The Saskatoon city transit union is growing concerned after claiming growing reports of assault and violence on public transit.
“(Our drivers have) had confrontations anywhere from getting yelled at or threatened to being spat on; knives, we’ve had guns on the buses,” said Darcy Pederson, president of amalgamated transit union local 615.
“The issue needs to be addressed because we need to be able to get the riders back on the buses and have them feel comfortable going to work, getting their groceries, going to their doctor appointments.”
The union started noticing an increase in assaults during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were so many different regulations that were being implemented and being dropped no one really knew what was going on with masks or backdoor loading and tensions were just really high,” Pederson explained.
The union also believes that the increase in the city’s drug epidemic and individuals with mental health issues might be contributing to some of the altercations on city transit.
“Unfortunately, those people are being turned away from the homeless shelters and the places that they really need to be getting the help that they need and instead they are getting on the buses and not paying fares, and then the confrontations (arise),” said Pederson.
The Saskatoon police have been handling the altercations appropriately when needed, but that doesn’t prevent the occurrences.
“Saskatoon Transit’s top priority is always the safety of its riders and employees,” said Saskatoon Transit operations manager Mike Moellenbeck.
“While no one dismisses the seriousness of an assault on operator – they remain very rare – about two incidents for every one million rides – keeping in mind that assaults would include actions such as throwing items and spitting at an operator.”
Although the union claimed they are seeing an increase in violence on public transit, the Moellenbeck said that they have data showing otherwise.
“An incident report is schedules to be presented to the Transportation committee in March,” said Moellenbeck. “However, we do have some preliminary data and they show that negative interactions against operators are down.”
In the meantime, Pederson suggested some sort of transit support officer is needed to reduce the number of assaults on Saskatoon’s buses.
“Not only someone to just deal with the (altercations), but someone to reach out and provide community support such as mental health, to send them in the right direction if they are having a mental health crisis or to a homeless shelter, an addictions counselor,” said Pederson.
“Not someone to just deal with fares, but someone to deal with the actual heart of it.”
Saskatoon transit operators receive de-escalation training to learn how to handle disputes during work, but the city has asked them not to enforce fare collection.
“If they want a free ride, they get a free ride. We don’t want anyone getting hurt, punched, stabbed, we want everybody to come to work and go home safe,” Pederson said.
Saskatoon’s Standing Policy Committee on Transportation reported an estimated $67,800 revenue loss as a result of passengers evading transit fares in 2022.
“Operators are not to enforce fares,” said city transportation general manager Terry Schmidt, explaining the city’s policy. “If there are issues with fares, they are to call their supervisor who will come and attend and assist the operators.”
The city is currently installing plexiglass assault barriers on the buses for operators to create safer travel.
Approximately one third of the fleet is done, with the remainder scheduled for spring.