City council to weigh tougher public transit bylaws following committee approval

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," said Marcia Gonder, Calgary's acting chief of public vehicle standards.

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 number of transit peace officers patrolling the system, co-ordinated emergency calls through 911 and improved station cleaning. 

Mike Mahar, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583, supports the proposed amendments, adding he thinks they have the potential to improve Calgary's transit system and operators' safety.

He noted that fare evasion has especially been a problem for transit operators when dealing with older kids who falsely claim they're under 12 years old to abuse the free fare option for that age group.

"Now that peace officers can act with more authority to identify without question fare evaders and have them fined, that's going to be a deterrent," Mahar said.

But among the problems the bylaw amendments are responding to, loitering and non-destination transit users are a product of larger issues outside of the scope of transit peace officers' enforcement, argued Lee Stevens, policy and research specialist at Vibrant Communities Calgary.

The non-profit advocacy group released a study earlier this year on transit safety that examined the factors contributing to social disorder in Calgary's transit system. It found a lack of confidence in the safety of the city's homeless shelter system was contributing to the issue. 

Stevens noted that insufficient daytime spaces in Calgary for people experiencing homelessness is a factor in loitering and non-destination transit users. She also questioned whether fines are an effective response to transit users who have nowhere else to go.

"This is beyond enforcement. Enforcement is not the answer when it comes to these issues," Stevens said.

"Giving people fines is just not the answer. I would encourage council to look at the long-term impacts. What's going to happen if there's a whole bunch of people who have fines they're not going to be able to pay?"

Stevens said she doesn't want loitering and non-destination riders penalized under the city's bylaws. Instead, she'd rather see council look at upgrades to the city's shelter system, including more daytime spaces, to respond to the root causes of the social disorder in the city's transit system.