'Left out to fend for themselves': Transit union calls for security on Saskatoon city buses
The union representing Saskatoon's transit drivers is calling on the city to bring in security officers to enforce the mandatory mask rule.
The union representing Saskatoon’s transit drivers wants the city to bring in security officers to enforce the mandatory mask rule.
“It’s causing a lot of stress and they all feel like they’ve been left out to fend for themselves. There’s no support on enforcing the policy that the City of Saskatoon has put in place,” said Darcy Pederson, president and business agent for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615.
The mask rule came back into effect on Sept. 1.
“There’s conflict happening between the passengers and ones that wear the mask and think that the others should be wearing the mask, following the mandatory policy, voice their concerns with the other passengers and we end up with arguments on the bus. Passengers look to the bus operator for support,” Pederson said.
Recently, two passengers on a bus were screaming at each other over masks and the driver had to pull over to call police, he said, adding that the city has told bus drivers not to even mention masks to passengers as they board.
“Ideally I’d like to see some type of enforcement — not by our members. Possibly a security (guard) or commissionaire, or some type of enforcement backing up our operators and the public and enforcing this mandatory masking,” he said.
“We’re still looking at this. It’s not a completely closed topic but at this point in time I can’t say whether we’d be looking at putting security officers on the buses or not,” transit director Jim McDonald said.
The city says it’s keeping track of non-compliance.
“For the safety of our operators we’re asking that they not enforce mask compliance,” McDonald said.
Each bus has a box with a button on it that drivers are to push when they see someone board without a mask. It captures data for the city to see who isn’t wearing masks and when. Supervisors will go out to problem routes with masks and talk to riders who are not masked, according to McDonald.
“That way the operator gets to focus on what we’re expecting them to focus on, which is operating the vehicle in traffic,” he said.
The city says between 95 and 99 per cent of transit riders comply with the mask rule.
Security doors have been ordered for some of the city’s fleet, to separate drivers from unruly passengers.
“They’re a metal door which is very secure. You won’t be able to get ahold of the operator in their workspace,” McDonald said.
The doors have been ordered for about half the fleet; the rest are proposed to be ordered in the 2022-23 budgets. McDonald said he’s not expecting the doors that have been ordered to be installed before December.
“The drivers are getting stressed. We’ve been dealing with this going on 18, 19 months now. We’re getting worn out. We’re getting pretty tired and we need the support from the city,” Pederson said.
The union and the city met to speak about mask enforcement on Thursday. Pederson said another meeting is planned, and he will again raise the issue of security.