The city is asking LRT commuters to make some adjustments to their schedules in order to ease the rush hour congestion on the new south line.
City officials say ridership on the south line is expected to be over capacity by the fall. The city says in order to deal with the expected surge of passengers, platforms and train lengths will have to be expanded.
"All indications are that there's a high level of interest in the system and we might be squeezed a little bit this fall," said City Coun. Don Iveson.
As officials believe ridership on the line will double to 14,000 per hour by the fall, they hope passengers won't mind altering their schedules by a few minutes in the morning and afternoon to help ease congestion.
"I think people can look at their own schedules and I would suggest if you can shift it in either direction that will help spread out the peaks that occur," said Dave Geake, LRT director for the City of Edmonton.
But some riders say it should be the city, not passengers who have to make changes.
"They have to go back to their numbers. And as they use the slang 'tweak' the supply of cars to match the peak hour congestion," said transit user Desmond Kerr.
The city has plans to extend two platforms so it can run four and five car trains more readily.
Edmonton is also a little pressed for cash too -- with officials still waiting for that provincial funding, which was announced months ago.
The city wants to use the expected money to buy ten extra rail cars.
"We need to know the funding is there. We need to know we have the funding to buy the cars so that's critical", said City Coun. Karen Leibovici.
The city tells CTV News it's imperative the rail cars be ordered within weeks as it plans to group a purchase with the City of Calgary in order to get a discount.
Transportation officials plan to file a report on the congestion issues, which is expected to come back to a council committee in September.
With files from Scott Roberts
