Drug use, loitering banned on Edmonton transit under bylaw amendment

Edmonton has amended the Conduct of Transit Passengers bylaw in hopes of making the service safer for commuters and employees.

The move comes after several attacks at transit centres, and hundreds of complaints to council about intimidating or unpleasant behaviour.

“Transit centres and LRT stations are intended to be busy and vibrant, and move thousands of riders to their destinations each day—conveniently, reliably, and above all, safely,'' said Carrie Hotton-MacDonald of Edmonton Transit Service in a written release. “Everyone deserves a safe transit experience, and the amended bylaw is one of many actions we are taking to increase safety for everyone within our transit spaces.”

The bylaw already banned behaviour that can “reasonably be expected to interfere with the safety or comfort of others,” but transit peace officers and security contractors have reported that it doesn’t give them the authority to remove troublemakers.

“People will be doing maintenance work, say fixing a thermostat, and someone will stand there and just knock it off the wall right after they’re done,” said Coun. Sarah Hamilton. “That’s very intimidating behaviour.”

The amendments passed on Wednesday ban open drug use.

“I do not see personally how this adds anything to the authority that is already there,” said Coun. Erin Rutherford at council.

Loitering was also added to the bylaw, a year after it was removed over fears of racial profiling.

“I want to remind people that intent doesn’t equate to impact. And what I mean by that is sometimes we can have the best intentions, but still cause harm,” Rutherford said .

The Edmonton Police Service says calls to transit centres have increased since loitering was removed from the bylaw.

“Since the repeal of the loitering bylaw in 2021, calls for service in transit stations have grown. Moreover, the severity of violence per offense is three times higher than any other part of the city,” EPS said in a written statement.

According to the statement, EPS attended 1,432 calls for service related to transit between July and December of 2021.

Councillors who voted for the amendments say they are meant to target criminals, not the homeless.

“They are deliberately trying to create chaos, and our employees, who we are supposed to be keeping safe, and the backs of which we’re supposed to have are telling us that they don’t have what they need to move those people along,” said Coun. Tim Cartmell.

Council is scheduled to discuss the bylaw and transit safety again in August. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson