Calgary Transit to continue with its seasonal greetings
Calgary Transit says it has no plans to stop wishing its riders Merry Christmas despite a minor flap over the greeting in Saskatchewan.
In Saskatoon, city council received a complaint about buses bearing the Christian message.
While that city’s councillors debated the matter briefly Monday and voted to keep the seasonal greeting, they also said they’d consider adding more multicultural messages down the road.
Here in Calgary, digital displays on buses and CTrains wish riders a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.
“It’s up to our drivers’ discretion. It will say Merry Christmas if they’d like it to,” said transit spokesman Ron Collins.
“It’s not a religious thing. The fact of the matter is it’s on the calendar and we say Merry Christmas. And I think most people appreciate that. I haven’t heard a negative complaint about that.”
The holiday greeting tradition on city transit began nearly a decade ago when the digital destination signs were installed, Collins said.
Edmonton’s transit cars bear the same seasonal greeting.
“It’s never been an issue here. There’s a number of messages we give our customers. And we receive a lot of good feedback from our customers they like that we’re saying Merry Christmas.”