The Edmonton Transit Service is doing qualitative research with young Edmontonians because their opinions are underrepresented in research, even though they make up at least 40% of ridership, says the service's branch manager.
"Youth riders are a really important rider group for us," Carrie Hotton-MacDonald told Taproot. "Transit is really an essential service for lots of young riders — and I used to be one of them — and we want them to be able to rely on transit to meet their needs, but (to also) build that future rider."
The research consists of in-person and virtual focus groups plus one-on-one interviews with youth aged 12 to 24 in early August, a City of Edmonton survey said. Pivotal Research will manage the process on behalf of the city. This is one element of the city's "comprehensive rider research program," which is where Hotton-MacDonald says youth feedback is insufficient.
"That might end up being some of the barriers we uncover, is how do we further engage and reach out and get youth participants?" Hotton-MacDonald said. "We're also trying to do more outreach with the City of Edmonton Youth Council. We're approaching them and talking to them about, let's say, council reports, but we think we can go beyond that and also look at targeted opportunities to collect their feedback."
Hotton-MacDonald said the youth council has surfaced concerns about transit frequency, safety and security, and the option to make fare payments via smartphone, for example. (Arc cards can be topped up with a smartphone, but there's no direct smartphone-to-validator service yet.)
ETS has "made some important improvements" regarding frequency and safety, but the department is "ready to dig into" more based on what it learns from younger riders, Hotton-MacDonald said.
About 40% of transit users pay the youth fare, which is available to riders under the age of 24, Hotton-MacDonald said. The actual percentage of young riders is undoubtedly higher given the U-Pass for post-secondary students is its own fare tier and kids 12 and under ride for free if accompanied by a fare-paying rider. (Council considered waiving the accompaniment rule but ultimately chose not to on Oct. 13 of last year.)
Why should Edmontonians older than 24, or who don't have kids, care what youth riders have to say? "Similar to accessibility, when you improve things for one group, it really improves it for everybody," Hotton-MacDonald said. "So, for all of us using transit, it can lead to further improvements."
Up to 600 additional young Arc users could come aboard the smart-fare service this fall when Elk Island Catholic Schools offers its students the cards for the first time. Also this fall, Hotton-MacDonald plans to further connect with youth through engagement work by ETS with students' unions and student associations at post-secondary schools.
Photo: An Edmonton Transit Bus at MacDonald Drive and 102 Street NW. (Mack Male/Flickr)