Three-quarters of transit users feel either very safe or somewhat safe at Calgary CTrain stations, though only two-thirds noticed the added security presence tied to a multi-million dollar pilot project.

A briefing note posted to the July 13 Community Development Committee meeting provided a seasonal update on the Visible Security Pilot project, which was first approved by the city council in December. The pilot focuses on implementing observable security measures to improve transit safety at LRT stations and on the CTrain specifically. 

As part of the Public Transit Safety Strategy, the project received a $9 million one-time investment. Now, six months after it started, the briefing declared that the pilot has been fully implemented at all stations.

The first phase was completed in January and involved hiring 11 contracted security guards at five stations during the evening rush hour. By June, the update announced that peace officers had replaced 22 security guards at all 10 stations.

Some of these peace officers have undergone additional training and are slated to join the Community Outreach Team, where they will work with Calgary Community Court services to connect vulnerable people with housing, health care, and addiction support.

Come August, an additional 20 peace officers are expected to complete their classroom training and be deployed, bringing the total number of officers hired through the pilot to 34. 

Preliminary survey shows lukewarm safety impressions among riders

Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos, who pushed for the pilot project, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the results and the difference it has made.

“The message that I think came loud and clear, and I certainly observed as we travelled through the city during Stampede, is how critical that not only just security, but having the physical presence of our peace officers,” he said. 

“Calgarians understand it. They’re able to reach out.”

Throughout the pilot project, the city partnered with Leger, a market research firm, to conduct three random, in-person rider surveys. The first of the trio was done in April and obtained 1,627 responses.

Of those questioned, 65 per cent said that they noticed more security staff, and 73 per cent said that they felt either somewhat or very safe at the LRT stations. Yet, just 27 per cent of people said that they felt “very safe,” with less than half saying that they felt “somewhat safe.”

This investment and subsequent survey follow an additional $38.6 million in added spending since 2023 to boost public transit safety. While there is no direct comparative data, perceptions of transit safety surveys done in 2023 showed that 72 per cent felt safe riding a CTrain. The current data is about the feeling of safety at CTrain stations.

Again, while not the same view of the data, nor specific questions asked, there’s an improvement of one per cent in the feeling of safety compared to the 2023/24 data described above.

Leger is currently analyzing the summer survey data, with the fall survey to follow. The administration will present the findings from both of these, along with the results of a telephone survey, to the city council in Q4 of 2026. 

Coun. Pantazopoulos said the purpose of this pilot was to gather baseline data to inform the city council’s approach to and funding of transit safety in the future. Whichever way the surveys go, he said, this will impact budget decisions in November. 

“If it’s successful… council can look any Calgarian in the eye and say, ‘look, this makes sense, we’re going to expand this,’” said Pantazopoulos. 

“And heaven forbid, if it wasn’t successful, then we go back to the drawing board.”

Transit advocate says peace officers aren’t the only answer

Alex Williams, co-founder of the advocacy group Calgary Transit Riders, agreed that the increased number of peace officers has surely provided train users with an extra layer of protection and that this seems to have shifted perceptions slightly. 

“People are feeling more comfortable, more safe on the CTrain, largely due to that increased presence of peace officers, people who can actually do something about those acute and immediate safety needs,” he said. 

“But I also think that there are more important, longer-term strategies that city council needs to be willing to tackle as well.”

The bottom line, Williams said, is that an investment in peace officers does not go toward healing the root causes of crime and social disorder on transit. 

“It can help with the feeling of safety, it can help with the feeling of comfort,” he said. 

“But it’s not really ultimately doing anything long-term to solve this.”

Williams recommended that the city focus on addressing the underlying factors that contribute to behaviour that can dampen transit users’ perception of safety. 

“The biggest one is housing,” he said. 

“You can’t have a quality transit strategy, and you can’t have a quality transit safety strategy without having a place for people to go.”

Williams acknowledged that prioritizing the deployment of security during peak nighttime ridership hours makes sense, but said that this ignores the need for peace officer presence later in the evening, after 8 p.m.

On the topic of nighttime transit use, he said that the Visible Security Pilot project, which focuses on the CTrain, disregards bus safety levels. Williams said that the group would like to see the city council support lighting improvements at bus stops. 

“Better lighting at our bus stops would go a long way,” he said. 

“Having bus stops in public spaces that are in front of cafes and things like that, that are a little bit more visible — that can go a long way.”

Additionally, Williams said that increasing bus service frequency could help reduce the time riders spend waiting at stops that may be isolated and leave them vulnerable after the sun has set. 

He said that at the end of the day, considering all these seemingly small moving parts matters.

“If we really want a great city, it’s about all of the things — it’s not about one thing,” said Williams. 

“The city is a system of systems, and we can’t just say, ‘look, we made transit great,’ if the rest of the city is falling apart.”