City committee votes to recommend killing Calgary's Free Fare Zone downtown, despite strong public and business support

On May 7th, city council's infrastructure and planning committee voted 7-4 to recommend killing Calgary's 45-year-running Free Fare Zoning, which will ultimately be voted on by all of city council on May 26th. Of the 24 speakers at the public hearing, which included the VP of Tourism Calgary and a representative of the Chamber of Commerce, 100% of them spoke in support of keeping or expanding the Free Fare Zone.

❌Councillors who voted on May 7th TO TAKE AWAY the Free Fare Zone 

✅ Councillors who voted on May 7th TO KEEP the Free Fare Zone

City Administration fudged their report to recommend killing the Free Fare Zone

A recent report by City Administration recommended killing the downtown Free Fare Zone despite the City's own public engagement indicating strong public and business support for keeping or expanding it. The report claims without any evidence that killing the Free Fare Zone will improve transit safety. It also claims that it would generate $5-million in new revenue without showing their math and despite also acknowledging ridership downtown would be decimated if the zone were removed.

Evidence today shows Canadian cities, including Toronto which does not have a free fare zone, are facing the same challenges with drug use on transit. Furthermore, as confessed by Councillor Jamieson, drug use on C-Trains is an issue all over Calgary, not just downtown. Calgary bylaw officers are already authorized to remove people from public transit if they are a threat to public safety. A 2024 report blamed transit safety problems on gaps in Calgary's shelter system.

City Administration is encouraging council to ignore public feedback and kill the Free Fare Zone. (Source: City of Calgary)

ℹ️ According to the City's own survey:

• 76% of frequent riders and 80% of occasional riders support keeping or expanding the free fare zone
• The majority of infrequent riders support keeping or expanding the free fare zone
• 85% of downtown businesses indicated they would be negatively impacted by removing the free fare zone
• 34% of people who use the Free Fare Zone would look for another way to travel if the zone were removed, which could result in 1.8 million fewer trips per year, particularly at peak times.

Calgary's Free Fare Zone has been a point of pride for Calgarians since the C-Train began service in 1981.

👎 Killing the Free Fare Zone has no business case and will have many negative consequences

Killing the Free Fare Zone will:

• 💸 make public transit less affordable at a time when we should be making it better and more affordable;
• 💨 increase traffic congestion, noise and air pollution in the city;
• ⚠️ make downtown less safe with more vehicle traffic and fewer visitors;
• 🌇 hobble downtown revitalization, which is critical to the city's financial sustainability;
• 🛍️ undermine downtown businesses;
• 🎭 hurt tourism, and the arts and culture sectors that rely heavily on accessible public transit downtown.

Calgary's C-train and the Free Fare Zone is point of pride of Calgarians as one of the busiest and most successful LRT systems in North America. 

🚨TAKE ACTION: Save the Free Fare Zone!