Calgary could be paying for peace of mind as a new price tag was put on proposed transit service safety measures. 

On May 27, the city council approved further discussions of adding a maximum of $15 million to the already confirmed $3 million one-time investment in RouteAhead — Calgary’s 30-year plan for improving public transit.  

In council, Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal submitted two amendments aiming to improve safety on Calgary Transit (CT) vehicles and stressed that future Route Ahead updates should include a section detailing safety progress.  

Mainly, he wanted security signage on all CT buses outlining the consequences of assaulting staff and proposed that the new asking price should fund the installation of security shields.

During the question period portion of the Tuesday’s meeting, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot asked if Community Services had considered whether the former Transit Safety program, which increased the number of peace officers patrolling bus and Light Rail Transit (LRT) routes, could be implemented today. 

General manager Katie Black said that the city is working toward making CT buses safer, including cracking down on fare evasion. 

She said that while CT is responsible for operations, Community Services is responsible for providing peace of mind to both users and workers. She agreed that the program was successful and that the city is making strides toward reinstating it. 

“We are rebuilding that team as we speak,” said Black.

What will the new program look like?

The team Black is referring to is the one being built by Transit  Public Safety, which will work toward enforcing the mandatory purchasing of fares throughout the CT system, according to an email statement from the city. 

Additionally, electronic ticket validators will be installed at CTrain platforms starting the week of May 26 to 30. Once that is complete, transit patrons will be required to scan their ticket before boarding, including paperless ones.

“This will provide consistency among our fare products,” read an email from the City of Calgary.

While the program places fare evasion at the centre of attention, it appears safety is included in slim amounts, despite being a prominent discussion in recent years. 

Following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, the city conducted research investigating safety on CT systems, which demonstrated that the number and severity of violent crimes for both bus and LRT routes had peaked.

City council addressed this by passing the administration’s recommendations for bettering transit safety in July 2022. This eventually took shape as the Transit Safety Strategy, which outlined the city and Calgary Police Service’s three-year plan.

Since implementation began in late 2023, investments in transit services have included an increase in CCTV surveillance, lighting, community watch teams, as well as peace officer and security guard presence.

However, this ongoing plan lumps both LRT and bus services together, and Coun. Dhaliwal said there needs to be a heightened focus on bus fleets individually.

Bus drivers are more vulnerable, says Dhaliwal

Where fare evasion and safety intersect, according to Dhaliwal, is when drivers are expected to do the job of both an operator and ticket authenticator. 

He said that although electronic ticket scanners are installed on the buses, drivers are often placed in the position of requesting patrons to do so, and that this gives context to the abuse they face in statistically astonishing numbers. 

“Bus drivers, in my opinion, are more vulnerable because they have more face-to-face interaction [than LRT operators],” said Dhaliwal. 

Alongside his recommendation of funding protective shields, he said that more security is needed on buses.

“I want to know why we got rid of the dedicated safety or peace officer team,” said Dhaliwal. 

“There needs to be more attention paid to bus operators.”

Referencing the May 14 attack, which left a CT bus driver in critical condition, Mike Mahar, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583, said that the incident put a harsh spotlight on the reality of operators. 

“This particular one was so severe and so egregious,” he said. 

Mahar said it saddened him that it took an event like this for discussions on improving the safety of operators to progress, but that it’s an important conversation nonetheless. 

“We knew that the day was coming when there was going to be an incident to this horrific level,” he said. 

“[This] gave us an opportunity to speak about it and to make it known how bad it really is.”