Calgary city council shied from their duty to decide the fate of Calgary’s downtown free fare zone, instead kicking the decision to early 2027.
After a hearty debate, weeks of discussion and public input, a committee meeting with an overwhelming number of speakers against its removal, city councillors still voted 9-6 in favour of making a decision next year.
The same discussion about safety, economics, and tourism made the rounds during Tuesday evening’s debate, though councillors decided that more engagement with stakeholders was warranted, along with seeking a potential sponsor for the program.
The TD Bank Group ended its sponsorship of the free fare zone two years early despite having signed a five-year deal. No specific reason was given.
“Vote this forward. Public safety priority number one. We’ve got cash coming, we’re getting results. We can have that messaging back to Calgarians that safety is a priority on transit, but more importantly, to downtown as well, so it’s the counter vote to support this,” said Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos.
“Let’s move forward and come back in Q1, a fare review, a safety review, a business review, and we’ll have a better transit system and a better downtown.”
Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson had a different view. Atkinson had earlier said he was in favour of extending the free fare zone to the city limits.
“Let’s say the free fare zone is something we should celebrate. It is something unique to Calgary, it’s something that we should continue to have, and something that we should just bake into the DNA of transit and our downtown, and how we move folks around,” he said.
So, yeah, fare-free zone forever.”
There’s a fuller fare review coming in Q1 2027, which could influence how Calgary city council votes on killing the free fare zone.
Removing the free fare zone as a safety measure was a mistake: CDA
Andrew Doudican, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, said that if Calgary city council decides to remove the free fare zone, and they address the actual issues behind safety, they’ll be asking why the city lost it.
“If we end up removing the free fare zone in the name of safety, I think that’s a mistake,” he said.
He noted the mayor’s proposal for a downtown police station as a more valuable way to improve safety in the downtown.
Doudican said that the free fare zone is one of the rare issues that’s come up in his career where there’s almost unanimous support.
“It’s incredibly supportive, and I think you see that if you look online, if you look in the media, it’s one of those issues where you have to kind of look for people that are dissenting against it,” he said.
“I think that speaks to the importance of the mechanism.”
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean said it’s a clear question of safety on Calgary Transit, something citizens have said is important.
“To me, it’s always about public safety, and it’s just a fact that a lot of people jump on downtown that don’t pay their fare, and then they go to the suburbs, and a lot of times these are the people that are the mental health problems and drug addictions, and they commit crimes,” he said.
“So, I am a firm advocate that this would make our city safer.”
City administration has said that they would expect some safety relief along the downtown transit line, but noted that social disorder issues would likely just be dispersed away from the LRT line and not specifically eliminated.
McLean said that if they could solve the social disorder issues downtown, he wouldn’t have a problem with a downtown free fare zone.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that he’s been in every corner of Calgary, filled with people from all walks of life, and everyone he’s spoken to wants the free fare zone to stay.
“I would say I’ve never seen an issue like this that has unified Calgarians in my five years on council,” he said.
“This would be a major mistake if city council were to cancel the free fare zone, and that’s what we’ve been hearing.”
A decision won’t be made until after the new 2027 to 2030 four-year budget from Calgary city council.
