Questions raised about transit trespass tickets for homeless Edmontonians

Edmonton transit peace officers handed out more than 6,000 trespass tickets last year, mostly to people with no fixed address.

The data shared with CityNews show $3.5 million in fines – the most since 2018 – were issued under the provincial Trespass to Premises Act.

Many tickets – more than 4,500 of them – came during the winter months, from Oct. 1, 2025 to March 3.

The data were obtained by the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association through an access to information request.

Some Edmontonians are supportive of an increased presence of transit peace officers downtown.

“I think it’s safe for now,” one Edmontonian told CityNews on Tuesday. “It was really, when they first started getting it going, there was a lot of people down there, homeless and causing a lot of trouble. And it’s not as bad now.”

“It’s getting worse for women,” added another. “I don’t know if men feel the same way, but women definitely feel worse. You cannot travel alone.”

Edmonton lawyer Chris Wiebe, who’s been tracking transit trespassing fines for people with no fixed address since 2018, questions if the city’s strategy is working for everyone.

“Is what we’re doing really productive at meeting the underlying needs of poverty and houselessness, mental-health issues, addictions?” Wiebe asked. “And is it really making people safer?

“Like, is this necessary to make people safer?”

While city council lowered the fines for trespassing on transit in their own public spaces bylaw, Wiebe says the policy transit peace officers use to ban people is the problem.

The top reasons for written bans in 2025 were drugs, assault, weapons, trouble with person or obstruction.

“We need the City of Edmonton to take a hard look at its transit ban policy, make sure these bans are only being issued for behaviour that could reasonably cause someone to be concerned for their safety or the security of transit property, and that these bans are not, escalating so drastically,” Wiebe said.

It’s not clear how many of the fines issues to people with no fixed address were actually paid last year.

Mayor Andrew Knack says peace officers use enforcement as a last resort, but he thinks the numbers show a need for more housing and supports for vulnerable people.

“We can’t have folks that are in transit using illegal drugs because that also creates challenges,” Mayor Knack said. “So let’s make sure they’re getting into the right place with the right solution at the right time.”

The mayor also said council is looking at alternatives for people who can’t afford to pay tickets.

CityNews did not immediately receive a comment from the transit union.

–With files from Lauren Boothby