Calgary city council will consider a multi-million-dollar funding injection to bolster safety for transit operators, after a bus driver was assaulted while on duty.
During an update to transit’s RouteAhead strategy Tuesday, council unanimously supported an amendment from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal that calls for the city to spend $15 million from reserves to retrofit buses with “more secure security shields.”
“Right now we’ve got these shields — they’re not even shields, they’re little screens that are not that effective,” Dhaliwal told reporters.
Dhaliwal’s amendment also asks for transit to install new signage on all vehicles about safety and informing passengers that assaulting an operator is a federal crime, including “non-compliance consequences.”
It also calls for a review of all safety and training practices, and include an annual safety status progress report to council.
Council’s debate comes after a Calgary Transit bus driver was assaulted in the early morning hours of May 13 while driving a route near Falconridge and Castleridge boulevards Northeast.
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The driver was taken to hospital in critical condition, but was later upgraded to stable, and investigators believe he was attacked when he refused the suspects’ request to detour from his original bus route.
Darryl Flett, 22, and Curtis Baker, 20, were each charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of robbery and one count of failing to comply with a court order.
“We knew it was only a matter of time before this happened,” said Mike Mahar, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583.
Mahar told Global News that drivers face harassment daily like spitting, physical threats and racial slurs; he noted efforts to make proactive changes have taken months to address.
“We just couldn’t get it done at transit, administration just wasn’t moving on things the way it has to happen,” he said. “It just wasn’t a priority.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, Calgary Transit director Sharon Fleming noted transit was looking to spend $1 million to install plastic separation barriers but could find better materials if council approves the $15 million spend.
“We have done a number of things to enhance (operator) safety. As you know we have temporary plexiglass shields on all our buses,” she told council.
“We also have done a number of things to help with safety training and education for our operators, things like dealing with conflict de-escalation, additional customer service training.”
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean expressed frustration with the province and federal government, and called for harsher penalties and bail reform.
“It’s their responsibility, they need to crack down on this crime,” he told reporters. “These costs are being downloaded to the city and we can only bear so much onto our taxpayers.”
According to Mahar, the driver who was assaulted has been released from hospital and is recovering at home, but that recovery has a long way to go.
“It’s just by whatever graces, in his words a guardian angel of some sort, that he’s here today,” Mahar said.
City council will make a final decision on the $15 million funding request in Dhaliwal’s amendment during next week’s council meeting.
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