Calgary Transit officers responded to more dispatch calls recently as ridership on c-trains and public transit continued to trend downwards.
The transit department explained that because there are fewer people at stations and on platforms, officers can actually see incidents before they happen and respond quickly.
Superintendent of Public Safety for Calgary Transit, Will Fossen, said that the number of social disorder incidents at transit stations has not actually increased.
Fossen explained that case generation numbers increased only due to the fact that officers were more proactive in their response.
“Our officers on patrol, our operations control centre that monitor our cameras across our system, they have the ability — now that unfortunately, our ridership has dropped — to see things a lot clearer and quicker,” Fossen said Tuesday.
On Monday, Ward 6 councillor Jeff Davison addressed concern over a video posted to social media that allegedly showed someone using drugs on a c-train in Calgary.
Davison said it’s important for Calgarians to recognize that public transit in Calgary remains safe.
“Calgary Transit and Calgary police are working together,” Davison said. “We’re dealing with social disorder with the root cause in mind. We’re trying to involve the proper agencies as we see them on a case-by-case basis.”
Calgary transit said as the temperatures in Calgary dropped, it was monitoring transit stations and allowing people to stay there to keep warm if there was no risk to the public.