Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
That's true, I think, but it is also incumbent on the operator of the service (in this case Calgary Transit) to establish a standard on its own that people can follow. It needs to be very obvious what you do when you see something on the transit system that requires the attention of transit staff or police - i.e., very obvious ads on all trains saying "if you see something, text us at NUMBER, we will respond immediately, also contact us here and here to tell us what's going on". Then take every issue seriously, whether it's people being loud and disruptive for no reason, people doing drugs, drinking, or acting publicly intoxicated, or people being aggressive / safety concerns. They can then triage those issues.
Passengers definitely play a role but you have to give them VERY easy tools to use in order to get them to actually do it. Even direct incentivies, e.g. "free bus pass for a month" rewards for tips that improve the system, are worth considering.
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Since 2019, passengers can
text 74100 and make a report. I think only recently there's been more of an awareness strategy to let passengers know of the number and increased security to actually respond. I've used it a few times with varying degrees of success.
First couple of times nobody responded to my text to ask follow up questions until a half hour or more later. Typically they'd ask what the person was wearing so that transit cops can identify them. Now I include those descriptors in my initial text.
It was starting to feel like it was a wasted effort to text the 74100 number, but one time recently, they immediately replied and said that they were already aware because of another rider's report. A stop or two later, transit cops got on and ushered the offending individual off the train without any fuss. Knowing that another rider texted it in and actually seeing it result in action by security was encouraging.