Latest news with #RouteAhead
Global News
28-05-2025
- Global News
Council eyes $15M for Calgary Transit operator safety after bus driver attacked
Calgary city council will consider a multi-million-dollar funding injection to bolster safety for transit operators, after a bus driver was assaulted while on duty. During an update to transit's RouteAhead strategy Tuesday, council unanimously supported an amendment from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal that calls for the city to spend $15 million from reserves to retrofit buses with 'more secure security shields.' 'Right now we've got these shields — they're not even shields, they're little screens that are not that effective,' Dhaliwal told reporters. Dhaliwal's amendment also asks for transit to install new signage on all vehicles about safety and informing passengers that assaulting an operator is a federal crime, including 'non-compliance consequences.' It also calls for a review of all safety and training practices, and include an annual safety status progress report to council. Story continues below advertisement Council's debate comes after a Calgary Transit bus driver was assaulted in the early morning hours of May 13 while driving a route near Falconridge and Castleridge boulevards Northeast. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The driver was taken to hospital in critical condition, but was later upgraded to stable, and investigators believe he was attacked when he refused the suspects' request to detour from his original bus route. Darryl Flett, 22, and Curtis Baker, 20, were each charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of robbery and one count of failing to comply with a court order. 'We knew it was only a matter of time before this happened,' said Mike Mahar, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583. Mahar told Global News that drivers face harassment daily like spitting, physical threats and racial slurs; he noted efforts to make proactive changes have taken months to address. 'We just couldn't get it done at transit, administration just wasn't moving on things the way it has to happen,' he said. 'It just wasn't a priority.' During Tuesday's meeting, Calgary Transit director Sharon Fleming noted transit was looking to spend $1 million to install plastic separation barriers but could find better materials if council approves the $15 million spend. 'We have done a number of things to enhance (operator) safety. As you know we have temporary plexiglass shields on all our buses,' she told council. Story continues below advertisement 'We also have done a number of things to help with safety training and education for our operators, things like dealing with conflict de-escalation, additional customer service training.' Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean expressed frustration with the province and federal government, and called for harsher penalties and bail reform. 'It's their responsibility, they need to crack down on this crime,' he told reporters. 'These costs are being downloaded to the city and we can only bear so much onto our taxpayers.' According to Mahar, the driver who was assaulted has been released from hospital and is recovering at home, but that recovery has a long way to go. 'It's just by whatever graces, in his words a guardian angel of some sort, that he's here today,' Mahar said. City council will make a final decision on the $15 million funding request in Dhaliwal's amendment during next week's council meeting.
Global News
15-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
Calgary Transit increased service last year but ‘tapped out' by funding gap
More people are riding Calgary Transit than before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the service is struggling to keep up with growth and is asking the city for more funding to get there. Officials from Calgary Transit were at city hall Wednesday to provide an update to the city's Infrastructure and Planning Committee on RouteAhead, a 30-year plan to significantly expand transit service across the city. According to transit, ridership increased to over 101 million trips in 2024, an increase of 12 per cent over 2023 and on demand service was extended to 11 new neighbourhoods. Frequency on the Red and Blue Line CTrains increased to at least every 10 minutes, 15 hours per day, seven days per week as well. But transit officials noted costs to deliver the service are growing, including fuel, wages, and maintenance, with a request to council for $3 million in one-time funding from the city's reserves to help with service pressures in 2025. Story continues below advertisement 'We're looking at all kinds of efficiencies and trying to improve the routes we have but we're really tapped out,' said Calgary Transit director Sharon Fleming. 'We need to get to a point where we're truly investing in the lines in the primary transit network to provide the faster frequent service that Calgarians need.' Currently, only 160,000 Calgarians or 10 per cent of the city's population lives within 400 metres of the primary transit network, Fleming said. View image in full screen Calgary's current primary transit network. Calgary Transit Officials also asked the committee to prioritize funding for the RouteAhead strategy in upcoming budget deliberations, which envisions half of Calgarians, or nearly one million people, living within 400 metres of the primary transit network when it's fully built out. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy But the 10-year plan to implement RouteAhead includes an annual $15 million increase to transit's operating funding, an additional $45 million per year for new buses and trains, and a $500-million investment in a new fleet storage and maintenance facility. Story continues below advertisement That funding would get transit up to 10 minutes service on the primary transit network at least 15 hours a day, seven days a week by 2034, the report said. View image in full screen Calgary's plan for a fully built out primary transit network including the Green Line LRT and bus rapid transit. Calgary Transit 'We want to serve Calgarians in the way they deserve to be served and we can't because we don't have the operating budget,' Fleming told reporters. Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, who chairs the committee, said funding for increased transit service is necessary but wants to see a priority given to safety on the service; after a transit driver was assaulted Wednesday morning. 'I don't have a problem with the recommendations that are in front of us today. What I will say is we have a bit of a gap on putting a little more money into safety on our transit,' she told reporters. Story continues below advertisement 'You can put as much money as you want into transit but if people aren't taking it because it's not safe, then that is an issue.' Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said transit is an essential service and both safety and service must be considered. 'We get ourselves caught up in these conversations about what's more important providing transit service or providing safety? They're both important, they go hand in hand,' she said at a separate news conference. However, experts note how to fund transit is becoming an issue across the country, with transit agencies across the country advocating the federal and provincial governments to pitch in on operating costs. In Calgary, just 36 per cent of operating costs were covered by fare revenue last year. 'The funding model we have now of just fares and property taxes is completely broken,' said David Cooper, principal at Leading Mobility. 'We're not going to get people to realistically take transit unless we re-look at how we fund it and right now the model we have is completely broken.' Calgary Transit projected a $33 million funding shortfall for 2025 in last year's budget due to growing costs of the low-income transit pass program, which sold more than 537,000 passes in 2024, Fleming said. Story continues below advertisement Council stepped in during last year's budget deliberations with one-time funding to fill the shortfall. The $3 million funding request was approved by committee 7-1 with Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu in opposition, and will now go to city council as a whole for a final decision. Committee also approved the request to have administration prioritize RouteAhead during budget deliberations in November, with Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness the sole vote in opposition.
