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LRT Safety

Again, would someone care to expand on WHY we don't have gated entry and WHY can't the LRT security/Peace Officers/EPS act on this kind of thing?
Its baffling because if one of these individuals walked into any other City institution such as the middle of a rec center, or city hall, or sat down at a Milner library table and lit up or brandished a knife it flat out would not be tolerated. But on the flip side the City seems to not enact or enforce very much when it comes to our Mad Max transit system, which is unfortunate for the people who want to use it and ironically contradictory given the City wants more people to use transit.

When you are an innocent transit user taking the LRT and there is immediate dangers or threats, having Peace Officers or security that can enforce, or having paid gates should be an absolute must as a start. Yes, these individuals do need to the social services to help them but that is a longer-term remedial solution to help those individuals. But from the perspective of that transit user who may be experiencing an acute threat of a weapon or someone lighting up, something that seems to be occurring daily, an improvement in social services is not effective in that moment. If someone is threating me with a knife while I take the LRT home at 9pm, my last thought is that these individuals need an improvement in the overall social services. The City needs to start implementing solutions to make riders feel safe if they want ridership to increase to the levels they are expecting.
 
Gawd I wish I was on that train and witnessed that……I’d ssssooooo be in front of a judge 24hrs after that….
 
Come gather 'round friends it's story time.

Ol' Steve-O has been coming back to Edmonton each weekend for the past 4 weeks doing a minor renovation to his condo. On this past weekend he said to himself. "Y'know what Steve? You can save on an uber, and take the 747 and the Capital Line to your Homeboy Garret's house on the North Side! This'll only cost you 5 bucks!"

So off the plane I go, it's 11:45 at night and I hop on the wonderful 747 and land in Century Park. Here I get on the world famous homeless shelter on rails. Myself, and a young 20-somethings lady sit down relatively close to one another letting her know she ain't alone on this ride.

Then on comes some terrifying crack head equivalent of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Wrapped in scarves, blankets, and garbage bags, they pace back and forth, each time staring me down as they pass by. Ol' Steve-O thinks this is it. He's gonna get shanked on a train by crack head winter mummies harnessing the awesome power of Crystal Meth. They stop on their next pass and stare me down. At this moment I want to know what I have done to draw their attention. Could it be my pyjama pants? Perhaps it's the bright blue Mr. Plow T-shirt. Something about me seemed to really upset them.

The adrenaline kicking in as my bald-ass gives them the stare down of a life time - HEISENBERG STYLE. This is it, the royal rumble we all had been waiting for with each pass. After what seemed like a minute, the one lets out a shriek and they both run to the other side of the train. One seemingly forgetting about the confrontation, the other shaking back and forth in their seat. The petrified girl dashes off the train at University Station and onto another cart.

Between this, the rolling bottles on the ground, the smell of stale cigarette smoke, and the lack of any peace officer enforcement, and the "Coliseum Station at 12:30AM Experience", it's no wonder why people don't want to ride the LRT!

My friends, Uber is your friend.
 
Come gather 'round friends it's story time.

Ol' Steve-O has been coming back to Edmonton each weekend for the past 4 weeks doing a minor renovation to his condo. On this past weekend he said to himself. "Y'know what Steve? You can save on an uber, and take the 747 and the Capital Line to your Homeboy Garret's house on the North Side! This'll only cost you 5 bucks!"

So off the plane I go, it's 11:45 at night and I hop on the wonderful 747 and land in Century Park. Here I get on the world famous homeless shelter on rails. Myself, and a young 20-somethings lady sit down relatively close to one another letting her know she ain't alone on this ride.

Then on comes some terrifying crack head equivalent of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Wrapped in scarves, blankets, and garbage bags, they pace back and forth, each time staring me down as they pass by. Ol' Steve-O thinks this is it. He's gonna get shanked on a train by crack head winter mummies harnessing the awesome power of Crystal Meth. They stop on their next pass and stare me down. At this moment I want to know what I have done to draw their attention. Could it be my pyjama pants? Perhaps it's the bright blue Mr. Plow T-shirt. Something about me seemed to really upset them.

The adrenaline kicking in as my bald-ass gives them the stare down of a life time - HEISENBERG STYLE. This is it, the royal rumble we all had been waiting for with each pass. After what seemed like a minute, the one lets out a shriek and they both run to the other side of the train. One seemingly forgetting about the confrontation, the other shaking back and forth in their seat. The petrified girl dashes off the train at University Station and onto another cart.

Between this, the rolling bottles on the ground, the smell of stale cigarette smoke, and the lack of any peace officer enforcement, and the "Coliseum Station at 12:30AM Experience", it's no wonder why people don't want to ride the LRT!

My friends, Uber is your friend.
Great writing. I hope more bad things happen to you in the future so we can get more of your delightful narration.
 
We are starting from a pretty low bar and don't want to accept how bad it really is... but hey, onwards and upwards right!
I agree. The first thing to fixing a problem is admitting there is one. So, whoever came up with the phrase "more delightful experience" really doesn't get it or doesn't want to admit it.

We have to get to delightful before we can get to more delightful and we are a long ways from either. Save us the marketing bs and admit things are bad, if you want anyone to take you seriously.
 
Totally... unless stepping over folks smoking crack, hopping over puke in the stairwells and being hyper aware on the platform to ensure you are near a group in case the 2-3 folks who seem to be there for other reasons want to start anything.

I'd love for some of these folks to hang out and walk Bay or Central or Churchill at various times of the day and night.
 
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Interesting that we've got posts either complaining about "crackheads" or calling for more policing and fare gates. The 1980s called -- they want their "War on Drugs" back.

I don't think anyone is in favour of crime on transit, but is spending hundreds of millions on fare gates and cops really the best solution to social disorder and addiction? We aren't going to police our way out of the opioid crisis and righteous indignation won't find people places to live.

For me, the solutions seem clear and the only thing that is missing is pressure. Governments must be held to account and ensure that housing is provided to everyone - absolutely everyone. There should be not one person who has nowhere to go, regardless of whether they have an addiction or mental health problem. Let's not waste another few decades filling up the remand centre with people who need treatment, not jail.
 
Interesting that we've got posts either complaining about "crackheads" or calling for more policing and fare gates. The 1980s called -- they want their "War on Drugs" back.

I don't think anyone is in favour of crime on transit, but is spending hundreds of millions on fare gates and cops really the best solution to social disorder and addiction? We aren't going to police our way out of the opioid crisis and righteous indignation won't find people places to live.

For me, the solutions seem clear and the only thing that is missing is pressure. Governments must be held to account and ensure that housing is provided to everyone - absolutely everyone. There should be not one person who has nowhere to go, regardless of whether they have an addiction or mental health problem. Let's not waste another few decades filling up the remand centre with people who need treatment, not jail.
Perhaps I missed it, but I haven’t seen anywhere in the recent string of comments any mention of policing gates or bringing back a war on drugs. I haven’t gone all the way back, but that doesn’t seem to be the sentiment amongst this group?

What’s at hand is a discussion of different experiences had by people who live or have invested in downtown or take transit.

In fact, there’s been recent discussion on special resolutions to these matters across other threads.

You do bring up some interested points about housing and social services, some things I agree with in spirit. So I ask, what’s your answer? How do we create 6000 beds? Where do we find the resources to procure/maintain these beds? Housing and welfare programs being an answer assumes these people are not allowed to leave the welfare programs, does that imply collectivism and ghettoization? Of which many cascading issues come?

I’m not arguing, I wanna hear answers so that we can catalyze solution-based commentary here. I have many ideas I’d love to share back. I just think it’s easy to blame the government for doing nothing about complex problems when we don’t have a full scope of what’s being done or how to solve these problems. That’s a trap I frequently catch myself in due to frustration.
 
Interesting that we've got posts either complaining about "crackheads" or calling for more policing and fare gates. The 1980s called -- they want their "War on Drugs" back.

I don't think anyone is in favour of crime on transit, but is spending hundreds of millions on fare gates and cops really the best solution to social disorder and addiction? We aren't going to police our way out of the opioid crisis and righteous indignation won't find people places to live.

For me, the solutions seem clear and the only thing that is missing is pressure. Governments must be held to account and ensure that housing is provided to everyone - absolutely everyone. There should be not one person who has nowhere to go, regardless of whether they have an addiction or mental health problem. Let's not waste another few decades filling up the remand centre with people who need treatment, not jail.
While in spirit your point is admirable, that's quite the fantasy you live in to have a government house absolutely everyone. I am guessing you have not taken the LRT at 9pm and been accosted by someone high on drugs waving a weapon. If you haven't, I don't recommend. If you have, I very much doubt your natural instinct that this individual needs a home kicked in.
 

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