New southwest Edmonton 'super express' bus route starts in September

Tens of thousands of people living in southwest Edmonton will soon have a quicker public transit option to the city's core.

The Edmonton Transit Service is starting 'super express' bus service this fall from the Leger Transit Centre near the Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre to the University of Alberta.

Super-express routes have fewer stops, decreasing the amount of time it takes to reach their destination points.

"Students can get on this bus and get to university in 20, 25 minutes and from there connect to the LRT to go wherever they want to go," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said while riding the new Route 31 during a media demonstration on Thursday promoting the new seasonal service, which will begin Sept. 5.

The route is being added to Edmonton Transit's roster to service the ever-expanding population in the southwestern corner of the city, something that's only become possible thanks to the expansion of Terwillegar Drive, said area city councillor Tim Cartmell.

"This is a multi-modal corridor," said Cartmell, who represents Ward pihêsiwin. "We have active transportation, we have additional vehicle capacity and improvement to the roads, and particularly to the intersections ... and we have dedicated transit."

Route 31 will travel along the newly added bus lane on Terwillegar Drive, though it’s only partially complete. The city's plan is to complete the bus lane on the corridor between Whitemud Drive and Anthony Henday Drive by next summer.

Construction to turn Terwillegar Drive into an expressway began two years ago. Crews are adding bus lanes, a shared-use path and upgraded intersections at either end of it. Bus lanes will eventually be extended down Whitemud Drive across a widened Rainbow Valley bridge nearby.

The changes are a part of the city's plan to make taking transit more attractive to southwest residents, especially where service is currently lacking.

"There are 30,000 people and counting living south of Anthony Henday Drive," Cartmell said. "This route today gives those people line of sight on what this corridor will ultimately do for them."