Calgary city council is eyeing strengthened public transit bylaws, intended to improve rider and operator safety.
Council’s community development committee unanimously approved a series of amendments to transit bylaws on Thursday that will now be considered by council as a whole.
The aim of the new changes is to better define loitering to decrease subjective interpretations of the action, and introduce an offence for non-destination transit users, even if those riders have paid a fare.
The amendments would also add an offence for altering or re-creating a valid transit pass, possessing visible weapons on transit, and would strengthen penalties for verbal harassment, threats and intimidation of transit operators, riders and staff, making the fine for harassment, threats and intimidation double the penalty of other offences.
The proposed amendments would also give peace officers the authority to ask for proof of age from transit users, to stop riders from misusing the free-fare option for people 12 years old or younger, and would allow bikes on the CTrain at all times.
After receiving support from the committee to be considered by council, if the amendments are approved at an upcoming council meeting, they would come into effect immediately, accompanied by a public awareness campaign.
“I think these bylaws are moving the needle in the right direction,” Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong said.
Officials said the amendments were informed by input from nearly 90 transit peace officers and more than 800 transit operators, who reported personal safety as a primary concern in their work.
“It gives our officers a little bit more enforcement or empowerment to have the ability to deal with any situation that transpires on the platform, trains, on or around transit property, or the buses,” Calgary’s acting chief of public vehicle standards, Marcia Gonder, said.
Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said officers would prioritize educating the public and ensuring transit users with nowhere to go can access public supports, and that the proposed changes would give officers the authority to move people along when appropriate.
“If people don’t want to use our resources, we still have to make sure that we’re protecting our facilities, and we have to make sure that transit is being used for transit purposes,” Walcott said.
“It’s that … balance of making sure that we have that compassion and community focus first, and that our bylaw officers have the ability to enforce when necessary.”
Most people who use transit to explore the city will still go unhindered by bylaw officers despite introducing a penalty for non-destination users, Walcott said, arguing the penalty would instead be used against people using transit for loitering.
He also said the ability for officers to check for riders’ IDs will be directed at people who look above 12 years old who are trying to use the free-fare option, rather than it leading to officers asking for IDs from children younger than 12.
The amendments come nearly a year after council approved a new public transit safety strategy meant to reduce crime in the system with greater collaboration between transit peace officers, police and service providers, like community outreach teams.
The strategy included introducing five safety hubs along the CTrain line, which transit peace officers and Calgary police can use to respond to emergency calls in 10 minutes or less.
It also covered increasing the amount of transit peace officers patrolling the system, coordinated emergency calls through 911 and improved station cleaning.