Edmonton airport shuttle from downtown deemed too expensive

Getting to the Edmonton International Airport from downtown Edmonton will continue to require a stopover for anyone using transit.

On Tuesday, the Urban Planning Committee was presented with a report looking at the feasibility of a direct shuttle.

Staff found a dedicated route would cost at least $10.3 million in capital to launch. At least another $2.5 million would be needed annually to operate the route.

In this economy, with the current Edmonton Transit Service already running fewer hours than the city wants, councillors decided not to move ahead with that proposal.

“At this point, we just don’t have the budget for those additional buses,” Ward O-day’min Councillor Anne Stevenson told Global News.

Currently, the Route 747 takes passengers from Century Park Transit Centre on 23 Avenue in south Edmonton to the airport every half hour, hour seven days a week starting at 4:10 a.m. and ending at 12:30 a.m.

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The city says the majority of riders are regulars using either an ARC or Route 747 pass.

On Tuesday, a rider told Global News they take the route for work and have to take transit from Mill Woods, transferring multiple times.

Both the Downtown Business Association and Edmonton International Airport have expressed support for the route from downtown but told city administration they could not help with funding it.

“It specifically comes to event attraction, conference attraction, having a direct airport to downtown route is really essential in that,” Stevenson said.

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Stephen Bourdeau has spent decades organizing events in Edmonton including the World Triathlon and FIBA 3X3.

“When the city or any city is bidding for major sporting events and big sporting events, transportation is one of the cornerstones,” the Do North CEO said.

He said the city has been helpful in setting up special shuttles for major events to get organizers, athletes and volunteers between the airport and downtown.

Stevenson expressed a desire to look at those sorts of options or helping people at Century Park.

“Maybe there are ways we can simplify that transfer, that we can message that differently, have resources on site,” Stevenson said.

“Maybe there’s also options for event specific routes so if we know there’s going to be high demand for a specific conference if we can have sort of a shuttle service.”

No specific report on those options was ordered so there is no timeline on when or if any of that could be implemented.