Update on Enhanced Transit Safety Plan and the Downtown Core
At our March 12th Council Meeting we received a quarterly verbal update on the Enhanced Transit Safety Plan and the Downtown Core.
Broadly, we have been seeing initiatives integrate at the federal, provincial and municipal levels that holistically impact our city’s safety and wellness.
Federal Initiatives:
$285 million for health care access and services
$4 million to 12 Edmonton organizations for gender-equality
Expanded Trilateral Fentanyl Committee: address firearms trafficking associated with drug production
$175 million for Edmonton’s Housing Accelerator Fund
Provincial Efforts:
Provincial Navigation and Support Centre
Funding for more officers dedicated to transit and community safety
$1.1 million supporting vulnerable people in and around Edmonton
City of Edmonton Initiatives:
Activation of Emergency Operations Centre
Housing and homelessness Emergency
New regional transit framework
$1.5 million for gang prevention and intervention/exiting programs
Public Spaces Bylaw Review
Transit Safety Forum
Areas related to transit safety include the Downtown Vibrancy Fund, Closed and Shared Streets Activations and Chinatown Recovery.
Average Crime severity index (CSI) down 11% between 2022 and 2023
Progress to Date on Transit Safety Includes the Following:
Eight projects under the Alberta Transit System Cleanup Grant, including:
Enhanced cleaning ongoing, including FTE dedicated to graffiti removal
500+ transit centre doors have been reinforced/replaced
40+ new security cameras
Construction started on Outreach Workstation in Central LRT Station
Southgate LRT Station mural
Enhancing Cellular Connectivity and Wi-Fi
Major factor that can increase perceptions of safety
Meetings with telecommunication companies underway
Additional Wireless Access Points being installed in Churchill LRT Station and will increase Wi-Fi coverage for riders
PAWS in the Pedway prototype: Wellness dog, handler and Community Safety Liaison
Churchill LRT Station Pedway
Contributes to safety and wellness
12 walks and over 300 interactions Auricle prototype
PAWS in the Pedway aligns with Auricle
Data analysis ongoing
COTT hours of operation extended to 3 am to support winter approach in December
Programming evolves as the needs evolve
Peak interactions 11 pm - 3 am in January
Included referrals to Winter Shelter Shuttle, available shelter spaces, and (as of January) the Provincial Navigation and Support Centre, etc.
Important to consider weather and other factors
Winter Shelter Shuttle
December ridership increased
January ridership nearly doubled compared to December
Additional routes offered during extreme weather
General decrease in nightly station removals compared to 2023
While these results are encouraging, we cannot stop now. As the second image shows, even though stats are improving, perception of safety is still quite low and the only way that will increase is people seeing this progress being maintained and continue to reduce the total number of incidents.
The investments we have made in transit safety over the last two years are working but you will continue to see more in 2024. There will be another 29 police officers starting this year that will be specifically work within our transit system.
As always, if there are actions that you would like to see being taken that are currently being taken, let me know and I can be sure to raise that with the team leading this work. Thanks everyone!
