ETS to add 50,000 hours of bus service, including more buses to the airport

An Edmonton Transit Service bus in a file photo.

Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) is making improvements to bus service with more hours and an expanded fleet this year.

The city plans to add 50,000 annual hours of bus service, with a portion being used to increase the frequency of buses heading between Century Park Transit Centre and the Edmonton International Airport (YEG), according to a Monday ETS release.

ETS will also add 20 new buses to the fleet this year.

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One of the announced changes are plans to replace the southwest route’s On Demand Transit (ODT) service with regular bus hours to serve the Keswick and Glenridding Ravine neighbourhoods starting in late April.

“All of these changes are intended to improve transit service by making it more reliable, convenient, accessible, inclusive and safe,” said Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, the branch manager for ETS.

“These service adjustments will help make it easier for Edmontonians to choose transit. New multi-day Arc passes and more frequency on the airport route are helping to make transit more appealing to visitors,” she added.

The news release also stated regular service in areas with lower ridership will face reduced hours or be eliminated entirely, including Riverdale, Belgravia, Windsor Park, Lendrum and Malmo. Their transit service will be changed to ODT starting in June.

Some busier school routes will have increased service, however underperforming school routes are being reviewed with school board partners and could face reduced hours, be cancelled or be changed to an ODT service starting in September, according to the 2024-2025 ETS Annual Service Plan report.

School routes with less than 15 riders will be cancelled, according to the report.

All removed service hours will be reallocated to higher demand routes to improve service.

“We’re taking a data-driven approach to putting our resources where they are needed most,” Hotton-MacDonald said.

“ETS is one of the first transit agencies in Canada to publish Route Report Cards — comprehensive evaluations of each bus route in Edmonton, measuring on-time performance, ridership and service frequency related to transit service standards.

“These report cards provide greater transparency about how our routes are performing across the network.”

The city said more information about the changes will be announced in April or May.

More than 61 million riders used ETS last year.