Experts warn recovery of Calgary Transit vital to city budget, net zero goals

Transit riders told CBC Calgary the safety issues on trains are restricting their lives and holding them back from work and social activities across the city.

People said they are no longer going to their regular doctor, not visiting certain friends and family, have turned down or quit jobs, or simply turned around and stayed home rather than running important errands when aggressive individuals or open drug use is present.

These are among the hundreds of messages CBC Calgary collected during our focus on transit.

But that's not all. Experts say a transit system on the decline will have major impacts to the city itself – to transportation, the city budget and its net zero goals – if the system doesn't recover.

"If everyone's trying to drive, nobody moves," says Brent Toderian, a Vancouver-based city planner and urbanist. 

"Imagine all those people [currently on transit] trying to do peak hour trips into downtown by car. That is a recipe for permanent gridlock."

Calgary's 20-year transportation plan calls for the city to double transit ridership.

Ridership sat at eight per cent of every trip, pre-pandemic; council wanted to reach 15 to 20 per cent.

Instead, it tumbled when the pandemic hit. Ridership levels have been slow to recover even as people returned to working at the office, and is still only 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

Safety is part of that. There are likely other factors, too. 

Experts say if Calgary Transit can't recover both the city and citizens will suffer. 

Toderian says whether you ride transit or not, you should care about it being successful because it's critically important to movement in cities and also positively affects the pocketbooks of its residents.

"It's important for your taxes because guess what way of getting around your city is the most subsidized? By far cars. Cars are the most subsidized and most affect your increase in taxes," says the former chief planner for Vancouver and top city planner here in Calgary.

Transit is subsidized. All three orders of government fund the capital construction, and fares historically covered only 45 per cent of operating costs.

But it's the car and truck traffic that forces cities to widen bridges and spend hundreds of millions on freeway interchanges.

Buses are far more efficient. Toderian says one bus can transport as many people as are typically in 50 cars.

The other impact is on climate. Without improving transit, Calgary likely won't be able to meet its goal of being net zero in less than three decades, because transportation is a third of its emissions.  

"That all comes from vehicles on the road and we've got over a million vehicles on the road in Calgary," says Robert Tremblay, Calgary Climate Hub co-chair.

Calgary's CTrains run on wind energy.

"To get to net zero, we have to get all of those [private] vehicles either electrified or just eliminated via the shift to other modes such as transit, walking and cycling."

One of the next big decision points in that area is the city's four-year budget deliberations in November. 

Toderian says Calgary has traditionally done well, especially with high ridership during peak hours when compared to many other North American cities. 

Tremblay says he's looking to city council for firm commitments on the Green Line, airport line and electrification of Calgary Transit's bus fleet.

Both Tremblay and Toderian say Calgary can't ignore ongoing social issues on the train – they must be addressed to win riders back and show respect to people on the line today.

But the most important step for building new ridership is to invest in transit projects like the Green Line, to restore and expand the service as quickly as possible. 

"Calgary needs its existing transit system to succeed and recover and rebound and thrive. It needs expansion to, if anything, be fast tracked but at least not be delayed," says Toderian.

CBC Calgary now has 1,500 people subscribed to its text messaging community, about half of whom joined through the transit safety project.

We asked if the security situation has shifted their support for expansion, or for building trains versus bus rapid transit. 

A couple of them said they're questioning their previous support for the Green Line. But most subscribers said they just want Calgary to fix the current issues and expand, either with bus or train. 

They said frequent, reliable service with friendly stations, safe washrooms and re-opened kiosks would win many people over. And they would love to see politicians actually riding with them.

The messages are confidential but several people agreed to speak publicly.

Michael Dalla Costa, a telecommunications professional, says council should ask developers to help fund expansion since they benefit from investments such as the Green Line.

He lives with epilepsy, which means he's unable to drive, and relied on transit for years. But lately, he says, "I avoid it at all costs."

He walks when possible from his home in the south central Calgary neighbourhood of Mission, but safety and frequency issues with transit means he now rarely sees his sister in the north east neighbourhood of Coventry Hills.

Nichole Chajon, a grocery store clerk, wants aggressive behaviour, swearing and fights on the transit system stopped before she'll go back to taking her son on the train to downtown. They only take the bus around the southeast now and stopped visiting the Central Library downtown.

"(The train) started getting dirtier and dirtier, especially during COVID. There was blood on the trains, urine on the train, food all over the floors and the clientele that was coming on was swearing loudly," she said. 

"When you have a little kid it's hard to explain…It has to get cleaned up if they want people to start using it again."

Work on the Green Line is slowly moving forward. Last Thursday, council's Green Line board shortlisted two teams to compete for the right to construct the new line. Estimates are actual construction will start in 2024.

Council has been divided on how to fix the current transit problems, with much of the focus being on whether to close the stations with turnstiles or not. It recently endorsed a new plan for enforcement and said it would discount fares for August and September.

Kourtney Penner, councillor for Ward 11 in the southwest, says the budget deliberations are an opportunity to refocus on Calgary's transit future, especially the issue of where they should put new dollars.  

"Do we get back to the primary transit network [with] frequent, reliable service? Or do we continue to keep it fairly spread out – a smattering of less frequent bus routes but servicing all our communities?" she said.

Penner says Calgarians need to tell council what they want.

And she says council should hone in on how to secure the next generation of riders, with discounts for students and young riders.

"How do we get young riders … comfortable with our transit system recognizing that there are families that are hesitant to put their children on transit?" she asked.

"I put my kids on the bus. I would take the train with my kids any day and I'll have the hard conversations with them every day about what we're seeing … and the work that we need to do to stop it."

A focus on transit safety

This the final installment in our community-driven series on transit safety. We used text messaging to hear from transit riders and used their concerns to help guide the questions we asked. 

Read the full series at cbc.ca/transit.