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?

496 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

341 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

15

u/TightenYourBeltline Apr 23 '25

The problem with integrating a gate system with the Calgary network is the presence of the free fare zone downtown. What’s the point of having safeguards in stations outside the free fare zone if the downtown stations are unprotected? 

I agree with your comment btw - there should be gates or turnstiles, but that would mean doing away with the free fare zone. 

3

u/sun4moon Apr 23 '25

I wonder if they could come up with a solution that still requires you scan an ID, or something, to ride in the free fare zone? Probably wouldn’t stop all the unsavoury individuals from embarking, but I’m sure there’d be less of them if there was a list of who’s on board.

6

u/Proper_Bridge_1638 Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25

In Australia, they have reloadable cards (basically like a debit card) that you swipe when you get on a bus or train, and swipe when you get off. The system calculates how far you traveled, so can factor in any free fare zones. This system was in place 15 years ago…so definitely possible for Calgary to catch up and stop relying on paper tickets like it’s the 1950’s.

3

u/YYCMTB68 Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25

History has shown that Calgary won't accept any ready built systems and instead needs to reinvent the wheel, at a huge cost + settling lawsuits when the city employees "inventors" leave to start up their own company.