A new public transit safety strategy got the green light from Calgary city council on Tuesday morning.
It aims to improve response times for people experiencing social disturbances and safety issues while using transit.
“It also allows us to patrol areas effectively and in a more co-ordinated fashion. It also ensures more police officers are available on the system at any one time,” said Sharon Fleming, director of Calgary Transit.
“There are always going to be issues on the system, but dealing with them quickly to avoid significant issues is the key.”
An increased number of transit peace officers will be strategically placed along the transit system and will have increased authority to respond to safety incidents. Calgary 911 will co-ordinate the dispatch of calls and Calgary Police Service officers will be part of an integrated response with the transit peace officers.
Calgary Transit will also improve cleanliness standards and work with the community to improve the experiences of transit users.
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Work was already underway to improve transit with a one-time budget of $8.7 million approved in June, but full implementation is subject to the approval of a $15-million budget, which council will consider in November.
The city’s chief of public vehicle standards Aaron Coon said the full strategy should be implemented by the end of 2025.
“This is a journey of our service evolution and so as we’ve been building this new model throughout the year and building this strategy, we’ve had the opportunity to assess it while we’ve been doing the work,” Coon said. “And really, the strategy is to formalize that relationship we have with our partners like Calgary Police Service, and we’re seeing that moving in the right direction.”
The city’s fall satisfaction survey said three-quarters of Calgarians think the quality of life in the city is good, and 56 per cent think the city is safe for residents and visitors – figures that are on par with other major Canadian cities.
But nine out of 10 Calgarians want to see more investment in transit safety and 94 per cent believe the city should be doing more to address downtown safety.
CPS Deputy Chief Chad Tawfik likened public transit to the cardiovascular system, “in how critical they are to overall vitality and well-being.
“Similarly, public safety across all communities in Calgary is dependent upon the safety of the transit system,” Tawfik said in a statement.
“The Calgary Police Service is an essential partner in collaboration with Public Transit Safety in setting priorities and working to optimize our efforts and address the areas of greatest need. We will make Calgary safer by working together.”
The Calgary Transit director said the public appears to be responding to improvements that have already been made.
“We’ve already seen a significant improvement over last year. I think that this will improve it even more,” Fleming said. “One great sign is that we actually are seeing significant ridership recovery of over 90 per cent. Our revenues are up.
“So these are signs that the actual users, users of our transit system, are feeling comfortable and are using transit when they need to get somewhere.”
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