Calgary Transit’s own data tells a different story than city council has been hearing: When boardings are factored in, not a single downtown free fare zone station ranks among the city’s top 15 LRT social disorder hotspots.
The finding comes as Calgary city council kicked a potential decision on the fate of the downtown free fare zone to a January 2027 meeting, with many favouring its demise advocating that it would have a positive impact on downtown safety.
Social disorder incident data, coupled with station boarding data that was provided to LWC by Calgary Transit, showed that paid LRT stations occupy eight of the top 10 social disorder hotspots by number of incidents.
Combined with boarding data (not trip data) to create a ratio of incidents to boardings, none of the downtown stations were in the top 15 incident rates. Only Centre Street cracked the top 20.
The top five LRT stations in terms of the number of social disorder incidents per 10,000 boardings were: Sunalta, Barlow, Zoo, Bridgeland, and Franklin. (See the interactive data table below.)
It’s important to note that this is only Calgary Transit event data, and it does not include Calgary Police Service data. It also doesn’t include any potential criminal incidents at these stations, though research shows a link between social disorder and potential criminal incidents, and also in the fear of crime.
With boarding data taken into account, downtown LRT stations along the free fare zone have the lowest incident/10K boardings ratio, occupying eight of the 12 stations with the lowest incident rates system-wide.
In terms of overall boardings data, downtown stations also occupy eight of the top 15 spots, with the City Hall / Bow Valley College station (both north and south platforms combined) more than doubling the next most-boarded LRT station.
Also important to mention that the downtown City Hall / Bow Valley College station does have regular corporate security patrols, along with outside security services.
Safety is the biggest concern for riders: Calgary Transit
When Calgary Transit presented to councillors its review of the free fare zone and recommended its removal, they said that safety is a primary decision-making factor that determines when, where, and whether people use transit at all.
In their key takeaways, they said it would reduce social disorder, thus improving perceptions of safety over time, and the increased presence of transit officers would help address the “increasing and complex social disorder” occurring on the transit system.
Their presentation also indicated that by removing the free fare zone, it would give officers lawful authority to remove disruptive riders earlier, address loitering, and intervene before issues escalate.
Transit peace officers already can address potential social disorder issues and deal with those evading fares. Once a person leaves the free fare zone without a paid ticket, they can be asked to present proof of a paid fare.
“This would support system-wide safety, since downtown is a common entry point for disruptive behaviour across the transit system,” the Calgary Transit report said.
That’s a concern shared by Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, who was in favour of removing the free fare zone, particularly for safety reasons.
“I would argue that some of the people getting on in the … free fare zone are creating social disorder once they move on,” he said.
Calgary transit peace officers already have the authority to ask for proof of payment at any station outside of the free fare zone.
McLean has long favoured a closed system for Calgary Transit LRT stations, including having fare gates at all stations, preventing potential fare evaders from even entering the system.
When asked if it made more sense to expand the free fare zone, as the data showed that free fare zone stations had more boardings, and in most cases fewer incidents per 10K boardings, McLean said no.
“I’d go the other way; I’d close the whole system off. You know where I stand on this: San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Paris, Montreal, England – it’s all closed, nobody gets on free anywhere,” he told LWC.
Calgary Transit LRT — Social Disorder Incidents
2025Disorder event counts per station · Source: Calgary Transit internal data
| Rank | Station | 2025 incidents | Boardings | Per 10k boardings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total / Average |
‘Big time’: Data blows a hole in safety argument, says Atkinson
Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson said that city officials and law enforcement have to decouple the free fare zone and how safety is delivered and social disorder is dealt with.
“Ultimately, people use transit to get somewhere, they’re not just getting off at the train platform. Their experience of social disorder is going to be based on the spaces they are entering outside of that train platform,” he told LWC.
“So, we have to look at this holistically and make sure that we’re tackling social disorder not just at train stations, but where we know it is taking place within the downtown, as a whole, to really give people that confidence and change the perspective around people’s perceptions of safety within the downtown.”
Atkinson said he rides Calgary Transit every day. He sees that social disorder isn’t just a downtown thing. These complications are all over Calgary.
“I think the other thing that we need to think about is what we frame as social disorder, and what we’re lumping in, and I think there’s a lot of discomfort that people feel when they see someone who is maybe bent over because they’re high on fentanyl, and no one wants to see someone else in that position,” he said.
“It’s uncomfortable to see someone in that position, that’s a perception of safety thing, versus the reality is that person is not a huge danger to you as a person.”
When asked if this poked holes in the safety argument, Atkinson said, “Big time.”
Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the data clearly shows why he’s championed keeping the free fare zone.
“Having a fare zone does not guarantee public safety,” he said.
“We know that having more bodies, having more eyes on the system, that is how we support a safer system overall for Calgarians.”
He said the data felt vindicating.
“It’s a reminder for us as a council, we need to focus on the measures that make sense from an empirical, from an evidence-based standpoint, rather than just making knee-jerk decisions,” he said.
The solution lies in a future full fare-based review
In speaking with reporters on May 27, as city council was embroiled in the debate over the future of the free fare zone, Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos said councillors were presented with a report from Leger showing that the biggest issue holding people back from riding the LRT was safety.
“Our administration said the majority of social disorder on the CTrain starts down at the free fare zone,” he said.
He said if you connect the dots from social disorder to perception of safety, you can have a significant improvement in ridership.
Pantazopoulos said, however, that getting solid data, consolidating it and bringing it back with an updated Calgary Transit fare review strategy will help them determine what they want to do with the free fare zone.
Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule said that the data was important to consider, though being careful not to cast aspersions on Calgarians’ perception of safety on the downtown LRT. He said people may have a lower expectation of reporting things in the free fare zone.
Yule said that safety shouldn’t be the only thing they base the free fare zone decision on.
“One of the things that I’m looking for when it comes back is more options. We need more people upset, like everybody doesn’t get exactly what they’re looking for,” he said.
“I think that’s the threshold we’re aiming for.”
