Based on the recent uptick in reports from police, the new weapon of choice on Saskatoon transit seems to be bear spray.
Chelsey Cameron-Fehr takes the bus regularly and so does her 15-year-old daughter, who travels on the bus to and from school. Safety is a real issue.
“At least three to four times a week, she’s telling me that someone’s getting bear sprayed, somebody is getting attacked, or people are starting fights,” Cameron-Fehr told CTV News.
Darcy Pederson is the head of the union representing transit workers in Saskatoon and he is also a current bus driver. While knife attacks were an issue on buses over the past few years, Pederson tells CTV News bear spray is the biggest concern now.
He says it’s putting drivers and passengers’ safety at risk.
“We’re seeing it multiple times a week. Some days, we’re seeing it multiple times in an evening. It’s kind of all over the place,” Pederson said.
When bear mace is sprayed in a bus, it must be decommissioned. Everyone is removed and treated, then the bus is cleaned.
Pederson plans to continue pressuring the city to get officers or security on high-incident routes like Route 2, which runs down 22nd Street to Confederation, and 8th Street busses.
“We got the Fire Community Support (FCS) workers. They’re more of an outreach rather than a security officer. So they don’t enforce rules. They don’t deal with bear sprays. They don’t deal with these types of issues.”
He says they’re just a uniformed presence. Giving an outreach where needed, but it’s not enough.
“Most big city transit systems, have some type of transit, police force or security and here we are, small town, small city Saskatoon with big city problems. We need to deal with it like the big cities,” he said.
Vancouver has a number to text if an issue arises on a bus – then help will be dispatched to the next stop if required. Calgary also has an incident reporting feature on the transit app.
With the city planning a Bus Rapid Transit system BRT, Pederson says safety needs to be addressed first for the plan to work.
Robert Clipperton with the group Bus Riders of Saskatoon says their Facebook page isn’t seeing more complaints about safety, but that could be due to riders getting too accustomed to concerns.
“That simply could be because some of the behaviors, people are getting used to and they’re not going to bother saying, ‘hey, there was somebody passed out in the back of a bus,’ where a year ago, we would have perhaps got that,” Clipperton says.
Clipperton would like to see more community resource officers on the bus to make it safer for all.
Bus riders who spoke with CTV News agree that targeted security is needed.
“Especially at the more trouble terminals like Centre Mall, downtown, Confederation,” Tiana McKay, said.
Riders shared a concern that things will get worse, given the current lack of supports for marginalized people in Saskatoon.
“The shelters are closing, the libraries closing, stuff like that where they go hang out, and now they’re going to go to the bus systems and, ride them all day,” bus rider Brian Stadnyk said.
