1988
Edmonton Transit Service West Edmonton Mall (West Jasper Place) Transit Centre
| Opened | 1981 |
| Location | 87 Ave/ 175 St |
| LRT Lines Served | Future Valley Line West LRT |
| Platform | Center island with perimeter stops |
| Passenger Access | N/A |
| Park and Ride | No |
|
1988 |
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West Edmonton Mall Transit centre is, as one would expect, is
located adjacent to the West Edmonton Mall shopping centre.
Despite the name being obvious today, prior to Horizon 2000 this transit centre
was known was West Jasper Place. Although the actual community of West Jasper
Place is located to the North and East, in 1972 Edmonton City Council adopted
the West Jasper Place Outline Plan which guided development in an area generally
West of the Patricia Ravine/ 170 St, North to Highway 16, East of the Anthony
Henday Drive, and South to the North Saskatchewan River/ Wedgewood Ravine. The
1979 Edmonton Transit Annual Reports suggest this transit centre could have been
named Westgate. With the adoption of Horizon 2000 on June 29, 1997 West Jasper
Place Transit Centre was renamed to West Edmonton Mall Transit Centre. For the
GM fleet with roll signs this meant that, among some other additions, a West
Edmonton Mall reading had to be spliced into the roll signs.
All indications are that the original transit centre was built around 1981, and
like many of it's contemporaries, such as Castle Downs, Kaskitayo and Lakewood
it was built as a simple transit centre with no major passenger shelter.
This would change in 1984 when a new passenger shelter was built on the centre
island at West Jasper Place in a style that became very familiar as Millgate
(1985) and Northgate (1987) would make use of the same design. The new passenger
shelter would open in November 1984. This certainly wasn't unheard of at the
time either to have a passenger shelter added after construction of the original
transit centre. The same thing occurred with Westmount (opened 1975, structure
1977), Southgate (opened 1975, structure 1979). This style of passenger shelter
for the longest time was the most modern that ETS had, until Mill Woods and
Heritage opened in Fall 2000.
With the opening of West Jasper Place, it immediately became an important
terminal, taking over largely from the small loop at Meadowlark, only about 15
blocks East by already hosting 16 routes by 1982. Just before Horizon 2000 there
would still be 16 routes, but post Horizon 2000 route easily reached over 20,
with 26 ETS routes by 2009. Under the BNR, West Edmonton Mall see 20 route, plus
On Demand and the St. Albert route #205.
West Edmonton Mall Transit Centre has seen a few commuter routes. The longest
lived is the St. Albert route #205, dating from the late 1980's or early 1990's.
The next was a shuttle service contracted to ETS as the route 597 that operated
to the River Cree Resort, which is outside of the City of Edmonton borders.
While this route would cease operation by ETS, there has remained a private
shuttle since then that has stopped in the vicinity of the West Edmonton Mall
Transit Centre. When Spruce Grove created the 562, it passed through the transit
centre on it's way to South Campus. Unfortunately, ridership never lived up to
expectations at the route was changed to operate with Vicinity's, before being
cut back to West Edmonton Mall, before being cancelled with funding re-allocated
to extra service on the 560.
tober
With West Valley Line LRT construction beginning and the extensive work needed
to build an elevated station at West Edmonton Mall, the West Edmonton Mall
Transit Centre was relocated to a temporary location North of the Mall on 90
Ave. The final day for the transit centre was August 28, 2021, which meant the
transit centre only operated under the BNR for just over 4 months before the
relocation. After the moved was made, the transit centre, barely 4 years old,
was demolished although some of the furnishing were reused at the temporary
transit centre. The transit centre was then used as a lay down yard as
construction started.
West Edmonton Mall has been a good place to find some of the test buses ETS has operated over the years. The 1, 4, and 33 were routes to find the hybrids while the CNG's ran on the 33. BYD's 6008 and 6009 could be found on the 100. An Orion VII NG spent it's time in Edmonton on a run of the 100 which interlined with the 101.
Random West Jasper Place trivia. West Jasper Place was an
intended destination for a trolleybus extension. As a result West Jasper Place
was included on the roll signs for the BBC trolley coaches. Especially in later
years into the 2000's it wasn't uncommon to come across a trolleybus
accidentally signed up as West Jasper Place. I can't imagine that this really
caused much confusion as the West Jasper Place name for the West Edmonton Mall
Transit Centre would have been largely forgotten by this point.
| Original Bus Terminal | ||||
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| Buses
along the North perimeter stops. Note what
appears to be construction occurring on the
island platform. Given the date of this image,
that nicely aligns with the opening of the
passenger shelter in November 1984. May 19, 1984 |
West
Jasper Place with #495 departing, looking
Northeast. June 27, 1990 |
An
alternating mix of GM's and 200's at West
Edmonton Mall, looking Northeast. December 22, 1999 |
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| New Bus Terminal | ||||
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An extra large shelter was built along the North
perimeter bus bays while the main passenger
shelter was being rebuilt. September 27, 2016 |
Orion VII
#6006 along the North perimeter bus bays as work
on a new island and passenger shelter is
underway. Temporary operators washrooms are in
the middle with the construction trailer. September 27, 2016 |
Construction of the new transit centre passenger
building. November 15, 2016 |
Progress on the new building, looking Northeast. January 31, 2017 |
The new
passenger shelter is open, but construction
continues. Now the bus driveway is being
replaced. June 27, 2017 |
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| West
Edmonton Mall has always been a busy transit
centre, as seen here during the afternoon peak.
One of the oldest buses in 4128 with one of the
newest in 7113 pass it. February 7, 2020 |
Double
wide shelter along the North bus bays. April 14, 2021 |
#4403
with the ETS logo on the passenger shelter
structure. August 26, 2021 |
ETS and
transit centre name on passenger shelter
structure. August 26, 2021 |
Looking
Northeast, like a number of other images. August 26, 2021 |
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| Looking
Northeast.. August 26, 2021 |
East
entrance/ exit. It could often be busy at West
Edmonton Mall with buses coming and going.
Including here, On Demand which was only here
for the 4 months the transit centre was active
under the BNR. August 26, 2021 |
900x's on
87 Ave. Since this is a Valley Line precursor
service, depending upon when the new transit
centre and station open, this route might not
return here. August 26, 2021 |
Another view looking Northwest at a busy transit centre with the windowed roof of the World Water Park in behind. | East
entrance/ exit. August 26, 2021 |
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| Looking
Northeast, now with buses. This has changed a
bit from the 1999 image. August 26, 2021 |
2 bus
bays on the island platform didn't have enough
space for buses to deploy the wheelchair ramp
when parked normally in the bay, hence this
marking to show where to stop a bit further back
if a user needed the wheelchair ramp. August 26, 2021 |
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