Leaders from municipalities in and around the Edmonton region have once again agreed to work on a plan to improve transit in the region.
Chief administrative officers (CAO) from the City of Beaumont, the Town of Devon, the City of Edmonton, the City of Fort Saskatchewan, the City of Leduc, Leduc County, Parkland County, the City of Spruce Grove, the City of St. Albert, the Town of Stony Plain and Strathcona County signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a new framework intended to improve regional transit services.
The MOU outlined several principles that differ from previous agreements to create a regional system. Those changes include allowing municipalities to retain sole control of their assets, workforce and public transit service decisions related to their individual systems.
The MOU states municipalities must have mutual respect for each others’ values, policies, areas of expertise and jurisdictions and continue to make efficient use of existing resources. The CAO of each municipality will be responsible for achieving the desired level of collaboration.
“Regional transit collaboration will identify opportunities to provide better connections, better use existing services and make no-cost adjustments to existing services which improve the rider experience,” said Wade Coombs, transit director for Strathcona County.
“The Edmonton Metro Region is growing and regional transit collaboration provides a venue to identify and prioritize service gaps. Each municipality can look at possibilities for sub-regional agreements to improve connectivity where riders need it most.”
The agreement states municipal CAOs, as well as local transit leaders, will have regular meetings to discuss needs, look for efficiencies and “keep lines of communication open.”
A plan to consolidate eight regional transit systems into one has been in the works for over a decade. In December 2022, Edmonton city council failed to pass a motion to fund a $49.5-million regional transit commission. Some councillors said the plan was expensive and Edmonton wouldn’t see a good return on investment, while others believed the regional transit system would create efficiencies that would benefit all transit users.
In a statement Thursday, the City of Edmonton pointed to three routes as examples of how regional transit collaboration would work. including Strathcona County Transit stopping in Edmonton’s Cloverdale neighbourhood and the sharing of the Naki Transit Centre in St. Albert for special events service, along with Beaumont Transit providing service to Mill Woods Transit Centre.
“This marks an important step forward for growing and improving transit service across the Edmonton Metro Region,” said Darrell Reid, CAO for Strathcona County and chair of the Regional Transit CAO Roundtable. “There are tremendous opportunities to permanently transform our transit network, and coming together in this way opens the door to bettering the lives of every transit rider.”
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