Edmonton Transit's next big step should be to mesh the LRT with "bus rapid transit" to extend efficient public transportation across its vast metropolitan area, says a best-selling author who recently wrote a book on public transit.

Bus rapid transit is popular in many Asian and South American cities where buses become street-level subways, said Taras Grescoe, author of Straphanger.

Taras Grescoe, author of Straphanger, is impressed with Edmonton's LRT system. (Tim Adams/CBC) "You make the buses the most efficient thing on the road essentially," he said.

Then people will see comfortable buses moving quickly in a dedicated lane and say, "Hey I could be getting work done on the way to work," he said.

Bus rapid transit would be ideal for Edmonton, where the challenge is to get more people onto transit while continuing to serve the outlying districts, Grescoe said.

"You have a huge metropolitan area — 9,400 square kilometres. That's a lot of area to service."

Grescoe said he is impressed with the city's transit system, at least as experienced from his ride in from the airport Sunday.

He used Edmonton Transit's 747 bus to hook up with the LRT at Century Park and was immediately struck by the Edmonton Public Library's book lending machine.

"Public libraries and public transit — who would've thought you had to come to Edmonton for these great ideas."

The city's LRT itself was impressive, he said.

"You had the first modern LRT in North America and I didn't expect it to be as good as it was.

"The LRT is a really comfortable and enjoyable ride," he said. "I loved the way it whisked me downtown."

He was also impressed by the city's plans for development of the LRT and the support of riders.

"You've got good transit ridership — it's now about 13 per cent — which is double what you get in most American cities."

Grescoe's visit coincides with the city's launch of the Transit Strategy — What Moves You? project, billed as one of the largest public engagement initiatives undertaken by the city.

Grescoe will be giving a free talk Monday at the Art Gallery of Alberta at 5:30 p.m.