Door designs for the year-old Valley Line Southeast, which date back to the project's planning stage more than a decade ago, did not account for a rise in social disorder seen in 2024, the head of Edmonton Transit Service told Taproot.
"When I talked to (ETS branch manager) Carrie Hotton-MacDonald at the Muttart station, she said these design plans were approved in 2013, and, at that time, there was no way to predict the level of distress in our public realm," reporter Colin Gallant said during an appearance on Episode 284 of Speaking Municipally. "And so the way that it was designed did not necessarily address the disorder that could happen."
The design in question is one used for 152 automatic sliding doors that offer access to 76 shelters built at the $1.8-billion line's 11 stops. As Taproot reported earlier this year, shelter doors were often either not working or had become dislodged from their tracks.
Gallant's story, which charted the line's successes and challenges on its first birthday, broke the news that ETS has now ordered these doors be removed and that the $20,000 in resulting labour costs were covered by the existing contract between the city and TransEd, which built and operates the line under a public-private-partnership agreement, or P3.
Podcast co-host Mack Male questioned whether the shelter doors were ever well-designed, regardless of the level of social disorder. "It doesn't seem like it was designed by anyone who had actually ever used a train platform in their life," Male said. "It's not complicated to get somebody with a stroller or a wheelchair and imagine what the user experience is going to be like when we create such a narrow platform, a door that is potentially unreliable, and have almost no space inside (the shelter)."
Gallant relayed further details about their interview with Hotton-MacDonald, including other design challenges she readily identified and how they could inform the Valley Line West portion, projected to open in 2028. "There were numerous instances during that interview where (Hotton-MacDonald) pointed out, 'I don't think this works, I don't think that works, this isn't perfect,'" Gallant said. "What she's going to do with that information, she told me, is that they're going to apply that when they do the later stages of the Valley Line West."
While ridership has increased to 279,000 per month, podcast co-host Troy Pavlek noted that those numbers are significantly lower than what was projected when city council first approved the line.
The Nov. 8 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast examined more about the Valley Line Southeast on its first birthday, as well as Gallant's stories about downtown retail and how Edmonton should grow as part of Taproot's Housing Complex project. The podcast also touched on Stephanie Swensrude's story on Edmonton International Airport's efforts to keep people on its grounds, city council's upcoming budget adjustment, and more. Find all the ways to listen to and subscribe to Speaking Municipally, which comes out most Fridays, right here.