Saskatoon bus union calls for transit police amid consistent safety concerns

By Brody Langager - Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Amidst ongoing safety concerns on city buses, the union representing Saskatoon Transit staff is calling for transit police to be implemented.

The city’s transportation committee on Tuesday discussed outcomes from the fire community support worker program, which will have been operating for one year in July under the current name.

A motion brought forward by Coun. Randy Donauer was approved unanimously calling for city administration to come back with further enforcement options for transit, suggesting that could include police or peace officers.

“We’re still seeing all the violence on the buses as we have before,” said Darcy Pederson, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615.

He noted that statistics show there have been less assaults on bus operators, but they are still subject to passenger-on-passenger violence, adding that oftentimes a weapon or bear spray is involved. Pederson said when bear spray goes off, it affects everyone in the bus.

The fire community support workers are there for non-violent situations to offer social supports, Pederson said, but added that the violence on buses is at a level never seen before.

Pederson said bigger cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto have transit police “that give officers the ability to keep order within the buses and enforce the rules, enforce the fare … and provide a safe working environment for our members and safe riding experience for the public.”

He said two members of the public assaulted an operator in March, calling it the worst assault they’ve seen on Saskatoon Transit.

“This assault was so heinous in nature… a member of the public tried to intervene and subsequently ended up being violently attacked by one of the assailants while the other assailant continued to attack our bus operator.”

The report to committee said fire community support workers deal with non-violent calls like wellness checks, public intoxication and assisting people in distress.

While the workers address issues on buses, they also monitor the business improvement districts.

The report said they operate seven days a week with shifts beings split among three teams of two, running from 8 a.m. to 9:15 p.m., excluding holidays.

During the week, there are 42 routes that buses take, with the peak number of buses on the road reaching 87. Buses run from 5:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. during the week, with reduced hours, routes and number of buses on the road during weekends and on holidays.

The report said the fire community support workers have been committed to spending half their time on transit, but have struggled to meet that goal, with a 46 per cent support level recorded in February.

Between January and April, the fire community support workers have ridden the bus 868 times, ranging between 95 to 303 times a month.

The report said transit related calls have fluctuated over the past months and that demand varies. In those four months, Saskatoon police have had to step in for 54 transit calls, accounting for 14 per cent of the total transit calls received.

Efficiencies added to the program were listed in the report, noting that a transit security advisor was added; the fire community support workers are working alongside other groups like the Commissionaires, alternative response officers and police patrol officers; shift assignments were added; and temporary Saskatoon Fire Department dispatchers were added as well.

According to the report, a one year review of the program will be coming in the third quarter of 2025. City administration also noted that additional resources for more fire community support workers will be asked for as part of this year’s budget deliberations.

Mayor Cynthia Block wondered if a pilot project might be the answer, suggesting something similar to the police and crisis team (PACT), which pairs up a police officer with a mental health professional.

Coun. Scott Ford noted that at events there will often be hands-off security and hands-on security, suggesting that having hands-on security could be the answer to this issue.

Ford also asked for an estimate on how many incidents seen on buses was directly related to the homelessness issue in the city, but assistant fire chief Yvonne Raymer said the fire community support workers didn’t have solid information on that.

“What are we going to do to protect our operators and what are we going to do to protect the public?” Donauer said, wondering if city administration felt that the current plan would work, or if they were waiting on city council to pull the trigger on finding a more robust solution.

City administration said there has been a decrease in incidents involving bus operators, but they’ve also seen trends of increased violence against passengers.

It was noted that the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) would need to be part of the conversation regarding additional enforcement on city buses. Nobody from SPS was attending the meeting.

“I wouldn’t mind engaging the chief of police on this, because we’re not dealing with a nuisance, we’re dealing with crime and violence on buses and I don’t fully think this is Saskatoon Transit’s problem to figure out,” Donauer said.

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