Lately I have been taking advantage of Edmonton transit, particularly when travelling to downtown Edmonton. And to my amazement, it’s actually been not too bad.
One of the things that’s been spurring me to use transit, and avoid the stupid Edmonton parking situation, is cost. Parking is, um, not extortionate (that’s a bit strong), but it’s damn expensive downtown and parking tickets cost even more! If I have a meeting in downtown Edmonton, I’ll seriously consider transit if I don’t have to head out to another meeting from there and also if I have the time.
Transit isn’t the most convenient way of travelling, but it is workable. What I have found inconvenient about it is the extra time overhead you have to build into using it. I pretty much need to add an extra half hour, minimum, on both sides of a trip.
That may not be a big deal for some people, but when you’re busy, that could make the difference between using transit and not using it.
Google transit: thank you!
The other thing that’s made transit planning easier is using the Google transit planner in Google Maps. You pick your start and end location, pick the travel by transit option, and voila, you’re given several transit options. You can set your leave by or arrive by time and it will work it all out for you.
This is in stark contrast to the nightmarish Edmonton Transit website. With the ETS Trip Planner you have to figure out what bus stop is closest and the planning flows from there. It’s not the best way and I can especially see it being problematic if you’re new to the city.
The nice thing in Google’s transit planner is that you just plunk in your addresses and it figures it all out.
I find it to be much quicker to use and overall a more pleasant way to plan travel. You can easily compare how quickly walking, transit or car will get you places.
I don’t want to knock the City of Edmonton for the ETS Trip Planner (yet I am), but I certainly won’t be using it.
LRT, transit & kids
This weekend we’ll be using transit to check out the craft sale at the Butterdome and it will all be done using transit. The kids have been bugging us to get on and use the LRT so they can start doing some things on their own. I think it’s about time. It should be interesting.
The University of Alberta is another one of those places where parking is a nightmare. It’s not as expensive as downtown Edmonton, but it’s up there, if you can even find convenient parking.
I’ve already got one cheap option for commuting in my scooter, but I still have to pay for parking. They don’t hesitate to ticket you with a scooter either, as I’ve found out. Environmentally or grid-lock friendly doesn’t matter, the City of Edmonton is ticket happy.
With the new Edmonton South Campus LRT extension, transit is becoming much more useful. It will be a long time to wait, but eventually (crossing fingers) the useful crosslinks for the LRT will be developed.
Avoiding downtown Edmonton
If you’ve ever arranged a meeting with me, you’ve probably noticed I don’t ever suggest downtown as a meeting location. If that’s easiest for you, I’ll go with it, but I just avoid it as much as I can.
I’m always on the hunt for good meeting locations around the city, like a good, independent coffee house on the North side of the city (not downtown).
I enjoy Starbucks and Second Cup, but I like to support the independents as well. Let me know your favourite coffee house North of the river. I’d also be curious to hear some of your favourite places to hold meetings.
See you out on the roads! Or, maybe on transit. : )
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8 comments
she says:
Apr 29, 2009
Favourite coffee house North of the river? Definitely The Carrot on 118th Ave. Great atmosphere and cause. If you’re not familiar with The Carrot you can learn more about it at http://artsontheave.org/thecarrot/
Alain Saffel says:
Apr 29, 2009
I think I’ve seen it, but have never stopped to check it out. I believe it’s at 118th Ave. and 94th Street.
I can’t say much for the area, although 118th Ave is getting cleaned up. I had a lunch meeting at Habesha once, just down the street, and got hassled for picking a place in a bad area. The food there was really good though (Ethiopian and Eritrean).
I will make sure to stop in one day and check it out though. Thanks!
Mack D. Male says:
Apr 29, 2009
Hope to see you out at TransitCamp! http://www.transitcampedmonton.ca
Alain Saffel says:
Apr 29, 2009
I just might! :) What’s it all about?
When I lived in Vancouver I participated in the meetings they had when they were deciding where to put the North-South transit line. Nice to see it’s finally happening. One part of the line is going under Cambie Street, which is one of the things I supported. :)
Mack D. Male says:
Apr 29, 2009
Yeah they’ve done some cool stuff in Vancouver. I posted a few more details on our TransitCamp here: http://blog.mastermaq.ca/2009/04/27/introducing-transitcamp-edmonton/
It’s basically the start of a two-way dialogue between ETS and interested citizens. Should have a good mix of planned sessions and BarCamp-style ones.
Alain Saffel says:
Apr 29, 2009
Sounds like something right up my alley. I will have to check the old calendar and see what I’m up to that day. I think it ought to be interesting.
Béné says:
Apr 29, 2009
Unfortunately, I work downtown and don’t know a lot of nice places to meet North of the river ;-)
If you ever had to go ‘Sounth’, I would recommend Block 1912 ( 82 Avenue / 113th Street). Nice comfy place with a European atmosphere and a large choice of pastries and desserts.
Trevor van Gorp says:
Jul 16, 2010
You should try out the revised ETS Trip Planner.
http://coewebapps.edmonton.ca/external/transit3/TripPlannerAdvanced.aspx
I believe this is intended as an evolutionary improvement over the last version in terms of usability although there are still some technical bugs to work out. The next phase would be to incorporate Google Transit style mapping.