The Edmonton Transit System, also called ETS, is the public transit service which is owned and operated by the city of Edmonton, Alberta.
Bus service
The ETS runs service on buses across the city of Edmonton. It also provides connections with bus service in the suburbs of St. Albert, Sherwood Park, and Beaumont . Although Sherwood Park and St. Albert's transit systems run service to Edmonton, the ETS runs a rush-hour express route to Beaumont.
The vast majority of buses in the Edmonton fleet are low floor buses which have been progressively introduced into the system since 1993. These include New Flyer's D40LF model - also used in Calgary - and also its D60LF articulated model.
Light rail
Edmonton runs a 12.3 km light rail route with 10 stations, also known as LRT Route 201, between the northeastern community of Clareview and the University of Alberta, with a mix of tunnels and at-grade track. 7.6 km of the line is at-grade. The train uses Siemens-Duewag U2 cars. 6 stations are underground; the remaining 4 are at-grade.
History
Edmonton was the first city in North America with a population of less than 1 million to build a modern light rail system on April 22, 1978 in time for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, when it opened its first segment following a CN right-of-way from Belvedere Station to Stadium Station, via an intermediate stop at Coliseum Station (near the Northlands Coliseum, now Rexall Place), and then continuing on a tunnel under 99 Street to Central Station, at Jasper Avenue and 100 Street, including an intermediate stop, Churchill. The original line was 6.9 km long. On April 26, 1981, in the same year Calgary opened its first C-Train line, it opened a northeastern-bound extension of 2.2 km on the CN right-of-way to Clareview Station. In June 1983, the light rail tunnel downtown was extended by 0.8 km to Corona Station, with an intermediate stop at Bay Station, and was extended again in September 1989 by one station and 0.8 km to Grandin Station. On August 23, 1992, the next extension opened from Grandin to University Station, partially via a North Saskatchewan River crossing with a lower level for pedestrians and cyclists, and partially via a tunnel to the University Station. The route first started construction in 1974.
Every station on the line built since 1983 was built with full accessibility for the disabled, and in the late 1990s, Clareview and Belvedere Stations were covered and also had their platforms lengthened to allow for the use of 5-car trains.
Future plans
Southern extension
A new southward extension is under construction. Expected to be 10 km from the University Station to the Heritage Mall along the 114 Street-113 Street-111 Street corridor, an 800m section from the University Station to a station at the Health Sciences Centre complex will be built using tunnels and will open in January 2006. Other stations include 76 Avenue, Neil Crawford (at 67 Avenue), Southgate (at 51 Avenue), and Heritage Mall (at 23 Avenue). The ultimate extension will cost about $600 million CDN. The segment from Health Sciences Station to Heritage Mall Station will be fully at-grade.
Other plans
Other future candidates for light rail expansion include a line from either University Station or Central Station to the West Edmonton Mall, and a route from Churchill Station along 105 Avenue and either 104 Avenue or 106 Avenue to 111 Avenue, following 106 Street and Princess Elizabeth Avenue to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. However, these plans are merely expected to be built as bus rapid transit routes first.
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