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It’s about understanding how the bus system fits in with the planned LRT system, deciding how much of the budget should go to covering all neighbourhoods with minimum transit versus building select high-frequency, high-volume routes.

Other cities are creating simplified grids with more frequent service. Calgary has launched their new high frequency bus network, said Iveson. “We’re responding to that by having this discussion.”

Author Taras Grescoe, who toured transit in 14 cities for his book Straphanger, told the crowd Edmonton should look hard at the kind of transit that fits the city’s form.

“If you’re going for bang for your city’s buck, sometimes slapping in a billion-dollar rail project is not the way to go,” he said, showing slides from Bogotá, Colombia, which cut through congestion with a new, separated system of buses. Small buses run into the suburbs while long, articulated buses on the main line can hold up to 270 passengers. “It’s like a subway on wheels,” he said.

His recommendation is that Edmonton immediately boost service in the central neighbourhoods, the ones originally built around a streetcar system. Routes on the outskirts can be simplified, which may mean more walking. In return, he said, Edmonton could consider heated bus stops, like Calgary and Fort McMurray use.

“The private automobile is no longer working as a form of mass transportation,” he said, showing pictures of the growing congestion on roads in major cities around the world. Congestion, accidents and air pollution mean, he said, “we’re paying through the nose to kill ourselves.”

Grescoe is giving a public lecture at the Art Gallery of Alberta on Monday evening starting at 5:30 p.m.

estolte@edmontonjournal.com

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