Quarterly Update on Enhanced Transit Safety Plan and the Downtown Core (June 2024)

At our June 12th Council Meeting we received our quarterly verbal update on the Enhanced Transit Safety Plan and the Downtown Core. If you missed my update from last quarter, please check out this post.

Quick Summary: Transit safety continues to improve when compared to last year and last month. Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) monthly ridership has grown by over 3 million, or 130 per cent, since spring 2021, continuing one of the strongest post-pandemic ridership recoveries in the country. Even when compared to 2019, our bus ridership numbers are at the highest level ever in Edmonton’s history and LRT and DATS ridership is edging closer to their all-time peak.

While we are seeing great positive results on both safety and ridership, we all know that there is still more work to be done. In this update I’m going to focus on what investments have been made in safety and how that has directly resulted in a decrease in crime severity in our transit system.

These results are encouraging and that applies to the increase in dispatched calls for service because it’s due to proactive interactions by our transit peace officers (TPOs). Here is a slide with more information.

I appreciate all the bullet points but as you can see from this slide, there is a lot more proactive enforcement taking place across our transit system which is why we are seeing such a decline in crime severity on our transit system.

This even carries over from our total number of incidents. Here’s an important slide on this.

Along with a month over month drop, we have seen the total number of non-criminal incidents go down year over year as well as the overall percentage of non-criminal incidents of total rides. For another point of reference, that percentage for non-criminal incidents was at 0.051% in April 2023. These results are all positive indicators.

While these are all positive, there is clearly one indicator that needs work which is perception of safety. We know that perception doesn’t change overnight which is why this work needs to continue. One of the best ways to see perception improve is by continuing to see these other positive stats.

These positive changes are due to a focused effort to be more coordinated between EPS and the TPOs. There has been increased funding by both the City and the Province to help increase resources. The final slide I want to highlight is how some of the provincial funding has been used to help improve safety.

Having dedicated workstations along different parts of the line allow for more rapid response and help with the proactive patrols that we have been seeing. These investments are helping to improve safety along the line and am excited to see the ongoing impact.

I’ve said it numerous times before, including earlier in this post, the work is not done. One serious incident is one too many and when one-third of people still don’t feel safe, we have to stay focused on this. The improving safety results are encouraging and it suggests that the significant financial investment in transit safety and security is working. We wouldn’t be seeing the ridership numbers that we are without this ongoing work.

I’ll continue to provide updates every quarter so you can see progress on this important topic. As usual, if you have any questions or specific ideas that you would like to see to further help address safety, please let me know.