The ongoing delay to opening Edmonton’s new Metro LRT line is delaying some service changes and cost savings for St. Albert Transit.
The Metro LRT line was originally slated to open in spring 2014, but ongoing delays to integrate the new signal system with Edmonton Transit’s existing system means there’s still no set opening date.
Wayne Mandryk, manager of LRT design and construction with the City of Edmonton, said they’re still looking at early 2015 for opening the line, which will extend service to NAIT.
But first the contractor has to finish its work on the system and testing. It will then begin the involved process of transferring it over to Edmonton Transit System (ETS).
“We’re disappointed that it didn’t open on time. We’re certainly aware of the impact that it’s had on the students from Grant MacEwan, NAIT and the people coming in from St. Albert,” Mandryk said.
This means, due to the LRT delay, St. Albert Transit had to reallocate about $80,000 in fuel and other operations costs from the budget back to the downtown bus route, said transit director Bob McDonald. They’d been hoping to spend the money elsewhere in the transit budget.
Currently, St. Albert Transit has two main routes – the 201 and 202 – that routinely travel into downtown Edmonton.
“We’re looking at having one of the routes stop at the Metro station,” McDonald said.
That bus would be the 202, which will stop at the new NAIT LRT station. Passengers going on to the downtown core could transfer onto the LRT using their St. Albert Transit fare.
McDonald said St. Albert Transit has changed its tickets so they can be used in Edmonton’s LRT ticket machines.
The changes will be communicated to transit riders once the Metro line has an opening date, McDonald said.
“It’s still unclear as to when we are going to do this,” he said.
The resource savings might be reallocated. McDonald said the city is planning a large transit survey this year that will examine what transit customers want in terms of destinations and services.
“We’re planning on doing a major on-board survey in February, March, and based on that we’ll be looking at some other changes in service,” McDonald said.
Will Steblyk, manager of planning and customer service for St. Albert Transit, said the 2015 budget has been based on the idea that the route changes could proceed in April.
