I will be sharing a lot of City of Calgary links since I cannot share any new stories. Council yesterday approved a new public safety strategy with an focus on Calgary Transit. The safety of Calgarians is our top priority, and everyone has the right to be safe.
The Public Transit Safety Strategy includes:
· An integrated response between Calgary Police Service and Transit Peace Officers, who will be strategically stationed along the transit line, resulting in quicker response time to calls for service.
· An increase in the number of Transit Peace Officers on the transit system.
· Enhanced authorities for Transit Peace Officers to respond to safety incidents within a targeted response time.
· Coordinated dispatch of calls of services through Calgary 9-1-1.
· Improved station experiences for riders through standards of cleanliness and community engagement that focuses on building positive environments.
· Measures to ensure transit is used for its intended purpose of getting Calgarians where they need to be.
· Measures to help connect Calgarians experiencing vulnerabilities on and around the transit system to supportive resources.
Next steps:
· With the one-time operational budget of $8.7 million that was approved by Council in June, we have already begun moving towards an integrated customer and safety service delivery model.
· This fall, our evolution to a district model will further progress with the opening of a third transit safety hub at Whitehorn.
· While The Public Transit Safety Strategy has been approved, implementation is subject to Council approval of the attached $15M budget during budget adjustments in November 2023.
· Administration will report to Community Development Committee on progress made against the strategy.
