EdmontonTransitService

The Valley Line LRT has been open for about 1 year and Carrie Hotton-MacDonald branch manager of Edmonton Transit Service deems the first year a success with some challenges. Twenty-six trains are online, ridership has climbed, on time-performance is high, and train frequency has increased to five minute intervals are some of the successes.

The Valley Line LRT was four years behind schedule in opening, there have been at least 23 accidents involving the train and drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Poor reliability, accessibility concerns, social disorder and vandalism have accounted for automatic doors being removed from 76 shelters and shelter redesign would be costly and difficult.

Edmonton Transit Riders have been operating as a group for the past six months and had a coming out celebration on Sunday. Edmonton Transit Service provided the event with a charter train that took off from Stadium LRT Station around noon and carried passengers to the Blatchford Gate LRT Station where about 250 Edmontonians got a sneak peek of the non-operational LRT station.

Edmonton Transit Riders have been engaging with transit users and city officials on ways to improve the transit network and board chair Daniel Witte says the launch party was a chance for Edmontonians to meet with the organization to have their voice heard.

In spite of the huge investment of time & money in creating Edmonton's public transit system and police reporting violent crime in Edmonton’s transit centre is down, a recent poll indicates that majority of Edmontonians still do not feel safe using public transit.

Former Edmonton police officer turned criminologist Dan Jones, the Chair of justice studies at NorQuest College thinks the police report number doesn’t tell the whole story.“ He wonders if its crime that’s going down or is it reporting that going down?

When asked to comment on transit safety Mike Ellis, Alberta’s minister of public safety said that perception is reality and his comment must become a major consideration. As long as people perceive that it is unsafe they will hesitate to use public transit which creates a double whammy that must be addressed. Firstly, public transit must be made truly and actually safe and secondly that will have to be proven and communicated in such a way that will change the public's perception. Until that happens "unsafe" will remain in the minds of too many Edmontonians when they think of public transit.