ETS Edmonton Transit System

I need to take the bus everyday to get to school and back. The Edmonton transit bus has been always late making me miss my transfers. Here is how it usually goes it’s either:
1. The bus arrives and is a couple minutes early and the transfer has already left.
2. The bus arrives late and the transfer I need to get on is already gone.
3. The bus arrives earlier than expected from the schedule or doesn’t show up at all.
I’m not sure if it’s the schedule or what not but when a bus arrives late and the next bus that is suppose to show up never shows. It’s really hard not to have thoughts about investing in buying a vehicle, insurance, future repairs just to avoid all the nonsense that is ETS
Also would it hurt to clean the buses every now and then? I understand that the buses have strict schedules that they have to follow but there are some buses in Edmonton that appear to never have been cleaned.
Just to give some merits to ETS though they have some of the nicest drivers I’ve ever met and the LRT is really good despite there being really only like 2 lines going back and forth. Hopefully ETS learns to better schedule their buses or add better routes.

When the ets follows its schedule the routes are alright. But for someone who lives in the downtown core, to have to wait over 30min during rush hour is unacceptable! Edmonton you want to be like a big city and encourage people to ride the bus? How about starting with a more reliable system? I’m an advocate for public transport but this system is testing my ability to continue using it! I should have walked 20 min, I’d have gotten to work on time. The #9 should goby AT LEAST every 10 min!

If you want to risk being robbed, verbally harassed physically assaulted, enjoy some cuddle time with a drunk passed out on your shoulder or have a desire to have a vomity reason as to why you need new shoes at 8 in the morning (and if you’re a lady and want to add the benefit of possible sexual harassment/​sexual assault onto all those fun everyday occurrances) then this might be the ride for you!
I can honestly say that most days, taking ETS is the worst part of my day. The LRT is freezing cold in the winter, only turns the heat on in the summer, is filled with people who are sick, or drunk, or violent, or horny and they seem to enjoy getting crammed in sardine style right next to people so they can fondle a person’s junk and/​or steal their wallet. On the LRT, I’ve been harassed, assaulted, robbed, puked on and was stuck next to two teenagers who decided that dry humping in public was the in-​thing to do. Once, I was late for work because people were walking over a homeless guy who was having an overdose, and apparently I was the only one who had first aid training and a cell phone to call 911. I’ve been pushed back onto the train when trying to get off at my stop by people who absolutely MUST get on, and I’ve had my truck license plate stolen in the Belvedere parking lot. Twice.
Don’t bother looking for security, they’re only there once a month (usually the first weekday of the month, although they may stick around for the first two or three weekdays of the month to make sure they get all those pesky people who haven’t gotten a bus pass yet) to ticket businessmen or students who haven’t managed to buy their bus passes for the month. When seconds count, these guys are on a break, and there’s the constant threat of a fine to any who summons them for something they deem frivolous. And they have to take public transit to get to the scene of any crime, so they’re generally there long after the real police, firemen and paramedics have shown up, long after they could have even feigned usefulness.
The LRTs are an assault on the senses, the body and the pocketbook. Save your money and your dignity. Get a car.

In Edmonton, one should avoid ETS at all costs and buy a car.
Logistically, the system is a disaster. You have to learn the schedule and follow it if you want to make it work for you, because the buses and trains run so infrequently. You can’t expect showing up at a major transit hub and having a bus waiting for you. Instead, you have to wait for the bus (and there might be no bus at all because it is too late or weekend or something). Even the train system makes you wait a lot. Frequency is only semi-​decent during the peak hours.

I used ETS pretty much all the time throughout my 3 days in Edmonton, and from a tourist point of view, it does its job serving us. However I can see lots of improvements needed in the system.
The two major tourist attractions are obviously Downtown and West Edmonton Mall. Amazingly, there is no LRT service to WEM (yet). Fortunately there are a lot of routes connecting these two nodes, however service really sucks once afternoon rush hour ends.
As for the LRT, I felt it was more comfortable than the C-​Train, only because the loads aren’t as extreme. It’s comfortable, relatively frequent, and relatively reliable… all that makes me relatively satisfied with the system.
For a city with a population just over 1 million, the transit system I find isn’t bad. Of course, this is from a tourist point of view, and probably residents have a lot more beef with it.

It is very difficult to review something as large as ETS which is operated day to day by the efforts of hundreds of individuals but I am going to chip in my two cents anyhow as somebody that has been using the system for a few years now.
First off I really think they need to address how difficult it it to go from one side of the city to another. eg. it’s easy to move around within the north side but the connections going from say north to west are very to slow to almost non existent. The city also needs to accept the reality that everybody does not work Monday-​Friday 9 – 5. Some routes go hourly in the evenings or do not run at all limiting the types of jobs a person without a car can even apply for. Our Sunday service is such a joke that it is barely even worth mentioning. So many routes are not in service or run hourly that it’s almost not worth it to leave the house on the weekends.
I do believe there are some good points to our transit system such as the drivers. Yes I know a lot of people who do reviews mention that the drivers are rude and I do have some stories of my own but in six years I have had five drivers that I felt got out of line which I think is a darn good average. I tend to think more of the drivers I have enjoyed like the gentleman who lowers the bus for me because I walk with a limp. I don’t use a cane or walker but he always remembers me which I think is impressive for somebody who probably transports hundreds of people a day. I also can’t wait for them to start expanding the LRT into the west end. It has taken a long time but the city has finally realised we need to start shifting towards a train line similar to Calgary’s C Train.
Unless you want to buy a car getting around Edmonton is more then likely going to involve ETS so my suggestion is to take the good with the bad and leave your house a little early to avoid problems caused by bus delays.

I have been taking transit as a grand experiment this summer to see if it has improved any since my last stint of regular use many years ago. Short answer: no. My big issue is that Edmonton still does not provide real time information about its buses and their likely arrival times. It is unbelievable that many much smaller cities have used relatively unsophisticated technology (like bar code readers) to give their riders actually meaningful information on how long until the next bus will come along.
Edmonton’s bus schedule information, either on line or by calling, is just a theory. It does reflect any reality. It is not helped by their hopelessly awful app.
The bus does manage to get me to work on time most days. A little more hit and miss in the afternoon. But for $ 90 a month it is much cheaper than parking downtown, which is the only reason I am considering buying another monthly pass.

There are a lot of 3 star reviews on here, which would normally entail a mediocre experience, but no, the associated reviews actually go on to explain SUB-​PAR experiences. We shouldn’t have low standards of Edmonton ETS just because we’re used to it.
I don’t even know where to begin and I don’t feel like wasting hours posting all of the issues I’ve had with ETS over the years. What I’ll mention are the fine points that stick out in my head…
It gets SUPER hot in the summer, we’re talking over 30 degrees in a cram packed bus… and yet there is no air conditioning. I don’t know how that’s even legal, as I can fairly say everyone on that bus is suffering. Rubbing up to sweaty people for an hour long bus ride is not something anyone should have to do.
The system shuts down when there are extreme temperatures… so if it’s too hot or too cold, transit ceases to exist. Doesn’t matter that you’re stranded, literally dying from heat exhaustion or freezing. And there is no notice for this, it just happens.
Poorly planned schedule where buses don’t meet up with trains or other buses, and when the buses do match up, the connecting bus driver (who KNOWS the other connecting bus full of people is about to show up) drives away early at times, leaving you stranded for 30 minutes for the next bus.
The standards of the buses are disgusting… I literally sat in front of vomit today… yes, there was vomit on the floor.
The buses are so unreliable, sometimes they don’t come at all, 15 minutes late, 15 minutes early… so sporadic, that you either think you missed the bus, you’re worried it came early, or it doesn’t come at all. So I get out to the bus 10 minutes EARLY and wait for 40 minutes… so either this bus I’m getting on is 30 minutes late, I missed the earlier bus because it was MORE than 10 minutes early, or it just didn’t show up at all. Imagine this happening round trip sometimes… it adds up to HOURS of wasted time each week, and causes me to be late for schedules. And because of this unreliability, I end up calling a cab lots of the time, because even though I have a MONTHLY bus pass, I have to spend additional money to get somewhere within a normal amount of time. I literally waste hours a week just waiting for buses because they aren’t on schedule.
I understand that if these issues are prevalent for me, instead of complaining, I should just avoid the problem and drive my car. The thing is, I work downtown, so there is construction, traffic and parking to deal with. I’d like to avoid driving and have something reliable to be able to use. I don’t mind the cost, just so long as there is a service to justify it. As it stands right now, the ETS in Edmonton is a joke, and the service doesn’t seem to care enough to want to get better. Sad.

I’m really excited about the future LRT lines! A modern city without good public transit is like a clogged heart; go anywhere in SoCal if you need a demonstration. Why people choose to live in the burbs and hit traffic every day is beyond me. I’d rather plug into tunes, read, nap, relax etcetera than start and end my day with driver’s aggression! Yeah the bus is often late and can take a while, but ultimately it’s a healthier lifestyle choice in my opinion. And not having to pay for gas? Few things beat that kind of awesome ;)

You can review public transit? Who knew.
For the duration of my two university degrees (nine years) I was completely reliant on public transit. For the first six years I lived in Sherwood Park, and in comparison to Strathcona County Transit, ETS is a shining star. However, there is still massive room for improvement in the ETS system.
ETS is reasonably good for making your way around the city, especially at peak times and in major transit center areas. The city is finally getting around to a long overdue LRT expansion, and riding the train is definitely the easiest way to travel if you have a choice of train versus bus. I like that service runs into the evening and that the connections to southwest Edmonton from the LRT are reasonable.
There are a few things about the transit system that drove me crazy while I used it. I lost count of how many times I raced after my bus as it drove away early from Century Park or Southgate LRT station. The LRT is also brutally overcrowded at peak times. The trains reached the capacity that was projected for 2015 within a few months of opening the south extension (2011 I believe). Be prepared to stand shoulder-​to-​shoulder with your neighbour, or watch a full train leave the University station at rush hour. The LRT track signals also don’t function well at temperature extremes, and I have been stranded in both hot and cold weather when the signals have shut down.
I still take the train to sports events, but the cost of a return trip is now over $ 7, making it cheaper to park at most places if there are more than two people in the car. After visiting European and American cities with more developed transit systems, it’s clear to me that Edmonton has a long way to go before public transit becomes a preferred option over car travel for anyone that has a choice.

Good system, could be better but then again this isn’t Toronto. Like so many thing in this city the system does punch above its weight. I think a Calgary comparison is appropriate. On that regard it is a cut above. Though the LRT may not have the bredth of the c-​train, the extensive bus service makes up for that. Generally the buses and trains are clean and more modern looking. There tends to be an unhealthy amount of newspaper litter though.
I really do think the ETS app is really handy. Though really buggy, it does do a decent job of letting you know about bus times of just about every stop in the city. A voice activation feature or QR2 codes would be my suggested addition ideas.
It is strange, however, that on a number of occasions buses have not appeared on stated arrival times. I wouldn’t say this was once or twice, more like 5 or 6 times this fall. Fortunately, it has been on high frequent routes so it’s not like missing a previous one really affected travel times severely.
A bus pass will run you just under $ 85. I feel this is a very reasonable price.
As I write this the deaf lady who gives out sign language cards for donations is doing her thing. You can’t buy the cultural experience you get on the LRT!
Solid 3.5 stars!

On my recent visit, I got on the bus north of Londonderry Mall near subdivisions that were perhaps 10 years old. It certainly wasn’t in the inner city anyways. Being from out of town I asked the operator how much it was. I counted out my change and didn’t have exact so I threw in a toonie and a loonie. The operator promptly pushed the lever to drop the change then accused me of throwing in a penny. I am a constant user of SkyTrain and buses in the metro Vancouver area and I don’t abuse the system. I told the driver I put in a toonie and a loonie. He dropped the issue but the sour taste stayed with me. If I were truly bitter I’d have said their buses need an automated payment system that would register one’s change and spit out the appropriate proof of payment. I’m not even going to comment much on the lack of frequency on both bus and LRT transit as Edmonton is mostly a car centric metropolitan. However, a bit of public relations training for their operators would go a long way to improving overall customer satisfaction.

If you happen to live and travel within close proximity of the LRT, along the 8 bus route, or somewhere on the way from Downtown to the West Edmonton Mall then you could make the case for the ETS as a 4 star service — you’d never have to wait more than 15 minutes for a train/​bus to get to your destination. Service is generally reliable, especially compared to a number of other services in North America.
However the system shuts down entirely at 1AM, with one small exception — NightRide (
). But that’s limited to nights out on Whyte Ave.
Essentially, if you tend to party too long downtown, you risk a long walk home or potentially luck out on finding a taxicab on Jasper Ave (and it’s nearly impossible to call for a taxi at 1AM on a Saturday).
And as I don’t happen to live alongside the LRT or the 8, service is great during rush hour, but infrequent during all other parts of the day. Sundays are particularly awful, when there’s pretty much only one bus line that runs from within a 10 minute walk from my place to downtown. And that one bus runs only every 30 minutes.
And even when there are multiple buses in the middle of the day on a weekday that can take me from downtown to home, those buses all leave about every 30 minutes, and all leave within that same 10 minute interval. This means that I can be left waiting for 20 minutes if I miss that last bus in that 10 minute interval.
And while I was very pleased to see new, and super-​comfortable vinyl seating on an 8 bus recently, I still get a little freaked out in a cleanliness sense when sitting on the upholstery of an older bus.

ETS is a great service and I really love making use of it whenever I can. Now my 3 stars might be surprising but it comes from my expectations for improvement. I’m not going to go off on a rant about how expensive the tickets are and how poorly funded ETS is. (I know, counterintuitive points)
Firstly, it’s not ETS’s fault that Edmonton is a sprawl. It’s the city planners’ collective fault. For what it’s worth, you can literally go from point A to point B, anywhere in Edmonton (proper), by public transportation, with no more than 20 mins walking near each point. They have a good network. Unfortunately, with a small number of buses, wait times are long and going from one point to another could take over 2 hours at times.
Secondly, I really, really, really, REALLY cannot understand why all the buses that travel on Whyte ave, leave the University bus station at the same time. Please, somebody out there, explain it to me. Small kinks here and there, similar to what I’ve mentioned exist all over in the transit service. They don’t sound bothersome but I’ve noticed on several occasions a long queue of buses at popular intersections like Whyte and 104^th St crowd and create unnecessary jams. Is it really that hard to stagger the schedules that travel on Whyte?
Of course, I will continually hope for longer hours of the LRT, more number of buses overall and the dream route that somehow connects the university to east Jasper ave, Oliver and 124^th street areas. It’s a good service that really gives many people a great option.

A great alternative to getting around, the Edmonton Transit gets you to your destination on time (for the most part).
Although I remember the days when fare was only seventy five cents, rates are now sitting at about two dollars and eighty five cents. Lately, I have seen where the increase in fare has gone. The newest buses now are EPA rated and are extremely fuel efficient. Gone are the days when passengers reach over you to open and close windows. Find the bus too hot? Not a problem, these new buses are equipped with air condition. Not sure where you are on the route? The new buses provided on board GPS (like the old air planes). The new transit centers now have parking so you can park your vehicle and ride ETS without worrying about traffic/​weather/​parking conditions.
It’s too bad that not all buses are the new ones, but I’m glad the organization is trying to keep up with convenience and technology.
Some problems I see though is despite the high fare, there are some routes that do not come on time or come few and far in between. It would be nice if they adopt some of the other cities transit systems such as up to date and real time schedule updates at bus stops and shelters. During the winter months, it’s expected that routes will be affected by traffic and weather but there were times when buses were running half and hour to forty minutes late.
Hopefully as the transit system expands, the project managers continually evolve our current system.
PS. Who else misses those old buses with orange plush seats? Those were so comfy.

I’ve been pretty happy with ETS on the whole after using the system for years.
Most of the time, buses arrive and leave on time. I use ETS Trip Planner fairly often to plan my route and though it is great for the most part, you do have to go through the details and scrutinize. Sometimes the trip planner gives you only a minute to get from the train platform to the bus terminal or vice versa, and often the buses leave a minute or two early. On the whole, though, this website is extremely useful.
Generally I am a little disappointed with how the buses match up at popular stops and at bus terminals. Often times two, three, even four buses going in the same direction every thirty or sixty minutes will leave a terminal or bus stop within minutes of each other, leaving you stranded if you just miss your transfer or happen to show up at random. I can’t tell you how many times I watched both the 70 and the 81 pull away from their stop at 99^th street and Whyte ave, leaving me cursing and waiting for another thirty minutes (at night. In the dark. By myself). Why can’t they run 15 minutes apart? I’m sure that planning all of the bus schedules is very difficult, but it just seems like there is a lot of this going on.
Overall I’ve been quite happy with ETS staff. I’ve only encountered a handful of ill-​tempered ETS employees, but I’ve met tons of awesome ones. I’ve even seen (and encountered personally) bus drivers who will stop, yell at you from across the street that there is no bus going in the other direction for half an hour, and wait for you to hop on their bus. I’ve also seen ETS employees handle tough situations with unruly commuters in a very professional manner.
Sometimes in the winter the service screeches to a halt, but it’s pretty much to be expected and I’ve always just left early on those days. Usually leaving half an hour early (the frequency of most buses in my part of town) means I make it to my destination on time.

Oh ETS. On one hand, I have to cut them some slack for having to deal with the challenge of providing public transit in the sprawliest of sprawltowns, Edmonton. As much as I wish it wasn’t so, we’re a car city and many Edmontonians can’t seem to fathom not taking their cars anywhere. Plus our low population density probably makes it infeasible to provide frequent service to some areas.
On the other hand… there are some things I think could be better. First, it would be nice if schedules were more than just suggestions. And if a bus can’t ever be on time, maybe the schedule needs fixing. And I think we could use some of those signs at bus stops like they have in civilized places that tell you how long until the next route.
Another issue for me is the route system itself. I live downtown and there are some place I can get to fairly quickly and easily. Unfortunately, as soon as there’s a big north-​south component in my travel plans, I can expect 2 or 3 transfers, at least one of which I’ll probably miss. I also don’t understand why there is no easy way to get from Oliver (the most densely populated part of Alberta) to Whyte ave. The High Level streetcar does a better job than ETS.
That being said, I take transit exclusively and I am not in any rush to buy a car. The drivers are usually pretty friendly and the buses, while not spotless, usually are reasonably clean. And I’ll cross my fingers for all these new LRT lines the city is talking about.

You know, the ETS deserves more credit than it gets. You would be surprised how many cities have unreliable bus systems. When I left Edmonton for college in Rochester, NY, I wish the bus system there worked as well as the ETS did. You have to live outside of Edmonton to really appreciate it.
I’ve been using the ETS regularly for nearly decade and honestly can’t complain too much. The buses arrive when they’re scheduled to and that’s all I could ask for. Yeah, you do get the occasional group of shady individuals riding the bus every once in a while, but it’s not as bad as public transit in other cities like New York City, where I’ve seen people get into fights and publicly urinate. No, really.

I only take the bus if I seriously seriously have to. And even then I’d prefer to call a cab. If you’re in a busy, high traffic area like downtown or the university, it’s not so bad cause there are almost a dozen routes passing through. But if you’re farther out, like near the suburbs, forget it. It takes forever for the bus to get around, and sometimes I honestly wonder if the bus driver fell asleep or just forgot where they were supposed to be. It’s mainly the layout of the city though; you need a vehicle in order to get around the city because it’s so spread out.
On the other hand, you meet some very interesting characters through public transit, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it. I saw a drunk guy try to hit on a girl once on the train. It was harmless, and funny at the same time. Other times you’ll see couples making out like it’s their honeymoon … that, I’d rather not see (get a room, people!).
Two more beefs I have with the public transit system are 1) they got rid of the free afternoon rates in the downtown area, and 2) what is with the putrid orange upholstery on the trains? I know the colour doesn’t really matter, but I can’t stand it … honestly, anything is better than bright orange.
Service tends to vary of course, depending on what bus route you take. My experiences have mostly been good ones though. I had a bus driver when I was in high school who was so friendly, he gave out candy canes to passengers during the holiday season. So there are perks to taking transit now and then. Plus it’s good for the environment! Still, my need to get from A to B sometimes overrides my guilt, and I hitch a ride in my boyfriend’s car. It just saves me so much stress that way!

I love the ETS and I hate the ETS. I love it when the busses show up on schedule. I love it when they are clean and the drivers are courteous. I love it when the routes actually go near where I have to be.
I hate the ETS when the buses are late, crowded, smelly, and dirty. I hate it when I can’t find a bus to get me where I need to go. Some parts of the city are woefully under-​represented by the ETS. Others have what seems like dozens of buses running through thm every few minutes.
I often use the front-​loading bike racks on some of the routes. More than once I have been stranded far from home because the bus came along without a rack — while another bus that is not supposed to have a rack passes me by at the same stop!
There just seems to be no rhyme nor reason to how the ETS operates. If things could be streamlined to include routes running smoothly and buses maintained so that they do not break down so often, I would have a higher regard of this service which is really important to those of us trying to live sustainable lifestyles.