The Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) will provide the city’s transit riders with free access to premium features in the Transit app for the next four years.
ETS officials made the announcement at a news conference at Edmonton’s Corona LRT station on Thursday.
The premium version of the Montreal-based app is called Transit Royale. To use Transit Royale, it used to cost Edmonton transit riders $5 a month or $25 per year.
Transit Royale’s features include the ability to plan trips ahead of time, see real-time locations of any transit vehicle and access more trip options.
Emily Stremel, chair of a non-profit advocacy group called Edmonton Transit Riders, said she believes the move will improve the public transit experience for Edmontonians.
“Seeing [the features] become available for both dedicated and casual riders is a huge step in making transit an easy and convenient choice for everybody and for any type of trip,” she said.
City council debated and later gave the go-ahead for the Transit app deal last month. Mayor Andrew Knack previously said he wanted to remove the paywall in the app to make transit more accessible. He said the city is seeing an all-time high for transit ridership.
On Thursday, ETS officials told reporters the four-year subscription to Transit Royale will cost the city just over $500,000 annually, and that it will be funded through the ETS budget.
Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, ETS’ branch manager, said the decision to subscribe to the premium version of the app and to make it free for riders was made in part because of feedback from riders, but also because it will allow the city to collect more accurate data on the transit system.
Carrie Hotton-MacDonald is the branch manager for ETS. She said the partnership would inform future policy decisions made by the City of Edmonton. (Maxime Lamache/Radio-Canada)
“Riders using this application in particular, when they choose to share their feedback, … they’re providing it all along the way in that rider journey,” she said.
“So it’s a different type of insight and feedback that can help us make targeted improvements in a timely way.”
Knack had also previously noted that he believes data collected through the app could help city council make more informed policy decisions in the future.
People who use transit services in municipalities surrounding Edmonton — including St. Albert Transit, Strathcona County Transit and Leduc Transit — will also have free access to the app’s premium features.
Free use of the premium features became available to users on Thursday.
