Calgary: Better Transit vs Free Transit?

“Should transit be free” is the question some cities and urbanists are asking.  The “free transit” movement is based on the premise free transit would entice significantly more drivers to use transit thereby taking cars off the road meaning less GHG emissions which would help fight climate change. 

Would this work in Calgary? A couple of sources with links to Calgary Transit who wishes to remain nameless, estimate free fares for all would probably only increase Calgary Transit ridership by 6 to 10%.  

Link: Kansas City Moves Ahead With Free Transit

In fact, isn’t Calgary Transit almost free now. 

  • Low income Calgarians can apply for a Low Income Monthly Pass that depending on your income can be as low as $5.30/month and low income seniors can get an annual pass for just $25 or $2.08/month.  All Calgary post-secondary students get a $151/semester (four months) UPass that is included in their tuition fees which works out to about  $1.25/day.

  • Given Calgary has had low income fares and a Free Downtown LRT Zone for decades, our city could be considered a leader in providing affordable transit. 

  • Really! Is the cost of transit a barrier to taking transit for the average Calgarian at $6.80 for a round trip or $106/month? Many drivers pay three times this just to park downtown. 

Stephen Tauro, Communications & Information Lead at Calgary Transit said in an email, “Our customer research indicates that customers would prefer things like higher frequency on routes, better connections, more convenience and an enhanced customer experience above lower fares.”

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Creatures of comfort and convenience

We all know transit is significantly cheaper than driving, but still most of us still drive.  Why? Because most of us have a car (or two) in the garage that will get us where we want to go much quicker and more comfortably than transit. 

Calgary Transit’s biggest problems are that it simply isn’t as convenient and comfortable as driving - especially in the winter which last six months in Calgary.  Our city has very cold winters (especially at night) making waiting for bus or our above ground trains not very attractive.  

Calgary’s sidewalks in the winter are treacherous to walk on and bus stops often have huge banks of snow to climb over to get onto the bus.  And, then there is the safety issue, many Calgarians simply don’t feel safe using the LRT, particular at night.

In addition, Calgary’s Transit is very downtown oriented, which means if you want to get to work, school, event or meeting that is not downtown, you often have to make one or more transfers which results in trips significantly longer than driving.  Is anyone going to use transit (even if it is free) to get to a one hour meeting when it takes an hour or more to get there and an hour or more to get home, if they don’t have to?  

For most Calgarians, travel time is critical to deciding their mode of travel. In addition, many of our trips made have multiple stops which favours driving over transit.  Is a parent going to walk to the bus stop with their young child, wait for the bus to get to day care, then walk from the bus to the day care, drop the child off, then walk back to the bus stop to wait for a bus to get to work in the morning and then do the reverse in the evening when they can just drive?  

Heaven help them if they also need to do an errand or two on the way home.  Yes, some parents do that, but will we convert those who don’t by giving them free transit?  

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Survey Says….

Calgary Transit has extensive city-wide and customer service research to help them create the best transit system it can with the revenues it has.  

When Calgarians were asked “What should Calgary Transit do to increase the likelihood of you becoming a regular user?” 

  • 34% said nothing 

  • 16% said, extended routes 

  • 12% said, more frequent service 

  • 11% said, reduced fare  

When it came to safety, only 56% of Calgary Transit users feel safe riding transit after dark and only 48% feel safe waiting for transit after dark. 

The Calgary Transit’s 2018 Usage and Attitudes Report states, “The majority of transit users, regardless of age, gender and quadrant, reported being negatively impacted by disturbances and disorders. These behaviours may result in transit users discontinuing their usage if the user perceives them as regularly occurring and/or having a significant impact on their travel and personal safety.”  

Calgary Transit based on their research have found the biggest barriers to getting more people to use Calgary Transit are:

  1. Calgary’s high car ownership as transit requires more planning than driving and driving is more flexible, convenient, comfortable and safer.  

  2.  Bus routes designed to feed C-trains creates the perception transit is inconvenient if you don’t live near a station or your destination isn’t near a station.

  3. Too many connections, transfers and stops make transit inconvenient for longer journeys

  4. Frequency of service outside of rush hour

  5. Disturbance and disorderly conduct of some users

Calgary Transit’s has an overall customer satisfaction of 75%, but it drops to 67% and 65% in the NE and SE respectively, which relates to the fact these riders also have the longest commute times. SW users are the most satisfied at 84%. 

It is interesting to note when Calgary Transit users were asked in 2016 “How should better transit service be funded?  

  • 55% said increase in transit fares 

  • 27% increase in property taxes

  • 4% both 

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BETTER transit vs Free transit?

“There is a sizeable body of research that suggests if your goal is to increase ridership, the most effective tool is to increase the level of service rather than lowering the fare.  People are more likely to pay for something they value.  It is well known the lower the quality of service (less frequent or less available) the lower the interest in using it, other than by those who have no other means of travel,” says Neil McKendrick, former City of Calgary Transit Planner.

But, wouldn’t better transit be more expensive?  Indeed it would, and it would take decades to create a transit service that could even come closed to competing with the convenience and comfort of driving.  Currently Calgary Transit is focused on servicing the downtown, but 75% of Calgarians don’t work downtown (Calgary Transit’s biggest users are commuters). The city is become more decentralized with the majority of the new jobs and new housing is in the NE and SE quadrants. Better transit service for Calgarians would require a huge investment in new LRT, BRT and buses from what is currently planned.  

And, if Calgary Transit was free it would mean it would be funded entirely by municipal taxes their funding.  John Hubbell, former City of Calgary, General Manager of Transportation thinks so, “What is lost in the free transit discussion is the strategic issue of who pays and how stable is that revenue source. With free transit 100% of the operating revenue is at the discretion of council, which in my experience cannot be relied on over time. This is a strategic operating risk. With a system that recovers 55% of operating costs from passenger revenues this risk is cut in half. Transit systems are long term operating entities that need stable funding.”

Hubbell is absolutely correct as the City recently cut $9.3M from the 2019/2020 transit budget which resulted in an 80,000 cut in service hours by reducing the frequency of evening and weekend service, exactly what we didn’t need. 

Some would argue, we could transfer some of the City’s budget from roads to transit to make free transit tax neutral?  In theory, if more people take transit, wouldn’t that mean less people using the roads to drive, thereby eliminating the need for expensive expansion of roads like the $90M phase 1 Crowchild Trail project? Or, more new interchanges at $100M a pop.  But we can only do that after we have a city-wide transit system that works for everyone day and night, seven days a week, so they don’t need to drive.  

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Last Word

Creating a transit system that meets the everyday needs of Calgarians isn’t going to happen overnight.  So it is doubtful free fares are going to attract a significant number of Calgarians to leave their car in the garage and take transit.  

Note: An edited version of this blog was published CBC Calgary.

If you like this blog, you will like these links:

Riding The #17 Bus With Alex, Sam & Denise

Calgary Transit: The Good & The Ugly

Everyday Tourist Transit Tales