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TravellingChris said:
Apples and oranges. The LRT will be running down the middle of streets with no bollards or crossing gates. Cities which have had this same type of system for years, like Denver and Houston, are STILL having accidents caused by the alignment. A flawed design will always be a flawed design.

The Valley Line has had a plethora of accidents already and the line isn't even in revenue service. This doesn't bode well. And responsible transportation management means fixing designs which are inherently flawed or accident-prone, rather than telling the public to "get used to it." There are plenty of intersections around the capital region where city administrations have had to perform tweaks or change the designs because of an overabundance of crashes or near-misses.

Look at the 23 Avenue overpass at Calgary Trail. At one time that was an at-grade intersection which had racked up so many crashes that it was listed as the deadliest intersection in the city. Municipal administration didn't just launch an awareness campaign and nag people to "drive better!"--they invested a lot of money and performed a proper fix at that intersection.

Major infrastructure like the 23 Ave interchange and the LRT lines should NEVER be built on the cheap. They are supposed to be legacy projects that serve the community for decades. Investing the proper amount of money and building them right the first time should be a no-brainer.
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If there was a road or intersection where there were a lot of accidents, changes would be considered, such as adding stop signs, lights, dividing the road, putting in a median, advance turning, etc...

We would not be told just to get used to it. Accidents at this point are a symptom of design issues and should not just be dismissed or ignored.
 
Gronk! said:
The struggle continues...

globalnews.ca

Football Canada avoids Edmonton Transit as safety concerns persist - Edmonton | Globalnews.ca

Players, coaches and families in Edmonton for the Football Canada Cup will no longer be taking public transit after a security scare at an LRT station Saturday.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
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I really wish our provincial government would step up more with our $11B surplus which is just going to partial waste trying to police our way out of this as noted in the story.

I'll leave off with something positive from one of the parents.

"Her son was not directly involved in the LRT station scare but says hearing about it hasn’t turned her off Edmonton.

“I think stuff like that can happen anywhere.

“We’re not super reactive to that type of thing,” Hov added. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re not going to come back to Edmonton. Edmonton has been great so far.”
 
David A said:
Yes, in fact similar serious problems have happened in other Canadian cities too.
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Vancouver has stabbings and bear spray issues weekly on their transit. But with millions of rides and so many used to using regularly, it doesn’t matter. But we’re hobbling along and still rely on one off use for a lot of events. We’ve lost the trust of a lot of those people.
 
I am so disappointed our police chief has abdicated his responsibility to keep us safe by saying officers can't protect you on the train. Him playing politics by pitting 1 public service against another is absolutely disgusting and unprofessional. What an abject failure of leadership on par with the Ottawa Police chief who let the freedum convoy happen! If he or his staff read this forum, I recommend he resign immediately or the police commission fire him.
 
It is unlikely EPS has the resources to do transit and probably would ask for more money. City has invested heavily in TPO's but they need to be given more powers to deal with situations. That requires the City to ask the province for more powers for TPO's which I believe is in the works.

Definitely politics being played but not sure the Chief is entirely to blame. City Council decided they wanted to use TPO's which are cheaper and probably never thought we'd have the issues we're now facing.
 
Greenspace said:
It is unlikely EPS has the resources to do transit and probably would ask for more money. City has invested heavily in TPO's but they need to be given more powers to deal with situations. That requires the City to ask the province for more powers for TPO's which I believe is in the works.

Definitely politics being played but not sure the Chief is entirely to blame. City Council decided they wanted to use TPO's which are cheaper and probably never thought we'd have the issues we're now facing.
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I wonder if resources is just an excuse and they just want to avoid all those icky downtown problems.

Much more comfy driving by in a patrol car, rather than being out on the street with more of presence.

Whatever it is, the city yet again seems to mess up almost everything when it comes to dealing with downtown.
 
^You are correct. It is a trend with police service across North America where police don't want to deal with issues of social disorder, rather having Peace Officers or private security deal with that. Police want to solve murders and do more glamourous stuff. Being a beat cop Downtown has minimal appeal due to all the things you'd have to deal with.
 
i think transit safety suffers from one of the same issues regarding safety and crime statistics across the city.

statistics are much like computers - garbage in/garbage out.

two examples, the first of which i have mentioned elsewhere.

it was recently reported that complaints regarding encampments have increased 60% in the past year. i would take the position that problems with encampments have increased a lot more than 60% in the past year, it's just the proportion of them being reporting is a lot less than it was a year ago as citizens get tired of constant reporting with few results. this is strictly a personal observation noting also that it's irrespective of whether the root causes are the city's responsibility to solve or not.

i spent some time this morning with a friend who moved after being shot at in his front yard with his baby daughter by an individual with a pellet gun, escaping to his house while the perpetrator continued to shoot at the house. the police didn't even respond - nor did they record it as a shooting incident - as "there wasn't a real gun involved". was this the same individual subsequently shot by police at the funicular for not dropping a pellet gun? darned if i know but that's not the point.

the point is that the statistics we rely on aren't always complete nor are they always completely accurate. they are too easily manipulated based on the story the statisticians want to tell and what they want to get from that story. those that want to say "it's worse, look at the statistics" and those that want to say "it's getting better, look at the statistics" are too often the same ones creating the statistics they want us to pay attention to..
 
Yesterday, I saw EMS personnel tend to a homeless person (overdose) on 100 Street. I still would like to see 211 posted in more locations.
 
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