Macewan, city transit team up on safety

Design students create new signage and other measures to help protect riders

Edmonton transit riders may soon notice new safety signage thanks to a partnership between Macewan University and the city.

Digital Experience Design students spent a semester looking at ways to address safety and security on transit. Isabelle Sperano, the professor behind the class, said she wanted students to experience working with a large organization on a complex topic.

“It's not only about adding more security, that you solve everything, there's more to safety than that,” she said. “With this opportunity, they will see how complex the problem could be and as a designer, what can you do and what kind of solutions can you come up with when you have all those constraints.”

The students did research on the topic, surveyed transit riders, and also had Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) present work already underway to address safety, including additional security guards and peace officers, shields for bus operators, and community outreach transit teams.

One project to emerge from the class of seven fourth-year students was an effort by student Lisa Cox who wanted to get riders connected to ETS services already in existence.

“I did interviews with different riders and people who were using the system. Most of them mentioned that they either weren't aware of what was already available, or they weren't sure how it works, so they didn't feel comfortable using it,” Cox said.

She looked at three different touch points — upgrading the help phones; creating a scannable digital brochure that outlines safety and security on transit, including emergency numbers; and safety information signs.

The information signs explain the various tools available for riders to report safety concerns, where they are, how they work, and what happens when you use them.

Another project pitch that stood out was a companion app designed by students Vik Chu and Dominic Lafrance, taking inspiration from the Safewalk app for university campuses.

“We ultimately settled on a tracking system where you could ask people to be your trusted contacts,” Chu said. “For example, if I ask Dominic, like, `Hey, can you be my trusted contact?' and if he agreed, then I would give him permission to track me via the app. You have to think a lot about privacy in this regard because tracking is a bit of a sticky issue nowadays. But essentially, you decide who gets to track you.”

When a user starts a trip, the person tracking them gets a notification and can watch them remotely. The app would also allow the user to call the ETS helpline, 911 or directly call or message the person tracking them.

“What we found was the most effective solution to improving safety, in general, was actually helping people perceive that they feel more safe, and that they have the ability to kind of reach out and that they're covered through all stages of that journey,” said Lafrance.

Since Cox's idea of adding information signs is low-tech, it will be implemented on the transit system this summer, said Sarah Feldman, director of business integration and workforce development with ETS.

“Technology projects take a bit more time because we want to look at what's already available,” she said. “And how we might enhance and build upon the technology we already have. But certainly, we're going to continue to pursue a number of the ideas we got from the class.”

Feldman said the city has a lot of big pieces moving forward to address transit safety and security, but the partnership with Macewan allowed them to think outside the box.