Our transit planning team carefully reviewed thousands of Edmontonians’ comments about the proposed new bus network. In summer 2018, the planners used this feedback to make adjustments to about 20 percent of the proposed bus routes.
Planners are currently reviewing feedback gathered in fall 2018 and may make minor changes where warranted before presenting the final draft to City Council for approval.
How Changes Were Decided
Before changes were made to the new network, they were evaluated against Transit Strategy guiding principles, potential number of riders, benefit to the most Edmontonians, connection to important neighbourhood destinations, and impact to overall budget.
Transit Strategy guiding principles include:
- Improve frequency during off peak hours in inner neighbourhoods
- Focus on peak hour service in outer neighbourhoods
- Make local service more direct and easier to understand
- Minimize travel times when on board transit
- Improve frequency of service by allowing for more transfers and longer walking distances in some areas
- Integrate bus and LRT service
Levels of Service
Each year, ETS moves some service from underused routes and trips to better serve higher demand routes. Using set standards, we look at neighbourhood population, current number of riders and potential for future riders. By improving the reliability or frequency of service on higher used routes, ETS expects to attract more riders overall.
Neighbourhood Destinations
The new network is based on connecting more people with popular neighbourhood destinations.
Efficiency and Budget
Improve efficiency of the existing service using the existing budget and available service hours.
Walking Distances
Where warranted, we adjusted routes to reduce walking distances in many communities. In most cases, Edmontonians will need to walk 5 to 7 minutes to get to the nearest transit stop. The walking distance map shows the increase in walking distance compared to what you residents are walking to get to a transit stop today.
