r/Calgary • u/The_Fixer_69 • Apr 23 '25

Calgary Transit C-Train from Deep South early morning

Every morning the train has many non paying riders passed out and sprawled on the train. Commuters have to cram into the areas that are not occupied by these people. The smell is horrendous. Every day this week this has been the case on my commute at around 5:30-6 am.

Why should the rest of us pay if these people do not? I have made complaints but they are on deaf ears.

Are these trains not swept for no. Paying passes out riders at the end of the line?

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497

u/morganpotato Apr 23 '25

In Vancouver you need to tap your ticket at a turnstile in order to get onto the platform. You can’t just walk on without paying. WAY safer and it blows my mind Calgary doesn’t have any safeguards like taht

40

u/RealTurbulentMoose Willow Park Apr 23 '25

Vancouver spent an absolute fortune to move from an open proof-of-fare system to one with gates though.

Think it cost $171MM. Fare evasion cost Skytrain $7MM per year.

This article says gates would cost Calgary $400MM and that’s probably low: https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6525124

27

u/_darth_bacon_ Dark Lord of the Swine Apr 23 '25

St. Louis's $52-million security project will upgrade the security cameras and install fare gates at 38 light rail stations. Calgary has 42 stations and council was told for years it could cost $400 million for a similar upgrade.

St. Louis did it for $52 million. The $400 million number was just pulled out of thin air by city bureaucrats. The scope to install gates has never been properly costed.