Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she's made it clear to city administration she expects immediate action and resources deployed to address chaos on the LRT. .“We cannot wait for the next tragedy to occur before something more is done,” said Gondek in a Wednesday statement. .“As a municipal government, we must provide better transit safety for Calgarians.” .The statement said there's been a significant increase in transit violence across Canada in the past year. It said Calgary is no exception, and one of those incidents was a stabbing on an LRT platform. .Calgary police said Wednesday it arrested a woman in connection with a stabbing at the Lions Park Station, which stemmed from a fight between several people..Charges against the woman were pending..Officers with the Calgary police district operations team responded to the scene on Tuesday around 8 p.m., discovering two women suffering from apparent stab wounds and a third woman injured. .Calgary police charged resident Brittany Jewel Mahingen, 31, with one count of aggravated assault and three counts of failure to comply with a court order in connection to the altercation on Thursday. .“Public spaces need to be safe for the public and this type of violent behaviour will not be tolerated,” said Calgary police Spt. Cliff O’Brien. .Mahingen will next appear in court on Friday. .Gondek went on to say the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on Calgary Transit. With ridership numbers down due to people being at home, she said the system “became a target for illegal activity.” .The mayor said all Calgarians deserve a safe, dependable transit system. She added increased ridership is “not enough to stem the tide of violence we are seeing.” .She concluded by saying she will be taking immediate action and will have more details to share in the coming days. .“Transit is an essential service at the core of any major city, and people should not have to think twice before using it,” she said. .Advocacy group Common Sense Calgary (CSC) called on the city to declare a transit emergency on March 15 after a stabbing at Fourth Street Station. .READ MORE: Calgary council urged to declare a transit emergency.“At bus stops, on buses, at train stations, and on trains, it seems like we now hear about some new horrific incident every day, including a man shot with a flare gun during a brawl involving knives and pipes; an elderly visually impaired man slashed in the neck on a train; a young woman attacked with a hatchet; and four people attacked with a machete,” said CSC. .“And that’s just the stuff that makes the news.”
