The Pulse: April 26, 2021

New bus routes and On Demand Transit went into service at 5am on Sunday, April 25.

“We’re very excited to see a modernized transit system coming to a street near you,” said Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, branch manager of the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS), in a news release. “This is a major step towards providing the type of service Edmontonians told us they want today and to meeting evolving transit expectations as our city grows in the future.”

New routes and schedules are available at edmonton.ca/transit, the Transit app, and Google Maps.

There are now six types of routes:

1. Frequent, which run every 15 minutes or better on weekdays
2. Rapid, express routes with limited stops
3. Crosstown, connecting suburban destinations without going through downtown
4. Local, connecting neighbourhoods with transit centres
5. Community, connecting seniors' residences and other community hubs
6. School, connecting students to nearby schools

Frequent routes are numbered 1-9, crosstown routes are numbered 50-56, and the remaining types are numbered with three digits. The 100s in the north, the 900s are in the west, the 700s are in the southwest, and the 500s are in the east and southeast. School routes are numbered in the 600s. Rapid routes end in X, and routes ending in A or B are branches of a route.

On Demand Transit is available for customers in 37 communities that do not have a regular bus route. The service can be booked online, by calling 780-496-2400, or via the Android and iOS apps.

A livestream hosted on April 1 with Sarah Feldman, director of planning and scheduling at ETS, addressed many common questions about the bus network redesign, including why the change was made now, how to read the new bus stop signs, and how customers with mobility challenges will be helped.

• Edmonton Public School Board said on April 25 that all students who were involved in an assault near Rosslyn School have been recommended for expulsion and their names have been passed on to police. On April 16, a 14-year-old Black student was attacked outside his school in "an incident his family believe was racially-motivated."
• The Edmonton Journal analyzed archived website data to identify the facilities that spent the longest time on the province’s outbreak list during the pandemic and found that "three Edmonton care facilities had outbreaks for six months or more."
• Ontario hospitals are using a product made by local startup company MACH32 in an effort to further protect healthcare workers as COVID-19 hospitalization numbers spike. The Aerosol Containment Tent "goes over a patient’s shoulders and head and removes potentially infectious aerosols in less than nine seconds through a pump and filter."
• In its 2020 annual report, the Edmonton Public Library said there was a 34% increase in the usage of digital content last year with more than five million digital items borrowed.
• The legal deadline for the Canadian House of Commons to respond to a petition to rename Edmonton International Airport is coming up on May 5. Irene Steinke wants to see it named after Max Ward, bush pilot and Wardair founder.
• Alberta energy icon Stanley A. Milner, for whom Edmonton's central library is named, has died. Born in 1930, Milner was awarded the Alberta Order of Excellence in 1995 and the Order of Canada in 2003.

Will we build our city intelligently? That's the question we'll be exploring on April 29 at the next listening session for our People's Agenda project.

Join us at noon for another discussion to uncover what is important to you as we head towards the municipal election on Oct. 18. Please register here to attend.

The topic reflects the synthesis of a number of responses to our People's Agenda question related to infrastructure and planning. We've heard concerns about the effects of sprawl and the need for a vibrant downtown. Others have expressed concerns about major projects being late and over-budget. This is also an opportunity to talk about the recently passed City Plan, which is intended to guide Edmonton's growth to a population of two million people.

Host Chris Chang-Yen Phillips will discuss some issues related to the topic with architect Vivian Manasc.

Then we'll head into discussion groups where you can share your thoughts on the matter.

If you can't make it, we will recap it on Friday, as we did last week on the question "Will we act on climate change?"

This is the final listening session in this round, which was based on the early responses to our People's Agenda question. Next we'll be synthesizing what we've heard into an update to the People's Agenda, which will form the basis of our election coverage through the summer and the voters' guide that we'll publish in the fall.

We're also interested in working with community groups to hold more listening sessions. If you'd like to help us hear from your people, contact us at hello@taprootedmonton.ca.

More than $2 million is available for the second phase of the Edmonton Economic Recovery Grant (EERG).

City council's executive committee will review the plan for phase 2 on April 26. If approved by city council, the City of Edmonton would offer a new Action Plan Grant starting in June.

The Action Plan Grant would offer up to $25,000 in matching funds for projects that align with one or more of 12 actions identified in the Edmonton Economic Action Plan. Examples of eligible projects identified by the City of Edmonton include "a business plan to launch a service or goods-based product in parks or public space" and the "development of strategies to support the green economy."

Organizations that received funding in the first phase may be funded again for new projects. Applications will be evaluated on an ongoing, first-come-first-served basis.

Last week, city council unanimously approved the Edmonton Economic Action Plan which aims to support 121,000 net new jobs by 2030. An update on the implementation of the plan is due back in Q1 2022.

Council also approved the revised Community Energy Transition Strategy, agreed to spend $12 million on emergent COVID-19 recovery needs in 2021 including $1.3 million to support the vaccination clinic at the Edmonton Expo Centre, gave final approval to the property tax freeze this year, and decided not to increase the transit cash fare from the current $3.50.

Here are some of the notable agenda items coming before city council for the week of April 26-30:

• On April 26, executive committee will discuss the Exhibition Lands Implementation Strategy which includes the demolition of the Coliseum within the next four years.
• Executive committee will also review the 2020 Investment Committee Annual Report which shows the City of Edmonton had financial assets totalling $3.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2020.
• On April 28, community and public services committee will review a planned pilot project that would allow for the consumption of alcohol in seven public parks from May 28 until Oct. 11. The pilot at Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Whitemud, Hawrelak, Government House, Victoria, Gold Bar, and Rundle parks will cost $10,000 for communication and signage.
• On April 30, utility committee will consider the Waste Reduction Roadmap which outlines "how the City of Edmonton will stabilize residential waste generation rate per person over the next three years (2021 to 2024) and ultimately reduce residential waste generation per person by 20% over the term of the 25-year waste strategy."
• Utility committee will also receive a progress report on mandatory three-stream waste separation in the multi-unit sector. A business case will be presented on June 25 but rollout of the program is not expected to begin until Q2 2023.

Meetings are streamed live on city council's YouTube channel.

• Every Tuesday until May 18, Startup TNT is running an investment prep video series for businesses who are thinking about raising money in 2021 or who want to participate in the next Startup TNT investment summit. The session on April 27 focuses on business diligence.
• Business Link is hosting a session on April 28 called YEG Business Recovery Program: Building Customer Loyalty. It says participants will have a better understanding of how to attract, retain, and engage customers after the session.
• A new pop-up park is happening downtown from April 28-May 2 as part of Downtown Spark. Root 107 will offer mural art, greenery, and food trucks on site.
• St. Albert's International Children's Festival of the Arts has 40 days of play beginning April 28, with all events being offered virtually this year. Each day a different activity will be revealed online on the festival's website, Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks to Allison Pon for sharing her photo with us!