EDMONTON – Fort Edmonton Park is three kilometres away from the nearest LRT station, but city councillors voted Wednesday to add the name to the South Campus LRT station.
“We really need to look at how we can promote Fort Edmonton Park,” Mayor Stephen Mandel said. “It’s one of the great gems of our city. It’s one of the places we need to encourage more Edmontonians to visit and by having an LRT station with some advertising and promotions, it’s a win-win.”
The decision overrules city’s naming committee, which earlier decided the change would be confusing for transit riders. Fort Edmonton Park executives appealed that decision, arguing the change is essential for their $100-million expansion and new branding and marketing for tourists.
“It’s only four LRT stops from downtown,” said Bruce Bentley, a member of the Fort Edmonton management company’s board.
The park already has a seasonal shuttle running every hour from the LRT station to the park, and is planning a historic exhibit at the station to give tourists something to view as they wait. Park staff are hoping to offer combined LRT/park tickets, and also increase the frequency and duration of the seasonal shuttle as they expand to more year-round activities, Bentley said.
“We feel very strongly the proposed name change will provide geographic context,” said Bentley, pointing to flights out of Denver and Los Angeles that say “Calgary/Banff” even though Banff is far from the Calgary International Airport.
The LRT name is important to promote public transit, since parking is increasingly limited at the park, Bentley said. When international tour operators visited Fort Edmonton earlier this year, they said they wouldn’t book guests unless there was a better public transit connection, he added.
The naming committee argued against the change because all other LRT stations are named based on what they are near, and both Northlands and Rexall have been turned down when they asked to rename Coliseum Station.
“Adding Fort Edmonton Park to the name would be like calling the NAIT station, NAIT-City Hall,” said Jason Maloney, the committee vice-chairman. “City Hall is about three kilometres away.”
Of the four council members on the committee, only Coun. Ben Henderson voted against the idea, suggesting it sets a bad precedent.
“There is no way in my mind that I can imagine that this is a Fort Edmonton Station. This is at best a half-hour walk. I think we are misinforming people if we suggest it’s anything different than that,” he said, adding transit maps should instead include small icons to promote nearby destinations instead.
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