Saskatoon Transit has made some headway on prioritizing the safety of its bus drivers following an uptick in aggression and violence among riders.
Mike Moellenbeck with Transit presented the Frontline Employee Safety Plan at Tuesday’s Transportation Committee meeting. He says since the plan was launched in June 2024, all 17 initiatives have been implemented except for roll out of the updated Respectful and Harassment-free Workplace policy, which is in progress.
Program accomplishments include installing CCTV cameras at the Downtown terminal and increasing uniformed presence at terminals and on buses. Moving forward, Saskatoon Transit will look to implement seven additional safety measures, including the option for bus riders to discretely report safety issues via text message in real time. Transit Director Terry Schmidt says the city is researching its options right now.
“If we determine that it’s effective, and there is a system that will work within our existing resources and our existing system, and we can do that with the budgets we have, we would look to implement that as soon as possible.”
Other next steps include implementing a Fire Community Support program on Saskatoon Transit, and launching the “Respect is expected” public awareness campaign on posters, the city website and social media channels.
Rider Safety
Despite these initiatives being implemented and/or underway, bus riders are still feeling unsafe on their commutes.
Peter Gallen with the Bus Riders of Saskatoon spoke at Transportation Committee meeting. He says while bus riders support employee safety, rider safety must also be prioritized.
“What concerns us most today are the long delays that have occurred and continue to occur in the implementation of effective safety measures in buses and terminals,” he explains.
He says Bus Riders requested a simple method to discretely report an issue of safety to a dispatch centre via text message back in 2016, and it is only now being considered as a next step by Saskatoon Transit.
Bear Spray
Saskatoon Transit is also partnering with the Saskatoon Police Service to address the recent upswing in bear spray instances on city buses.
Derek Kowalski with the City Solicitor’s office says in June, the SPS will bring forward a report to the City’s Planning, Development and Community Services Committee regarding potential bylaw changes around the regulation of bear spray on buses.
“The report is going to be addressing what SPS would like to see and then presenting that to committee and council to see if committee and council is okay with that method,” Kowalski explains.
Moellenbeck says although Transit employees cannot currently use authority to apprehend or arrest anyone threatening or using bear spray on a city bus, Transit has worked to prevent future events of this kind by compiling a ‘ban’ list of individuals who have been directly involved in such incidents in the past.
