Calgarians’ perception of safety on transit improved from May 2023 to November 2023, according to survey results released by the City of Calgary, however overall perception of safety in the city lags prior years.
The survey, conducted from Nov. 13 to 23, 2023, with 500 randomly dialed Calgarians responding, showed that more survey respondents felt safe during the day riding a Calgary Transit bus alone – 82 per cent versus 78 per cent in a May survey. More people felt safe riding a CTrain (72 per cent) versus May, when it was 67 per cent.
Numbers improved at night as well, with 39 per cent saying they felt safe riding a CTrain alone at night, compared with 33 per cent last May.
Respondents both day and night also felt safer waiting at a CTrain station or a bus stop in November compared with May.
Concern for personal safety is a consideration for 80 per cent of respondents to the survey, compared to 81 per cent in May 2023, and 76 per cent in 2022.
“Calgarians want and deserve the very best – and safest – experience using our transit system, whether riding our LRT, buses or shuttle vehicles,” said Kay Choi, Community Safety and Wellbeing Lead, The City of Calgary.
“I’m encouraged to see we have been able to move the needle on safety, and recognize we still have a long way to go to help Calgarians feel safe in and around our CTrains.”
Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong said that he believes the City is making progress in transit safety. He said the big question is whether the desired outcome has been achieved.
“Does the public perception of transit safety align with reality?” Wong asked.
“People still find public disorder and drug use in and around LRT stations still prevalent though they are seeing more safety and security personnel on the LRT transit lines.”
Investments paying off: Mayor Gondek
Going back to last year, the City of Calgary has spent millions to bolster security in and around transit. Last June, they authorized an additional $8.7 million to hire 39 more peace officers.
The most recent budget added $15 million in additional annual funding to help transit and community safety.
“By investing $15 million annually, council has already seen progress towards improved safety on transit,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
“Together with community and law enforcement partners, we continue to work collaboratively to address safety concerns in our growing city.”
The City of Calgary also reported that social disorder incidents on CTrains are down. They said disturbances like fights, insults, open drug use and overdoses between Oct. 1, 2023 and Dec. 15 2023 numbered 3,450 incidents. That’s compared with 4,146 in the same period in 2022.
“This is due to the coordinated community emergency winter response we have with our partners, like the Calgary Homeless Foundation and Calgary Police Service,” said Choi.
“Gatherings at transit stations have so far decreased this winter over last winter by approximately 56 per cent, even with the extreme cold weather we just experienced.”
Still, Coun. Wong said this is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed. Particularly the perception of safety at night. Wong said that the Calgary police are pulled in several directions, and they need resources for peak times while maintaining base coverage in all districts.
“Transit safety is a continuous improvement imperative,” he said.
“Therefore, additional investments must still be made.”
