Edmonton LRT trip planner
Two stations in, a real answer out: time, stops, changes and arrival — built on ETS's own schedule.
Every station, real journey times from the ETS schedule — including whether the train you need is actually running at that hour.
How this works
The planner runs a shortest-path search across the whole LRT network — all 29 stations and every track segment between them. The times are not guesses: each segment carries the real journey time from ETS’s published schedule, and changing lines adds a realistic wait based on how often the line you are changing to actually runs at that hour.
Three things it gets right that a simple map does not:
- It knows the service hours. Nothing on the LRT runs overnight — service ends around 1 am. Ask for a route at 3 am and the planner returns no route rather than inventing a train that is not running (the OWL night buses fill that gap instead).
- It knows the Valley Line is separate. The green Valley Line is a street-running system on its own tracks; the only link to the rest of the network is a short walk at Churchill. The planner models that walking transfer instead of pretending you can stay on board.
- It knows the shared trunk. Downtown, the Capital and Metro lines run on the same platforms through seven stations, so a Capital-to-Metro change there is usually a same-platform step, not a real transfer. The planner treats it that way.
Getting around: the things worth knowing
Read the destination on the train
North of Churchill the Capital and Metro lines split — Capital carries on northeast towards Clareview, Metro heads northwest to NAIT/Blatchford Market. On the shared trunk both use the same platforms, so check the front of the train for where it is actually going.
Capital ↔ Metro is free and usually same-platform
Through the seven shared downtown stations either line will do, and switching between them costs nothing and rarely means changing platforms. Within your 90-minute window there is nothing more to pay.
The Valley Line is a separate walk at Churchill
The green Valley Line does not share track with Capital or Metro. To connect, walk about four minutes across the plaza between the underground Churchill Station and the surface Valley Line stop — both are called Churchill.
No overnight LRT
All lines run roughly 5 am to 1 am. There is no 24-hour service; after the trains stop, ETS OWL night buses run until around 3 am.
Planner questions
They come from ETS’s published schedule, so they are as accurate as the schedule is. What they cannot know is today: delays, weekend maintenance or a signal problem. Check the service status before you leave, and the ETS live tools for where the trains actually are right now.
Because service genuinely changes through the day. Frequencies drop off-peak, and the whole LRT shuts down overnight. A planner that ignores that will happily route you onto a train that is not running — which is the most common way these tools are wrong. This one only offers you trains that are actually in service at the time you ask.
No — this is an LRT planner. Buses fill in a great deal of Edmonton, including the Route 747 to the airport and the OWL night buses, and ETS’s own trip planner covers both. If your two points are near the LRT, this will be faster to use.
Every Edmonton LRT station is step-free — elevators or ramps and level boarding throughout — so any route the planner gives you is accessible. The trains are accessible too. The one thing to plan for is the Churchill walking transfer to the Valley Line, which is across the plaza at street level.