future, and then some. Strathcona County even voted against joining the EMTSC because they didn't want to lose control over their assets to a regional body (not lrt related per say, but neither is Eaux Claires).

Point being, the region isn't homogenous. Losing Strathcona was bad enough, I'm sure they didn't want to risk sparking a major controversy that was known region-wide, thus tainting the brand, and seeing possibly even more municipalities opt out — and all that over an LRT network that wouldn't be part of it in the next few years anyway. Considering the big selling point of this is economies of scale, increased regionalization, etc., it'd then be an even tougher sell to the remaining members if the regional transit service's membership got much smaller than it is.
 
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I hope EIA improve the bus stops with a shelter, heaters and electronic signage that displays "next Bus" times and coordinates the times of departure on both routes so people can see the option of getting to the LRT at either MillWoods or Heritage Mall for those heading downtown or Northside.. From the report:

Metro Southeast Bus Route
  • 30-minute peak service on weekdays with new service recommendation
    to align to new Valley Line terminus at Mill Woods and add 60-minute Draft midday service and a peak extension to EIA
  • Service proposed to be operated by EMTSC out of
    Leduc facility under contract with third party operator using community buses
Metro South Airport/Metro South Route
  • Metro South Airport is 30-minute peak service, and 60-minute off-peak
    for 7-days a week from EIA to Century Park
    Draft
  • Metro South changes some direct in-bound AM to EIA – Leduc to Century Park and adds direct trips in the PM from Century Park – Leduc – EIA
  • Service proposed to be operated by EMTSC under contract with ETS
 
EdmTrekker said:
I hope EIA improve the bus stops with a shelter, heaters and electronic signage that displays "next Bus" times and coordinates the times of departure on both routes so people can see the option of getting to the LRT at either MillWoods or Heritage Mall for those heading downtown or Northside.. From the report:
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The Southeast route via Beaumont is 2 AM and 2 PM trips, so, rather insignificant. Hopefully in time if the demand is there, we'll see the numbers of trips expanded. Also, note the Beaumont service will be using most likely cutaway-type buses which will have a limited capacity.
 
Anyone notice a reference to the Airport Express route in one of the support documents that is never mentioned anywhere else?
 
trevorhayden said:
Anyone notice a reference to the Airport Express route in one of the support documents that is never mentioned anywhere else?
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I did but did not mention it in my post above because I could not see any written reference to it - that went with the map where the route was shown from Downtown to the Airport. In any event I think that would be great.
 
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