Saturday’s letters: Let’s not wait to make LRT safer


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Re. “Officials try to quell fears after latest transit attacks,” April 29

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I have two children who both use the LRT daily to attend university. What they describe does not resemble the transit that I remember riding to the U of A in the 1990s. My daughter walks to the hospital station because the U of A station is in a disgusting state; she has seen feces and blood on the ground, and she doesn’t feel safe on the underground platform there.

Both of my kids avoid riding outside peak hours when there are a lot of people around. Carrie Hotton-MacDonald may believe that the system is safe, but neither of my kids do, and they ride it daily. Let’s not wait until more people in our community are hurt or killed, before we decide to stop making excuses and solve these issues.

Dean Liske, Edmonton

Many benefits to improving LRT experience

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Edmonton’s city council wants to reduce our carbon footprint. Council also wants to increase transit ridership. And council is looking for a way to stretch our budget dollars.

I live within walking distance of the LRT. It is a very convenient and low-cost way for me to get to many of the places I need to go, but I ride it less and less these days; I drive my SUV instead. Yes, I feel guilty about this. The last two times I’ve ridden the LRT I’ve experienced threatening behaviour, seen open drug use in front of transit officers, and the LRT was a filthy, unmaintained environment.

I am not satisfied with my LRT experience. I feel vulnerable using city transit, and will not use it until I’m safe to do so. What can city council do about this? How about hiring more officers to enforce payment and make our transit system safe? Don’t have enough in the budget? How about the additional $15 million to clear little-used bike lanes in the winter? Could this be applied to transit security?

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A safe transit environment would increase ridership, which would increase revenues, and reduce our carbon footprint. Three benefits resulting from one action! Oh yeah — and a fourth benefit — you may get re-elected.

PK Bright, Edmonton

Make 75th Street a truck route

Regarding the costs and necessity for the 50th Street bridge over the train tracks. I agree 100-per-cent with a previous letter writer that 75th Street should be a truck route. Those homes already have a service road in front buffering them from the traffic. 99th Street especially from Whyte to Saskatchewan Drive has nothing and is a truck route slicing the community in half.

As for hundreds of millions for the 50th Street bridge itself, that money should be used for an east-west tracks overpass on 76th Avenue, that would benefit many more drivers and take pressure off a massively overused Whyte Avenue.

R. K. Prinsen, Edmonton

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