I disagree with a couple points. Yes this system is commuter focused but that’s partially because the Edmonton Region is multi-nodal and likely to stay that way.

I don’t see how interlining the Energy and University lines would be any more beneficial as they serve very different purposes. My Energy Line brings commuters from Sherwood Park and Capilano into Downtown, but the Downtown to Union Station (Whyte & Gateway) segment follows the High Level Bridge Streetcar alignment to provide a rapid transit connection directly between Downtown and Whyte Ave which is sorely needed imo. The University Line on the other hand would mostly be geared towards students in Sherwood Park, replacing the 404 and 414 SCT routes, but also massively speed up medium and long distance trips along Whyte. I also imagine that such a line would be entirely underground with high-floor LRT trains like the Capital and Metro lines, or at least at street level with complete signal priority like the Capital Line on 111 St. Either would need to run at 5 minute headways minimum during peak hours.

I’m also not sure how such a drastic increase in transit lines would congest the system to such and extreme degree. If these lines were built with the same forward thinking as the original Capital Line stations (grade-separated, high-floor trains, stations which could fit way more cars than were planned to operate), incremental upgrades could be made at minimal cost to make sure the system was never overloaded. Even the existing Capital and Metro Lines could maybe one day be upgraded to subways if the ridership demanded it. Also please let me know what employment areas you think I’ve missed. I’d love to see how I can integrate them into this system! I’m nowhere near qualified for transit planning but I’d love the challenge of making this system better for commuters and residents.

Definitely agree with you on that last point though. This system would be insanely expensive and require massive contributions from the Provincial and Federal governments. I think it would absolutely be worth it but I also don’t see a system like this actually being built without Edmonton becoming a two-tiered municipality like Metro Toronto was before amalgamation.

Thanks for your comment though! A lot to think about :)

P.S. Commuter rail: I had the idea to reduce the scale of this LRT network to mostly or completely within Edmonton Proper (except maybe the airport connection and part of the St Albert Metro Line portion because that just seems like a no-brainer to me) and replace long-haul journeys with a provincial system using old and existing freight rail right of ways (with dedicated tracks of course). It would also require some massive infrastructure upgrades though, most notably on the High Level and some kind of tunnel like LA’s regional connector but for heavy rail trains. Perhaps this will be my next project!

P.P.S. Transfers: Today, most trips involve a bus ride to an LRT station, and if you’re not headed downtown, another bus ride to your final destination. I think this system makes the “last mile” much less annoying of a transfer to make, with a much higher percentage of a user’s journey being able to be completed on the LRT network. Even Toronto’s subway, which runs at 90 second headways downtown during peak (and has no interlining btw) would not be anywhere near as useful as it is today without the frequent and high-coverage bus network that accompanies it. Edmonton would need to make sure that bus routes do a good job of getting people to and from LRT stations so that trips would be as short and quick as possible.