City needs proven transit solutions

Recently, some councillors have suggested investments in new LRT lines should be slowed or halted because new transportation technologies like driverless buses or shared autonomous vehicles will make LRT obsolete.

However, these new technologies have yet to be implemented on a large scale in major cities; there are still many unknowns that need to be worked through.

LRT and other rail-based mass transit systems have been successfully built and operated in hundreds of cities throughout the world.

When mass transit connects people with employment, education and recreation in an efficient way, it usually succeeds; the West LRT will do precisely that. The line will also provide economic, social and environmental benefits.

It will spur private investment in residential and commercial development along the line; it will provide an accessible transportation option for employees, students and seniors; and it will be quieter and cleaner than existing diesel buses on the route.

Emerging transportation technologies might prove useful in time, but it’s time to provide Edmontonians with transportation options that have already been proven. Good public transit should make it easy to connect people with places.

Waiting 20 years for new technology that might work isn’t a solution for addressing the city’s transportation needs now.

Dustin Martin, Edmonton