MOVING AHEAD ON TRANSIT
Edmonton’s new branch manager claims to be an optimistic, enthusiastic transit booster. He’ll need to be. Eddie Robar, after all, faces some truly terrifying, potentially career-defining tasks.
Two weeks after landing in his new chair with Edmonton Transit Services, Robar was sanguine about one of those jobs: how to change an admittedly “disjointed” transit philosophy.
Does it make sense to bolster high-frequency, high-ridership bus routes with hubs and spokes? Or is it better to ensure minimal service pulses through the city?
There hasn’t been a clear answer for a quarter century, but after consulting with staff, Robar believes a major re-alignment is possible. “Are people ready for it? I think so,” he said. There are other challenges for Robar, chief among them the maligned, mocked and glitch-plagued Metro LRT.
Delayed for 15 months, the $668-million line claimed the job of Charles Stolte, Robar’s predecessor. Four months later, after considerable hand-wringing over an auditor’s report that found mismanagement, infighting and lack of oversight, city manager Simon Farbrother followed him out the door.
The Metro LRT line still doesn’t function properly. Perhaps it never will, plagued by a botched signalling system and a series of design choices that clog the corridor between 111th Avenue and NAIT. That series of failures — regardless of whoever or whatever is to blame — precedes Robar but the file will cross his desk. Given that the line moves at half speed, he should have time to focus his attention on it.
There are other fronts on which to fight the transit blues that have descended upon Edmonton over the years. The three levels of government have finally pooled together $1.8 billion for the LRT Valley Line to Mill Woods and there is a good chance that funding will be found to extend the line through downtown to West Edmonton Mall.
When that happens, Edmonton will be closer than ever to a fully functioning, effective LRT system. It has already been a journey, not merely a series of destinations. Though Robar is jumping on board late in the process, it’s important that he exude confidence and competence, just as the new city manager has to be an obviously impeccable hire.
Because rebuilding the public trust in Edmonton’s ability to plan, build and operate its transit system will be no small order. It is heartening that the job has gone to someone relatively young, presumably with the necessary energy. Robar was named to a top 40 under 40 list just three years ago by Mass Transit Magazine.
It’s also encouraging and important to note that Robar will have a powerful ally in Mayor Don Iveson, another young achiever equipped and invested for the long haul.
Robar hails from Halifax, a city one-third Edmonton’s size with completely different transit needs. He worked his way up to the post of transit system director, then oversaw an overhaul that has yet to be fully implemented. He’s a problem-solver. Which means he’s in the right place.
His arrival coincides with the tail end of “Edmonton’s great bus debate,” a massive $1.4-million public consultation about what the city should prioritize as it moves forward, literally and figuratively, on transit. The city undertook the program to ask “blue sky” questions. The results are in and have been narrowed down to a few key themes, which will be released in a report next month, sparking more conversation, and presumably concrete action.
Though transit is hardly the sole frustration facing Edmontonians, it has managed recently to make itself more irksome than a pothole full of mosquitoes.
An optimistic, enthusiastic booster is likely the best antidote.