Fun With Trip Planner

Let me start this off right away by saying I am not a fan of the ETS trip planner. It's cumbersome to use, provides too many options, refuses to make use of on street connections and is a poor substitute for actually figuring out a trip using printed schedules.
Now, there's an open house being held in Terwilleger for proposed changes to SW Edmonton routes following SLRT, and I want to check it out. To figure out how to get from my work, near Jasper Place TC, to Terwilleger, I decided to check out the trip planner, to see if it had been improved, and to see if it would give me a good chuckle. And it did not disappoint.
Let's look at the options it gave me:
Option 1:
Route 120 [Stadium]
Depart At
Jasper Place Transit CentreBus Stop # 5110 / Map
North
at 16:37
Arrive At
101 Street/Jasper AvenueBus Stop # 1336 / Map
East
at 17:03
Transfer to next route in 1 minutes, approximately 166 metres away
Route 47 [Heritage]
Depart At
101 Street/MacDonald DriveBus Stop # 1142 / Map
South
at 17:04
Arrive At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4213 / Map
North
at 17:39
Transfer to next route in 2 minutes, approximately 41 metres away
Route 35 [Terwillegar Towne]
Depart At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4211 / Map
North
at 17:41
Arrive At
Tomlinson Common/Toane WyndBus Stop # 4980 / Map
South
at 17:55
Fairly straightforward and reasonable, take a bus directly from Jasper Place to Downtown, transfer to the super express to Heritage and get the local to Terwilleger.

Option 2:
Route 133 [Parkallen]
Depart At
157 Street/100A AvenueBus Stop # 5106 / Map
West
at 16:35
Arrive At
101 Street/MacDonald DriveBus Stop # 1142 / Map
South
at 17:06
Wait at this stop for next route in 0 minutes
Route 47 [Heritage]
Depart At
101 Street/MacDonald DriveBus Stop # 1142 / Map
South
at 17:06
Arrive At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4213 / Map
North
at 17:39
Transfer to next route in 2 minutes, approximately 41 metres away
Route 35 [Terwillegar Towne]
Depart At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4211 / Map
North
at 17:41
Arrive At
Tomlinson Common/Toane WyndBus Stop # 4980 / Map
South
at 17:55
Option 2 is mostly reasonable, suggesting taking the 133 instead of the 120 as the only variance. While the 1 or 120 is more direct from Jasper Place, the 7 or 133 don't make too much of a difference, as 107 Ave is not that far north, and takes about the same amount of time as the Jasper Ave trip. The only problem is that the 133 supposedly pulls up to the stop at exactly the same time as the 47, leaving no margin of error, and if the 133 is delayed by a long boarding, a light or some traffic, this option falls apart.

Option 3:
Route 1 [Capilano]
Depart At
Jasper Place Transit CentreBus Stop # 5110 / Map
North
at 16:30
Arrive At
100A Street/102 AvenueBus Stop # 1966 / Map
East
at 16:51
Transfer to next route in 1 minutes, approximately 53 metres away
Route 17 [Yellowbird]
Depart At
101 Street/102 AvenueBus Stop # 1462 / Map
South
at 16:52
Arrive At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4205 / Map
South
at 17:38
Transfer to next route in 3 minutes, approximately 16 metres away
Route 35 [Terwillegar Towne]
Depart At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4211 / Map
North
at 17:41
Arrive At
Tomlinson Common/Toane WyndBus Stop # 4980 / Map
South
at 17:55
Option 3 involves using Route 1 instead of route 120, and the 17 instead of the 47. The use of the 17 doesn't make much sense, as it is local past Southgate, and I would rather take a direct express the 47 which doesn't stop, but I still wind up on the same route 35 out of Heritage, so it doesn't make much difference.

Option 4:
Route 1 [Capilano]
Depart At
Jasper Place Transit CentreBus Stop # 5110 / Map
North
at 16:30
Arrive At
100A Street/102 AvenueBus Stop # 1966 / Map
East
at 16:51
Transfer to next route in 6 minutes, approximately 378 metres away
Route 47 [Heritage]
Depart At
101 Street/MacDonald DriveBus Stop # 1142 / Map
South
at 16:57
Arrive At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4213 / Map
North
at 17:26
Transfer to next route in 15 minutes, approximately 41 metres away
Route 35 [Terwillegar Towne]
Depart At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4211 / Map
North
at 17:41
Arrive At
Tomlinson Common/Toane WyndBus Stop # 4980 / Map
South
at 17:55
Option 4 is the same as option 3, but using the 47 instead of the 17 for the Downtown to Heritage portion of the route.
So far, all of these options have been reasonable ways to make the trip I want. But in the next two trips we will see lunacy take over.

Option 5:
Route 3 [Cromdale]
Depart At
157 Street/100A AvenueBus Stop # 5106 / Map
West
at 16:30
Arrive At
100A Street/102 AvenueBus Stop # 1966 / Map
East
at 17:01
Transfer to next route in 9 minutes, approximately 234 metres away
Route 47 [Downtown]
Depart At
100 Street/Jasper AvenueBus Stop # 1457 / Map
North
at 17:10
Arrive At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4213 / Map
North
at 17:52
Transfer to next route in 19 minutes, approximately 41 metres away
Route 35 [Terwillegar Towne]
Depart At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4211 / Map
North
at 18:11
Arrive At
Tomlinson Common/Toane WyndBus Stop # 4980 / Map
South
at 18:25
Now, this option recommends I take the route 3, which makes a detour up to 118 Ave to serve the NW Industrial area rather than go straight Downtown. This adds unneeded time to the trip, meaning that I can't connect with the 17 or 47 out of Downtown from the previous trips, and subsequently wind up on a 35 half an hour later than the one in the previous options. Further, this option recommends that I get a northbound 47 in Downtown, ride it to the Downtown layover point, sit out its layover, and then head down to Heritage. And it recommends walking 4 blocks from 101 St/102 Ave to 100 St/Jasper Ave, when there is a southbound route 47 stop on the other side of the intersection where I get off the bus.

Option 6:
Route 3 [Cromdale]
Depart At
157 Street/100A AvenueBus Stop # 5106 / Map
West
at 16:30
Arrive At
99 Street/102 AvenueBus Stop # 1707 / Map
East
at 17:10
Transfer to next route in 8 minutes, approximately 501 metres away
Route 45 [Heritage]
Depart At
101 Street/MacDonald DriveBus Stop # 1142 / Map
South
at 17:18
Arrive At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4207 / Map
South
at 18:03
Transfer to next route in 8 minutes, approximately 36 metres away
Route 35 [Terwillegar Towne]
Depart At
Heritage Transit CentreBus Stop # 4211 / Map
North
at 18:11
Arrive At
Tomlinson Common/Toane WyndBus Stop # 4980 / Map
South
at 18:25
Option 6 has the most laughable moments in it. First, it again suggests the route 3. Secondly, it claims that route 3 will get to 99 St/102 Ave at 1710, while the previous option said it would get to 101 St/102 Ave at 1701. So somehow, it will take the bus 9 minutes to travel 1 block? Also, it recommends taking the 45, and walking 6 blocks from the downtown library to get it in front of the Edmonton Journal building, when a) there is a route 45 stop closer by and b) there is a route 3 stop I could get off at that is also closer. So why would it recommend walking all this distance when I could get off the bus one stop earlier and get on the next bus one stop sooner?
Clearly, the trip planner is still in need of an overhaul. The best thing that can be done is to get rid of the multiple option, and only show one or two possible trips, instead of coming up with insane combintation to reach 6 possible trips. On another trip I tried, which involved going straight down 124 St, to reach 6 trips it recommended I get a route 135, ride PAST the stop I want to get off at, and then get a 135 heading the other way. Another trip to get to the downtown library recommended getting off the bus at 101 St/102 Ave, walking two blocks south to get the LRT, ride for one station, and walk two blocks to get to the library, when I could stayed on the bus for one more stop and get off right in front of the library. There is no need to give everyone 6 possible options for a trip, when it will just confuse them, and produce ludicrous combination to make them. Trip planner needs to be either completley overhauled or eliminated. Plain and simple.