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Driver Safety As A Priority

ATU Local 615 President Darcy Pederson has been calling on Saskatoon Transit to retrotfit the City Of Saskatoon buses with protect

Escalating Violence on Transit across Canada

February 1, 2023


The Honourable Scott Moe
Premier of Saskatchewan
226 Legislative Building
Regina, SK  S4S 0B3
CANADA

 

Local union president says more security is still needed for workers and passengers

Local union president says more security is still needed for workers and passengers.

City issues call for last safety barriers for Saskatoon buses

Transit drivers report spotty mask use, seek more enforcement

The union representing bus drivers says compliance with the mask rule is as low as 50 per cent on some routes.

Masks have been required on Saskatoon Transit buses for almost two months, but not everyone is donning a face covering before paying their fare and taking their seat.

Now, with COVID-19 cases spiking, the union representing the city’s bus drivers and a grassroots passenger group say more should be done to enforce the rule.

Masks now mandatory on Saskatoon transit buses

Under the policy, city hall will concentrate on "educating and informing" the public while Saskatoon Transit staff will monitor and document compliance.

Darcy Pederson says he welcomes a new policy requiring everyone riding city buses to wear non-medical face masks — and that the drivers he represents will not be tasked with enforcing it.

“Operators not enforcing it is great as it will only cause conflict, and that’s the last thing we want,” the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615 said Monday afternoon.

Council backs mandating masks on Saskatoon Transit buses, but rule not official until vote next week

Councillors also back continuing to recommend, but not requiring masks, at city-owned buildings

Saskatoon city councillors have preliminarily backed the idea of mandating masks for Saskatoon Transit riders starting on Sept. 1.

The city had laid out three options and recommended option two, which would mandate masks on buses.

That option also has the city continuing to recommend that people wear masks when they visit such city-owned facilities as Shaw Centre and the Lawson, Cosmo and Lakewood civic centres. 

Transit drivers, union frustrated with vinyl shields on city buses

Around a dozen drivers have refused to use them, arguing they obstruct the passenger-side mirror when installed on the city's New Flyer buses

Saskatoon Transit drivers are not happy with the plastic curtains installed to shield them from passengers, devices the head of their union says only work properly on some buses in the fleet.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615 president Darcy Pederson said the curtains were measured and cut for the city’s Nova buses and can obstruct the right-hand mirror when installed on New Flyer models.

Tran­sit driv­ers, union frus­trated with vinyl shields on city buses | Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Saskatoon Transit drivers are not happy with the plastic curtains installed to shield them from passengers, devices the head of their union says only work properly on some buses in the fleet.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615 president Darcy Pederson said the curtains were measured and cut for the city’s Nova buses and can obstruct the right-hand mirror when installed on New Flyer models.

Canada’s Largest Transit Union Calls for a National Operator Safety and Pedestrian Protection Act in the wake of Brutal Assault on a Bus Driver in Hamilton

HAMILTON, JULY 10, 2019 -- ATU Canada President John Di Nino is calling for reform after a vicious assault on a GO Transit bus operator in Hamilton.

“As he has done for the past 30 years, an ATU operator working for GO Transit pulled up to a bus stop, except this time a passenger unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks on him resulting in hospitalization. Twenty-two other passengers had to witness this traumatic assault,” said Di Nino.