Calgary Public Transit - Discussion

[Izzle]

FWIW, this past week there has been a noticable police presence at the Somerset station. The shelters there are cleaner and there doesn't seem to be any evidence that drugs were being used.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Izzle

FWIW, this past week there has been a noticable police presence at the Somerset station. The shelters there are cleaner and there doesn't seem to be any evidence that drugs were being used.

My wife has said the same about her trip from Tuscany. Not police at Tuscany specifically, but things are noticeably more clean in the stations and the trains, less sketch happening on the platforms along the way, etc.

The change has been noticeable in the past week or so, apparently.

I walk my dog up and over the Tuscany station bridge into the Royal Oak, and yesterday I didn't see anyone laying or sitting down in the station lobby, and there were actually cleaners working in there. A first for both in a very, very long time.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Looks like they finally fulfilled my request of having some cheaper weekend day pass for family. $15 for 5 people.

https://www.calgarytransit.com/conte...-day-pass.html

Hopefully they’ll also do something for non-commute hours, like $2 between 9am and 3pm and after 6pm or something to encourage more riders.

It is a good start. I'd also like to see something more for off-peak and also for shorter trips. But this is a step in the right direction.

My family consists of 3 people, so we also laugh to ourselves about family discounts and perks always working out for families of 4+, but for 3 people it is almost always cheaper a la carte. Museums, activities, pretty much anywhere a family discount is offered. Of course, we are saving a lot of money by only having 1 kid.

In this case it still makes sense because you're paying for the day, so you can hop on and off as needed. But when you consider that under 12 are free anyway, what most "younger" families are buying here is the flexibility to hop on and off all day vs. an economic benefit of taking your kids from A to B and back again. And I think that's OK.

[Fuzz]

They should do a "couples pass" for $10 a day. Families get all the deals!

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

They should do a "couples pass" for $10 a day. Families get all the deals!

Technically you are still a family… Though not quite the same deal as a family of 5.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

They should do a "couples pass" for $10 a day. Families get all the deals!

#### nah, you Dinks got all the spare Benjamins.

[GirlySports]

This morning I rode with police all the way from 69th station to Sunalta.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

#### nah, you Dinks got all the spare Benjamins.

Is that all the tax dollars, tax credits, and government handouts that get thrown at us? Oh, wait, no, that's for people with kids, too.

Families without kids are the most discriminated-against group that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime.

[Wormius]

It’s a benefit for raising future taxpayers.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Izzle

FWIW, this past week there has been a noticable police presence at the Somerset station. The shelters there are cleaner and there doesn't seem to be any evidence that drugs were being used.

It's good to see the City/Police taking action. It may not solve the big-picture problem, but things have been getting really out of hand, and it's important to take a visible stand for public safety.

I do fear a lot of damage has already been done, but public safety needs to be the absolute priority for the City/CT moving forward, especially if they want to keep building a more urban/green city. The stuff that's been happening lately has the potential to really erode the reputation and trust of the entire system, and will probably take years to build back to what it was.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Table 5

It's good to see the City/Police taking action. It may not solve the big-picture problem, but things have been getting really out of hand, and it's important to take a visible stand for public safety.

I do fear a lot of damage has already been done, but public safety needs to be the absolute priority for the City/CT moving forward, especially if they want to keep building a more urban/green city. The stuff that's been happening lately has the potential to really erode the reputation and trust of the entire system, and will probably take years to build back to what it was.

Fully agree. I think that "we" have probably made the big picture problem worse (by closing safe consumption sites, for example, among other things), but there still needs to be visible, enforceable actions.

Without exaggeration, in just a few months, my wife has directly and regularly witnessed open drug use, violence, people encamped in stations (she boards in Tuscany at 5:45, which is an ungodly hour already, and there are regularly overnighters still sleeping in there), passed out people in the middle of stations and platforms, and more. And these aren't one-off events - they happen regularly, and until about 1-2 weeks ago, it was actually getting worse even as ridership returned to pre-pandemic levels.

So yes, it is complicated, and while I am very much a "address the root causes" sort of guy, visible enforcement is overdue. Root causes take time, money, and wherewithal to improve. In the mean time, people riding the train have a right to feel safe.

And not to keep anecdotally bringing up my wife, but she recently accepted a new position closer to home that avoids the whole "train and downtown" issues. And while not the only reason, not having to deal with that stuff was absolutely a factor.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Jesus

It’s getting to the point where my teenager doesn’t even feel comfortable or safe taking the train anymore to meet me after work to go to an appointment. The only thing saving them is the express CT bus to their high school.

Well, a shooting yesterday and a stabbing again this morning (both on buses), and pretty soon I'm going to be stuck chauffeuring my kids.

[ajr4013]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well, a shooting yesterday and a stabbing again this morning (both on buses), and pretty soon I'm going to be stuck chauffeuring my kids.

This time a man and a teenaged boy apparently. Lovely:

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/man-injur...-bus-1.6354205

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by ajr4013

This time a man and a teenaged boy apparently. Lovely:

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/man-injur...-bus-1.6354205

With everyone seeming to chauffeur their teenagers to school, I guess my chances of getting stabbed are down.

[Ironhorse]

With all these stabbings and shootings, bodies being found in suitcases and drive by shootings with black SUVs, I think it is high time to activate the Bat Signal.

[chemgear]

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Is that all the tax dollars, tax credits, and government handouts that get thrown at us? Oh, wait, no, that's for people with kids, too.

Families without kids are the most discriminated-against group that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime.

Hahaha… what about unvaccinated families without kids?

A double whammy for people who can’t understand the difference between privileges and rights.

[para transit fellow]

Infrastructure and planning committee receives the fare-gate report on May 10

the agenda is here:
https://pub-calgary.escribemeetings....ab=attachments

highlights from the summary report to committee

● There is no correlation between the provision of fare gates and increased transit safety on existing systems with fare gates. Other transit agencies with closed and partially closed transit systems experienced increased safety-related incidents throughout the pandemic and increased complexity with intersecting societal considerations impacting public transit.
● A fully closed system is not feasible within the scope of this study, primarily due to the urban integration challenges and operational issues present at stations on the 7th Avenue corridor.
● A partially closed system is not recommended as it will require substantial modifications to most existing stations, poses significant technical risks and is not favored by community groups, City partners, and City Services and Business Units that were interviewed. Additionally, it would take up to five years for complete installation of a partially closed system

in short: mechanical gates won't solve the problem cheaply. Report recommends increased human staffing presence

[Lubicon]

Copyint this quote from Wormius over from the YYC Politics thread as my replay is more suited to transit than politics:

"I don’t even think that is what is causing ridership lows. We have a system that is downtown weekday commuter focused. Ridership is low outside those periods because the service is reduced. 5 or so minutes between trains in the morning or afternoon rush is great. Outside those hours it’s less compelling especially when you have free parking after 6, why would you take transit at $7.20 per person for a roundtrip.

*if* somehow the result of the security presence is more ridership and it leads to better service then I’m all for that."

Great discussion on the radio the other day regarding transit in Calgary and it brought up Wormius' point. It was pointed out that Calgary has always focused transit on getting commuters into and out of the DT core as our city has one of the highest concentrations of DT workers of any major city. So that makes sense. But things have changed and if we want transit to grow we need to offer more of it to places people want to go at more times of the day. So basically modify the model so it's more like Toronto or Vancouver for example.

Edmonton overhauled their system a couple of years ago and ridership is now at 108% of pre-pandemic levels. Calgary is at 80%.

[chemgear]

https://calgaryherald.com/news/crime...box=1691536765

Suffering a critical stab wound to the neck, a city man was able to use a CTrain station help button to summon assistance before collapsing, court heard Tuesday.

Crown prosecutor Tom Buglas said Jaskaran Jhutty was stabbed during a group attack at the SAIT station early on April 22, 2022.

Two of four men who were scheduled to stand trial in Jhutty’s assault pleaded guilty, while Buglas withdrew charges against two other accused.

At the request of defence lawyers Shaun Leochko and Fadejimi Orefuja, Fradsham ordered reports into the Indigenous backgrounds of the two offenders.

A sentencing date will be set next week.