Transportation in Edmonton
The city of Edmonton, Alberta, has a transportation network fairly typical for a Canadian city of its size, involving most modes of transport including, but certainly not limited to, air, rail, road and public transit.
With very few natural barriers to growth and largely flat to gently rolling terrain bisected by a deep river valley, the city of Edmonton has expanded to cover an area of nearly 684 km2, of which only two-thirds is built-up. The metropolitan area covers over 9,418 km2. This has resulted in a heavily private transportation-oriented transportation network typical of any other city of its size in North America. However, Edmonton does not have the extensive limited access freeway system typical of what one would find in a US metro area, and the road network is somewhat unusual in regard to access to downtown.
The Edmonton Transit System (ETS) is the primary public transportation agency, covering most parts of the city, but only within the City of Edmonton proper (with one exception). Neighbouring communities outside Edmonton's city limits such as Sherwood Park and St. Albert operate their own public transit agencies and offer public transportation to and from neighbouring communities. The smaller city of Fort Saskatchewan contracts out bus services there to ETS.
In 1978, Edmonton became the first city with a population of under one million to operate a light rail transit (LRT) system in North America. The LRT currently runs on two lines - the Capital Line and the Metro Line - extending 24.3 km. The system runs from Clareview Station in northeast Edmonton, across the North Saskatchewan River, to Century Park in the south; and northwest from downtown to NAIT. Of the 18 stations on the network, six are underground running through the downtown core and the University of Alberta main campus, with the rest at ground level.
The ETS operates a fleet of well over 960 buses across the city with 180 regular routes. Edmonton was one of two cities in Canada (the other is Vancouver) that operated a trolley bus system until service was discontinued in May 2009. The ETS also operates a specialized system for disabled people called DATS (Disabled Adult Transit System).
Commuter service to Edmonton's suburbs is provided by Strathcona County Transit and St. Albert Transit.
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