When Andy Byford was CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission, he was notoriously hands-on: He rode and walked the system, spoke to customers and looked for ways to improve their experience, no matter how small. Byford is widely loved in transit circles, and his reputation as a “fixer” has seen him lead increasingly complex transit systems in Toronto, New York and London. He’s now in charge of transforming Amtrak, the U.S.’s beleaguered national railway carrier.
Byford knows that when it comes to running a transit system, you have to sweat the small stuff to get the big things right.
As a frequent rider of transit in Calgary, I know just how much small problems can lead to big consequences: A stop closure without a notice causes a missed connection and adds half an hour (or more) to a trip. Unclear signage at a platform sends you walking in the wrong direction. A broken elevator means struggling down the stairs with your stroller — or not accessing the station at all if you’re a wheelchair user.
When riders encounter these problems, it erodes their trust in the system. As these experiences add up, people will find other ways to get around and their support for bigger projects starts to wane (Green Line, anyone?). Many of these issues are frustrating precisely because they are so fixable.
I want a city where people trust the bus to come on time (or at all), and new transit riders can navigate the system with ease.
Here are three ways Calgary Transit can start improving riders’ trips, right now.
Give riders the information they need when they need it. This means communicating stop closures quickly and clearly at the stops, not just online. Riders can know if they have to hurry for the train if we add display screens at the entrance to LRT stations. Wayfinding can be improved by adding area maps to LRT stations and using clear language such as “to downtown” when indicating platforms. Announcements can be changed to include language on connections (“Heritage station, transfer to Max Teal and routes 3, 20, 37 . . .”). Broadcasting the actual location of trains can let riders know how far their train is, and give them confidence that their train is actually on the move.
Make paying and using fares easier. While the MyFare app has allowed us to buy tickets on our phone, unused tickets expire after seven days. Planning ahead and buying your return ticket is risky, as you might end up finding another way home and you lose the ticket. For regular but non-daily transit users, implement a fare cap so that if you buy and use enough single tickets ($3.70) in a month to achieve a monthly pass ($115), the rest of your trips are free. Cities around the world — including Edmonton — have implemented this fair and equitable strategy. And while we’re making those changes, let’s extend the valid fare window from 90 to 120 minutes, since you can’t get across the city on a single 90-minute fare.
Lower physical barriers riders face daily in our system. In the winter, we should not only clear stops and stations, but the pathways and sidewalks that riders use to access them. When there is a stretch of uncleared snow just outside the station, it doesn’t matter how clean the station is — you can’t reach it. Fairmount Station, for example, gets cleared regularly, but the curb cut-out and adjacent sidewalk are left full of snow. Only after vocal pressure did it get cleared, but the next time it snowed? Once again, incomplete.
This list is a sample, but many of these things could be done tomorrow if the will was there. And these small improvements add up, building trust in the system and growing ridership. As riders ourselves, our group at Calgary Transit Riders would be happy to take leadership and councillors (current and aspiring) out on the system to highlight these opportunities.
There’s no reason to wait. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Alex Williams is a founding member of Calgary Transit Riders. He lives car-free.