Transportation

In Transit Newsletter - October 2011

The Every Day Way to get 100 Years of Transit History

The ETS Centennial Book has arrived.

It’s stunning -- a visual feast of historical and contemporary photos, personal stories and factual recounting of the development, accomplishments and innovation of public transit in Edmonton.

Author Ken Tingley, a well known local historian, has done an amazing job weaving Edmonton Transit’s history into the establishment and growth of our prairie city since the early days of the 20th Century.

‘Ride of the Century: The Story of the Edmonton Transit System’ will be available for sale starting mid-month at Audrey’s, Greenwoods, The Edmonton Store at Tix on the Square, and the gift shops at the Muttart Conservatory, Fort Edmonton and John Janzen Nature Centre. Cost per book is $39.95 plus GST.

ETS Customers Being Surveyed

Every year ETS conducts a Customer Satisfaction Survey to better understand customer opinions and perceptions of our service. This survey assists in the decision-making process when determining where to allocate resources so we can continue providing a top-calibre transportation system.

The survey measures satisfaction with numerous aspects of our service including Operators, fleet, facilities, security and service delivery. Results from the survey also help us understand what factors are most important to customers and which contribute to customer loyalty and retention. This allows us to focus our efforts on continuing to provide excellent service in those areas, while making improvements in areas where we may be lagging behind.

Surveyors will be on the system from October 15 to November 2. If you are approached, please take the time to provide your response...your opinion counts!

ETS Thanksgiving Service

All ETS routes will operate on their regular Sunday schedules on Thanksgiving Holiday Monday, October 10, 2011.

Transit Information is available by calling 311. The ETS Customer Services Centre including Lost & Found will be closed on Monday.

Check the ETS Trip Planner or call BusLink at 780-496-1600 for complete route and schedule details.

ETS Helps Kids Stay Safe on Halloween

ETS buses are a safe place to go if kids need assistance on Halloween night.

All ETS buses (and LRT) are equipped with two-way radios, so emergency assistance is just a phone call away. Uniformed ETS employees are highly visible and we encourage them to promote themselves as someone you can turn to in an emergency.

Beta Test the Updated Trip Planner

The newest version of the ETS Trip Planner is going public for testing this month. We want you to help us beta test it.

The main page of takeETS.com contains a link to the beta version of the Trip Planner in the upper right column. There you’ll have the opportunity to test drive it and provide feedback via a survey or the “report a bug” form.

One of the new features we’ve added is “detours and bus stop closures”. You have the option to view all detours and bus stop closures or filter by route or bus stop. We’ve also made changes to the layout and visibility of the items.

We look forward to your input to help us provide travel information tools that make taking transit quick, easy and convenient.

Re-introducing the Community Bus

When the 300 series of Community Bus routes was introduced a number of years ago, one of the primary groups it was intended to serve was seniors. Route 305, still in operation today, was one of the original routes designed to travel between a number of senior facilities and nearby activity centres like shopping malls and medical centres.

This summer, DATS and ETS embarked on a project to re-introduce seniors to the network of community bus routes available to them across the city.

The goal was to enable seniors and DATS users to learn about and feel comfortable with their ability to access Community Buses. The initiative provided free charters from seniors’ residences to destinations along ETS 300 Routes to inform and demonstrate the safety, ease, affordability and convenience of this form of public transit. It was very well received.

The long term goal is to encourage more mobile DATS clients to use ETS Community Buses to improve service quality, eliminate duplication of services and improve cost effectiveness in the delivery of transportation to those living with disabilities.

LRT Service Disruption October 21-23

LRT service will be disrupted on the weekend of October 21 - 23, as ETS works on the signal system around Corona Station.

Bus replacement service will operate between Churchill and Health Sciences stations starting on Friday, October 21 at 6:45pm until the end of service on Sunday, October 23.

Trains will run on their regular schedules from Clareview Station to Churchill Station, and University Station to Century Park Station.

Trains will be traveling on the entire line, from approximately 6pm to approximately 10pm, to provide service to the Oilers Hockey game Saturday evening.

For more information:

Contact Customer Services

Facebook	http://www.facebook.com/takeETS