EDMONTON- The city is considering implementing a one-year late night transit service pilot project in Edmonton. It’s the first step in a three phase plan to expand our city’s transit service.
City Councillor Amarjeet Sohi says Edmonton is a 24-hour city and there’s a growing need for late night service. He believes this project would validate the need to expand the service full-time.
“There’s a significant amount of employment during the nighttime, so we need to make sure that those people who rely on public transit have access to public transit during the late evening hours,” Sohi explained.
The pilot project would consist of five bus routes running every 30 minutes, until 3:00a.m. on five major corridors, according to a city report released Thursday.
“They will connect to all major transit centres in the city and from there people would have to find their own way, which is kind of unfortunate, but we need to look at a way to at least provide a basic level of service throughout the city,” Sohi explained.
Those who use transit on a regular basis say late night service is a great idea.
“I sometimes come home at about 1:00a.m or 2:00a.m., so at that time if I want to go to my house I have to use the taxi. So in that case that would be a great saving for me,” said one transit user Global News spoke with.
“I know my bus, to get to my house, stops at 11:00p.m. and then usually after that I cannot take a bus to go home,” said another transit user. “After 11:00p.m. I’m stuck, and it would be awesome if the buses were running all night.”
The one year pilot project is estimated to cost just under $1.3 million.
Sohi says cost is always a concern however, “those people who work night shifts also pay taxes. I think they need to have access to their service and that’s why we need to look at it.”
“When you look at the overall transit budget, it’s very nominal,” Sohi added.
If approved, the pilot project would run from September 2013 to August 2014, with a possible extension through December.
According to the city report, the pilot project would have to be approved by the time tax rate increases are set in early April.
The total cost of all three phases of the transit study is $6.5 million.
The topic will be discussed at a committee meeting on Wednesday.
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