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Instead of building an LRT from downtown to West Edmonton Mall and beyond, we should go with bus rapid transit (BRT).

Why?

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First, to avoid building an expensive and inflexible system that can’t be easily changed if there are major mistakes. Second, BRT represents a more flexible system that moves people at LRT-like speed. Third, BRT costs far less to build than LRT, which should allow the city to expand its mass rapid transit system in other directions.

As Izak Roux, an engineer and the chairman of the Edmonton transit system advisory board, puts it: “We can get a lot more network to users and Edmontonians by spending that money on BRT. The cost per kilometre is a lot less.”

City council will decide this year on how to proceed with mass transit to west Edmonton, but council is saddled with the same difficult dynamic that led to problems in the past. When all the planning for the Metro LRT to NAIT was done, the city hadn’t yet opened up the South LRT from the University of Alberta to Century Park. That meant we were unaware of just how many traffic headaches would be created by having street-level crossings at major intersections like University Avenue and 51 Avenue. As a result, the city proceeded with street level crossings in the Kingsway and NAIT area, clogging it with traffic jams.