On Tuesday, August 18, Ward Karhiio Councillor Keren Tang will put forward a motion during the City Council meeting to have city administration conduct a signal timing and optimization assessment for the Valley Line Southeast.  The motion asks that:

“Administration conduct a signal timing and optimization assessment for the Valley Line Southeast, with a focus on ensuring the corridor operates at peak efficiency while balancing network priorities, including:
● LRT Transit Priority: Maintaining schedule reliability and optimal transit priority.
● Vehicular Network Flow: Minimizing corridor delays, managing peak-hour queuing, and optimizing intersection capacity.
● Safety: Ensuring safe, accessible pedestrian clearance intervals and minimizing wait times at key active transportation crossings.”

While this motion may seem banal and warranted on the surface, Edmonton Transit Riders has concerns about this motion and the potential impacts on the service level of the Valley Line. If balanced incorrectly, this could lead to quietly downgraded transit service levels in favour of vehicle convenience.

The Risks for Transit Riders

1. There is a real risk of the LRT being slowed down, making trips longer and less efficient for riders. This will never actually be announced, but rather be an adjustment to the schedule so the train is slower then tell you that the signals are optimized for “schedule adherence” as time is built in for additional time spent waiting at signals. 
2. The LRT has traffic signals stopping perpendicular traffic whenever it moves, with or without crossing gates. This means that LRT-vehicle accidents are frequently caused by non-compliance with red lights and turn restrictions, which  should be considered major, and dangerous, violations. If a driver cannot abide by a red light when a train is involved, the same accident could have occurred with a pedestrian or another vehicle. The punishment for driver impatience and repeated traffic law violations shouldn’t penalize thousands of transit riders. 
3. There is a ceiling on our signal optimization due to Edmonton’s street design. Because many of our arterial roads are egregiously wide, pedestrian walk cycles must be long enough to allow someone to cross all lanes of traffic in a single stretch. Traffic signals are forced to stay red for long periods, capping how fast any signal optimization can actually be. In an August 13 CBC article, Councillor Tang calls out 28th Avenue and 66th Street as somewhere the LRT should be reviewed due to the additional time needed to cross. Could street design be made safer and more usable by adding mid-street refuges, instead of punishing transit riders with decreased service levels? 

Real Priority is Possible – If We Want It

However, with these concerns, ETR also acknowledges the very real opportunities for improvement of signal timings. The recent data from Toronto’s newest light rail corridors  proves that optimization and appropriate Transit Signal Priority (TSP) works to improve speed and reliability. This includes the deprioritization of vehicle left turns and dynamic phase rotation, meaning the train triggers red lights for drivers, much like a crossing gate on the Capital or Metro line. On Toronto’s Finch West line, aggressive TSP slashed afternoon peak round-trip travel times by up to 20 minutes (dropping average trip times from 1 hour 47 minutes down to 1 hour 25 minutes), while on Line 5 Eglinton, signal enhancements shaved up to 10 minutes off peak round trips.

There are examples of intersections where increased LRT priority could be improved, including, but not limited to: 

• 102 Ave & 97 St: This signal frequently stops trains even when perpendicular car traffic is sparse. This is especially frustrating for riders as it is between two stations on a relatively short stretch. 
• 92 St & 95 Ave: Side-street traffic and low-volume directions often receive equal signal time to the main corridor, forcing the train to wait unnecessarily. Additionally, pedestrian signals don’t line up with train arrival so many pedestrians do not wait for a walk signal to cross the single lane of traffic after disembarking. 

It has been repeatedly proved that people use transit when it is fast. We have heard from many riders that one of the biggest disappointments with the Valley Line is that it did not significantly reduce travel time from the bus routes that previously ran the same route. If Council is serious about seeing 50% of daily trips being made by transit or active transport by the 2 million population horizon, as stated in the City Plan, transit needs to be a usable option that respects riders’ time and needs – and keep it competitive with private vehicles.