Transit Safety Update (October 2023)
I know safety on transit has been a major topic for some time. We get bi-monthly updates at City Council meetings to stay on top of the investments we have been making in improving things. Here is the latest quick update from our City staff.
Recent work shows progress is being made related to the Enhanced Transit Safety Plan, which is built around improvements to safety, perception of safety, well-being and integration:
- Drug-related incidents: 19 percent decrease (from 499 in Q2 to 404 in Q3). Source: ETS data
- Non-violent and violent incidents: 36 per cent decrease in non-violent incidents (from 118 to 76) and 47 per cent decrease in violent incidents (between Aug and Sept. Source: EPS data
- Community Outreach Transit Team: Increased referral requests to shelter support (11 percent of all interactions in 2023 to date, 3 per cent in 2022) and housing support (12 percent of interactions in 2023, 7 per cent in 2022). Source: Community Standards data
- Ridership: In September 2023, ridership reached 5,060,090. This represents a significant increase from August 2023 (3,915,065 riders) as well as a 14 per cent increase compared to September 2022. While there are many factors that affect ridership, non-criminal incidents decreased from 0.04 percent of total rides to 0.03 percent between August and September 2023, respectively. Source: ETS data
The Enhanced Transit Safety Plan involves additional personnel within transit spaces. Here are the latest counts for staffing:
- Transit Peace Officers: Since early 2022, 35 new Transit Peace Officers (TPOs) have been hired. There are currently 85 front line TPOs in the system, with eight more new recruits starting in November.
- Community Outreach Transit Team: Seven TPOs are currently paired with outreach workers from Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society. COTT reached its full complement of staffing in June 2023, and is funded through the 2023-2026 budget cycle.
- Edmonton Police Service: In early 2023, the province announced funding for 50 police officers in transit spaces. To date, 21 officers have been assigned, with another 29 expected by late 2024. There are currently three Transit Community Safety (TRACS) teams, each with six constables and one sergeant deployed citywide to transit locations.
Transit safety remains a challenge across Canada. There’s more to be done, and as the panel discussed, collaboration is key.
ETS provides more than 130,000 rides each day – the equivalent to a round trip for an entire city the size of Grande Prairie or Fort McMurray – the vast majority without incident.
Officers, operators, maintenance staff and many others are working together to help riders safely reach their destinations.
The Provincial government in their throne speech yesterday spoke about enhancing funding to police and to address crime and disorder in Edmonton. Once they release specifics I look forward to sharing that with you and how it will support our priorities.
While these results are encouraging, we must continue to stay on this. While a number of my Council colleagues, the City Manager, and ETS’ Branch Manager use transit multiple times a week, please feel free to share your feedback directly with me. I will make sure all feedback is shared with ETS so they can continue to work on improving safety and security.
