Perceptions of safety on Calgary transit improve, survey shows

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According to a recent city poll, Calgarians say they feel a little safer using public transit than they did last spring.

The City conducted the latest Perceptions of Safety in Calgary survey, collecting information from 500 randomly selected Calgarians between November 13-23, 2023. Respondents were asked questions about how they perceive transit safety, as well as how safe they feel in their community and downtown.

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According to the survey, 72 percent of respondents said they feel safe riding the CTrain during the day, up from 67 percent when the survey was last conducted in May 2023.

Seventy percent of those surveyed said they feel safe waiting for a train at an LRT station, compared to 64 percent last May.

The city said recent investments to improve transit safety contributed to the improvement in numbers.

The November survey was the first since Calgary City Council approved a new transit safety strategy last October. The strategy allocates $15 million annually to hire 65 additional transit peace officers to increase law enforcement presence at LRT stations, reduce criminal activity and prevent illegal activity.

“I'm encouraged to see that we've been able to move the needle safely, and I know there's still a long way to go to help Calgarians feel safer on and around CTtrains,” said Kay Choi, the city's community group leader. safety and welfare, in a news release.

While the results show some improvement in how safe transit users feel during the day, most participants said they still don't feel safe riding the train at night.

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According to the survey, 39 percent of respondents said they feel safer riding the CTrain after dark, while 34 percent said they feel safer waiting for a train after nightfall.

Those numbers are an improvement from last May, although 33 percent of respondents said they felt safe riding the CTrain at night and 27 percent said they felt safe waiting for a train to arrive.

According to the city, the number of reported incidents of social disturbances — calls for violence, fights, drug use and overdoses — on the CTrain has decreased.

Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 15, 2023, the city said there were 3,450 incidents reported on the CTrain, a 17 percent decrease from 4,146 incidents during the same period in 2022.

This decline is consistent with Calgary Police Service (CPS) statistics. According to Supt. Scott Boyd, Calgary Transit Calls for Social Disturbance Incidents Dropped Seven Percent in 2023 from 2022.

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Boyd said having more officers in the transit system, whether it's police officers, peace officers or security guards, has helped users feel safer.

“The transit officers, I'm sure they play an important role and their whole deployment strategy,” he said. “I am confident that CPS, working in partnership with regular operations officers, will have a positive impact on both the perception and reality of safety on transit lines.”

Choi also credited a concerted winter effort by the Calgary community, which includes collaboration with the Calgary Foundation for the Homeless and other social service agencies serving the city's homeless population, for reducing those numbers.

“Collections at transit stations are down about 56 percent this winter from last winter, even with the very cold weather we just had,” he said.

Despite improved acceptance, nearly half of respondents — 49 percent — said they would avoid Calgary Transit because of safety concerns — up two percentage points from the last survey.

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And three-quarters of respondents said they feel safer using buses than riding the CTrain.

In addition to questions about transit, the survey found that 71 percent of respondents agreed that Calgary is generally a safe city. Ninety-five percent said they felt safer walking alone in the community during the day, compared to 75 percent at night, and 40 percent felt Calgary was safer than other major Canadian cities.

Forty-eight percent felt that crime had increased in their community over the past three years, while 58 percent agreed that property theft was a problem in their neighborhood.

The poll's margin of error is ± 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The next survey will be held this spring.

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