A group of frequent transit users who rely on the service has formed the Edmonton Transit Riders advocacy group to spur change and build a sense of community among passengers.
"Improving transportation choice and options is a big passion of mine," vice-chair Cheryl Villetard told Taproot. "(Transit can) allow everyone, regardless of your age or your abilities, to be able to get around in a safe, easy, convenient way."
As of early October, Edmonton Transit Riders has 118 members in addition to its board. The group advocates for expanded service hours, bus rapid transit, and "transit priority measures" like dedicated bus lanes. To help advance its goals, the group is participating in a letter-writing campaign called the National Week of Transit Advocacy from Oct. 15 to 20. That campaign's target is to convince the federal government to update the Canada Public Transit Fund to add transit operations funding and be rolled out sooner than its intended launch in 2026.
The Edmonton Transit Riders will cap off the week with a launch event on Oct. 20 to grow its membership and profile. After that, the group will head to Ottawa for the Transit for Tomorrow Summit on Oct. 28.
Part of Villetard's dedication to transit comes from having an eye condition that prevents her from driving. Her passion led her to attend a March event organized by Coun. Michael Janz, which featured a speaker from Movement, a Vancouver-based transit advocacy group. Movement's work inspired her and other attendees, including Shannon Lohner (who, like Villetard, is also a Paths for People board member), to all but form the group during the event. "We're all frequent transit riders, so using it every day impacts our lives in so many ways," Villetard said.
But advancing positions with the city, including several for a recent executive committee meeting on transit, is just one part of the organization's work. Villetard said the group also wants to engage the system's users. She said the group hopes to make wordy city reports understandable for a general audience, build a sense of camaraderie among people who ride, and encourage people to speak up about what they want from Edmonton Transit Service.
"We can really do work on community building and mobilization, really bringing the community into it more and engaging folks and getting them involved in the advocacy group," Villetard said. "That's a gap we're hoping to fill. (We want to) make public transit advocacy more accessible to the everyday person that wants to get involved."
Despite the group's critical view, Villetard believes ETS wants to be better. She said fiscal realities stand in the service's way, not resistance to change. "ETS has amazing ideas of how to make things better, and they're working towards it," she said. "At the end of the day, a lot of these things come back to funding."
Villetard said her organization has a good relationship with ETS, which is likely why the service provider allowed Edmonton Transit Riders to charter a private train from the Stadium station to the Blatchford Gate station for its launch event.
"We'll be able to kind of have a private party location at the Blatchford Gate station," Villetard said. "It is fenced off and not in service at the moment, so we'll be able to have an exclusive view of it, (and the city will) take away the fencing."
Edmonton Transit Service later clarified that it considers any request for transit charters during off-peak times and weekends.
Photo: Edmonton Transit Riders vice-chair Cheryl Villetard (seated at right) says the group will advocate for improved public transit service, including at a national summit in Ottawa at the end of the month. She is seated next to board chair Daniel Witte. Behind her (from left to right) are member Daniel Tran, Coun. Ashley Salvador, and riders director Bernard Llanos. (Supplied)
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify how ETS considers transit charters.