Private company

Edmonton Transit Service

Logo: Edmonton Transit System, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons³

Public transit service in Canada

The Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) (previously known as Edmonton Transit System) is the public transit service owned and operated by the City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. It operates Edmonton's bus and light rail systems. In 2025, the system had a ridership of 101,341,500, or about 320,500 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2026.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1908Founded¹

Industrypublic transport¹
HeadquartersEdmonton¹
Websitewww.edmonton.ca/edmonton-transit-system-ets

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The story

Edmonton Transit Service began operations on 30 October 1908 as the Edmonton Radial Railway (ERR), and alternatively as the Edmonton Radial Tramway. Also in 1908, ERR acquired the Strathcona Radial Tramway Company Limited, and also began servicing the villages of North Edmonton and Calder. The transit service's name was changed to Edmonton Transportation Service in July 1946, but just a year later it was re-named to Edmonton Transit System. The service was re-named to Edmonton Transit Service in 2016.

Streetcars

The Edmonton Radial Railway (ERR) began operations in 1908, both in the City of Edmonton and the neighbouring City of Strathcona, with four streetcars serving 21 kilometres (13 mi) of track. Over ten million riders used the system annually by 1912, and the city purchased 47 additional streetcars. The radial railway reached its peak in 1930, with six lines serving almost all parts of the city, and totaling 77 kilometres (48 mi) of track. The city purchased five modern streetcars in 1930, which featured innovations such as steel bodies and leather seats; these were the last streetcars that Edmonton purchased. The city significantly neglected its streetcar system during the Great Depression, and it suffered from poor maintenance and outdated streetcars. In the late 1930s, Edmonton began to replace streetcar lines with electric trolleybus routes, supplemented by gas and diesel buses, instead of buying new streetcars and repairing or replacing the tracks and overhead lines that had deteriorated during the Depression.

The transition to buses was slowed significantly during the Second World War, and Edmonton had to build additional trackage for its streetcars to meet the spike in transit usage during the war. It was also forced to reintroduce conductors on busy routes, to help operators with selling tickets and issuing transfers; conductors were originally phased out in the 1930s, when streetcars were converted from double-ended to single-ended operations. The Edmonton Radial Railway was renamed to Edmonton Transportation Service in 1946, to signify the decline of Edmonton's streetcar network; it was renamed again just one year later, to Edmonton Transit System.

After some initial postwar hiccups, which necessitated even more streetcar tracks being built as late as 1946 to avoid service gaps, the transition to trolleybuses picked up steam. By 1949, only two streetcar routes remained in service: the Blue Route, and the Blue and White Route, which totalled 27 kilometres (17 mi) in length. In its final configuration, the service went between a turning loop at 109 Street and 84 Avenue and another loop at 66 Street and 124 Avenue, via the High Level Bridge.

On 1 September 1951, Edmonton streetcar No. 1 – the first streetcar ordered by Edmonton – performed a ceremonial 'last run' across the High Level Bridge while carrying special dignitaries; over 1000 spectators lined its route. Early the next morning, the dignitaries rode streetcar No. 52 back to the ETS Cromdale shop, which marked the final time that a streetcar was operated by ETS.

All of Edmonton's streetcars, except for No. 1, were stripped of their valuable materials like steel and electric wiring, and the bodies were sold for scrap. The Edmonton Radial Railway Society (ERRS) has recovered and restored three former Edmonton streetcars, and has another six awaiting restoration. Aside from the three which it recovered and restored, it also operates Edmonton No. 1, which sat outside in a city yard for over ten years before being restored by volunteers – many of whom who later founded the ERRS.

Trolley bus system

Trolley bus service in Edmonton started on 24 September 1939, operating on route 5 from 101 Street/Jasper Avenue to 95 Street/111 Avenue. By the end of October of that year, service had started on another route running to 99 Street/Whyte Avenue via the Low Level Bridge. In Edmonton, trolley buses were often referred to simply as "trolleys".

The trolley bus system used a mixture of Ohio Brass and K&M Elastic (Swiss) suspension for holding up the overhead wires.

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The 47 vehicles remaining in use in 2008 were from an order of 100 manufactured in 1981–82 by Brown Boveri & Company (BBC), using bodies and chassis supplied to BBC by GM.

On 18 June 2008, city council voted 7 to 6 in favour of phasing out the trolley system between 2009 and 2010. However, city council decided in April 2009 that trolley bus service would be discontinued earlier than had been planned, in order to reduce the city's expected $35 million deficit that year. The last day of regular service was 2 May 2009.

In 2007, the city leased a low-floor model of trolley, for 11 months, from Coast Mountain Bus Company, Vancouver's bus operating company, for testing of possible benefits of low-floor trolleys over hybrid diesel buses. During its time in Edmonton the bus was numbered 6000, but was returned to its original #2242 when returned to Vancouver.

From Wikipedia’s article on Edmonton Transit Service, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Products and brands

Service

ETS provides bus and light-rail transit services within the City of Edmonton limits, in addition to Spruce Grove and Beaumont. It also provides connections to Leduc Transit, St. Albert Transit (StAT), and Strathcona County Transit. ETS provides service to the Edmonton International Airport.

ETS uses the timed-transfer system, where suburban feeder routes run to a transit centre, and passengers can then transfer to a base route/LRT to the city centre or other major destinations. Some feeder routes provide direct express service to and from the city centre.

In 2026, ETS was announced as the operator of the Valley Line, replacing TransEd Partners. The transition will take around two years.

Late Night Owl Service

Night service began on 6 September 2015, on routes 1, 4, 8, 9, and 512. Upon launch of the 2021 Bus network redesign, Owl routes are as follows: 2, 4, 8, 9, and 511. These buses operate on 30-minute headways until approximately 3:30 or 4 am. Morning service then resumes around 5 am. 2-OWL acts as a late night replacement for northern sections of the Capital Line (operating after the LRT shuts down for the night) from Clareview to Downtown. 9-OWL acts as a late night replacement for southern sections of the Capital Line. Route 511 replaced 510X in September 2022, and acts as a late night replacement of the Valley Line.

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Bus fleet

ETS operates an entire fleet of accessible low floor buses, which have been progressively introduced into the system since 1993. These include the 859 40-foot (12 m) New Flyer D40LF/D40LFR/XD40/XHE40, 33 60-foot (18 m) New Flyer D60LF/D60LFR/XD60 articulated models, 60 40-foot Proterra ZX5 models, and 49 Grande West Vicinity B30A models.

Hybrid and electric buses

The City of Edmonton embarked on an eight-month evaluation of 13 clean-diesel and hybrid buses (and a new trolley bus) in 2008. Edmonton Transit's first two diesel electric hybrid buses went into service in December 2006. The unique design and colour scheme of the two Orion low-floor buses were chosen to enable them to 'stand out' from the rest of the ETS fleet. The buses were part of an extensive test of hybrid technology that Edmonton Transit and the University of Alberta conducted over a year. Bus reliability, performance, maintenance costs, fuel efficiency, noise generation and environmental impact were monitored and evaluated in all weather and road conditions. As well, customers were surveyed about their travel experience. Ultimately, the hybrid buses recorded fuel savings of only 10%–20% (in contrast to the 35% touted in the internal ads). In addition, the ISE-New Flyer hybrids (6003 and 6004) were out of service so much that they could not be included in the evaluation.

As of fall 2009, only the two Orion hybrids were in service. New Flyer/ISE hybrids 6003 and 6004 were since converted to diesel buses as of 2011. New Flyer/Allison 6002 was revamped with new features and technology to become the ETS Platinum Bus, also referred to as the "Painted Lady".

In spring 2014, ETS unveiled a full electric bus for a four-month pilot program through October 2014. The buses were referred to as "ETS Stealth Buses" and were on lease from Build Your Dreams (BYD) Co. Ltd. The buses did not have a fare box, but instead were accepting customer surveys about electric buses as fare. Even without fare capacity the buses were placed on several different routes around the city to give Edmontonians the ability to experience the new exhaustless bus. These test buses were not winterized.

In 2019, Edmonton received funding to purchase 50 Proterra ZX5 40-foot (12 m) E2 MAX electric buses, but this was reduced to 40 electric buses – one of the largest purchases of electric buses in Canadian history. The first 21 buses started service in August 2020, with the second batch of 19 buses scheduled to arrive in the fall of 2020. The buses are charged from overhead charging units to save floor space in the bus garages, and it is the first transit service in North America to use such infrastructure for its buses. ETS conducted winter-testing of this bus model in 2015, and found that these buses could handle most of their routes. The buses are housed at the Centennial Garage and the Kathleen Andrews transit garage; the latter being the main hub for Edmonton's electric buses.

In 2021, Edmonton reached an agreement with the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) which called for CIB to invest C$14.4 million (US$11.89 million) to purchase 20 additional electric buses under the ZEB (Zero Emission Bus) Federal Program.

In 2022, Edmonton Transit and Strathcona Transit obtained one hydrogen-electric hybrid bus for each of the two transit systems as part of a pilot project, unveiling the new buses during the Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Expo in Edmonton, 24 September 2022. The pilot project is part of the Alberta Zero Emission Hydrogen Transit (AZEHT) project of Emissions Reduction Alberta.

Smart bus

Smart bus was introduced as a new feature for riders on select routes in July 2013. Trial routes included 111 from West Edmonton Mall to Downtown and route 128 from Castle Downs to the University. 45 buses were initially equipped with the technology for the trial. By 2014, 22 routes were equipped with the technology. Real time bus arrival information on personal computers and mobile data is branded together as ETS LIVE and a mobile app, ETS Live to Go, has been released. The buses equipped possess automatic audio visual stop announcers of the next bus stop described by its nearest intersection, a computer aided dispatch which informs the control centre where a bus is, as well as monitor incidents. Mobile data terminals inform the drivers as to if they are late or not. The buses equipped have internal covert cameras to monitor safety. City council has approved funding for Smartbus deployment on all bus routes as of 2019 and 2020. All buses in the ETS fleet were fully equipped with Smart bus technology by 4 September 2016; earlier than initially planned.

Commuter and regional service fares

Some routes have different fare structures due to the distance they cover or because they enter different municipalities outside of Edmonton.

Spruce Grove

Fares effective 3 December 2023 for route 560 to Spruce Grove:

Fares do not include transferability to ETS. No additional fare for U-Pass holders.

Beaumont

Fares effective 2 April 2024 for route 540 to Beaumont:

Children under 12 ride free (with an accompanying fare-paying passenger). Beaumont tickets, passes and transfers cannot be used on regular ETS services. The U-Pass is accepted on route 540 through the Arc card.

Edmonton International Airport

Fares for route 747 to the Edmonton International Airport, effective 14 May 2018:

One way trip: $5 or two adult ETS tickets

Monthly pass (with no transferability to regular ETS service): $90

No additional fare for holders of a UPass, Leduc Commuter-Plus pass, or Leduc route 10 to route 747 transfer

One way fare reduced back to $5 on 1 May 2018 (after it rose to $10 on 1 February 2018), when an increase in joint funding from the City of Leduc, Leduc County, and the Edmonton International Airport was agreed upon.

Sherwood Park

Some Strathcona County Transit tickets/passes/transfers are valid on ETS and vice versa. These are the details effective 1 February 2024:

Sherwood Park Commuter tickets/passes/transfers are valid for use on ETS

These are special tickets/passes/transfers purchased for or obtained from Sherwood Park commuter routes

ETS tickets are valid on Sherwood Park commuter services for an additional $2 and on Sherwood Park local services for an additional $1

Tickets for use solely on route 747 are not valid on SCT

ETS monthly passes (excluding the seniors pass and courtesy pass) and day passes are valid on all Sherwood Park services for an additional $1

Passes for use solely on route 747 are not valid on SCT

St. Albert

Some ETS tickets/passes/transfers are valid on StAT and vice versa:

ETS monthly passes (excluding the seniors pass and courtesy pass) are valid on all St. Albert services for an additional $1

ETS tickets and transfers are valid on commuter St. Albert services for an additional $2

Only valid on commuter routes between Edmonton & St. Albert

StAT commuter tickets/passes/transfers are valid on ETS (local versions are not valid)

Facilities

Centennial Garage – bus facility: historic fleet storage; opened 24 April 2010

D.L. MacDonald Yard – LRT storage and repair facility; opened 1983

Ferrier Garage – bus facility; formerly trolley bus barn

Gerry Wright Operations and Maintenance Facility – LRT storage and repair facility

Kathleen Andrews Garage – bus facility; opened 9 February 2020

Mitchell Garage – bus facility; formerly trolley bus barn; opened 7 April 1981

Paterson Garage – bus garage; bus disposal facility

Percy Wickman Garage – Dedicated Accessible Transit Service (DATS) facility

Former

Strathcona Garage – former bus/trolley bus garage (1951–1986); now home to Old Strathcona Farmer's Market and Edmonton Radial Railway Society's High Level Bridge Streetcar storage.

Cromdale Garage – bus facility and former Edmonton Radial Railway trolley bus/streetcar barn; torn down in 2014.

Westwood Garage – bus garage; opened 1961 and closed on 8 February 2020.

Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission

The city of Edmonton began exploring the development of a regional transit services commission in 2017. In February 2020, Edmonton city council voted to join twelve other municipalities to investigate the potential for a regional transit services commission (RTSC). Edmonton and eight other regional municipalities, including Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc, Spruce Grove, and St. Albert, formally submitted an application to the provincial government to establish the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission in June 2020. Their proposal had to be altered after four municipalities, including Leduc County and Strathcona County, withdrew from the project.

The formation of the EMTSC was approved by the Alberta government on 28 January 2021. A board of elected representatives from each member community was conducting the initial setup of the commission, and was working with the commission's inaugural CEO to develop its operational and planning capabilities.

Edmonton's local transit services and LRT network was planned to not be transferred to the commission at first, due to their size and operational costs. The commission's board was to re-consider the inclusion of Edmonton's LRT network five years after the commission was formally stood up. The EMTSC was expected to begin service in early 2023. However in December 2022, Edmonton's city council voted against contributing $13 million toward the EMTSC annual budget. In January 2023, the EMTSC board approved the implementation of a plan to permanently close the commission, and it dissolved shortly thereafter.