EDMONTON- More and more Edmontonians are riding public transportation.
Edmonton Transit System (ETS) ridership increased by 3.1 per cent in 2012. The number of bus and LRT trips increased from 80.3 million in 2011 to 82.8 million last year.
"We continue to have ridership growth on the entire system," said Bob Boutilier, General Manager of Transportation Services. "As the city grows, more Edmontonians are choosing public transit to go to work or school or wherever they need to travel."
LRT boardings increased by 1.8 per cent in 2012 and have more than doubled since 2003.
"Right now it's about 100,000 daily rides on the LRT," Boutilier said.
"When you provide (Edmontonians) good, efficient public transportation they will use that, and we have seen that by these numbers," added City Councillor Amarjeet Sohi.
But, along with increased ridership come some difficulties.
"With the growth that we're seeing, we're falling behind the eight ball. We're just not able to keep up with that growth rate," Boutilier explained.
He says transit officials have seen overcrowding during peak hours for a number of years, however, they're now starting to see it during off-peak hours, as well, especially on city buses.
"The off-peak frequency could be 30 or 40 minutes so it's not like we have a lot of service, but when people want to use that we don't have enough buses," he said. "It's not a matter of building it and they will come. They're already coming, they're already standing there and they're not happy when a bus goes by full."
The city would like to add to its fleet of just over 900 buses however, that costs money and Boutilier says money is tight.
He says ETS will be looking for efficiencies, as well as revenue opportunities through marketing and advertising, because another fare increase is not the answer right now.
"I think we're very close to that line that we can't afford to have these 20 and 30 cent increases continue on forever," Boutilier explained.
"We're going to have to find other ways of making sure that we don't continue to have these increases in fares that don't necessarily match with increased service," he said. "Just simply having people pay more for what they're currently getting is not a good strategy."
Transit officials anticipate ridership will continue to increase over the coming years. Once the NAIT LRT line opens next year, it could bring another 20,000 to 30,000 passengers onto the system daily.
With files from Ross Neitz.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.