Union applauds city’s first step to full safety shields for Transit drivers

The Winnipeg Transit Union has expressed immense satisfaction with the city's decision to take the initial step towards installing full enclosures for transit drivers. These enclosures aim to protect drivers from potential attacks. James Van Gerwen, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union 1505, expressed his joy, stating, "This will give closure to what the union has been fighting for for over two years, just to get these enclosures to be put in."

He had just participated in a public works committee meeting where councillors passed a motion to allocate $2.75 million for full-shield dividers. Currently, buses are equipped with partial shields, which do not offer complete protection to drivers. For instance, on August 20, a passenger armed with a hatchet managed to bypass the half-shield and threaten a driver after she became frustrated with the bus's slow speed.

The driver promptly alerted the police, who arrested the suspect. The union reported that 64 drivers were on leave due to psychological injuries, resulting in over 30,000 days and 225,000 hours of lost work time. Another incident occurred on August 5, where a driver was stabbed with a syringe by a fare-evading passenger. Transit workers have been subjected to an average of 174 security incidents annually since 2020, with 166 incidents recorded by the end of August this year.

Richard Young, the manager of operations at Winnipeg Transit, informed the committee that the city's administration has received approval from the province to reallocate funding for this project. Although the original budget was set for partial shields, the full council's approval will now fund a pilot project with full shields on nine buses, while simultaneously preparing for the installation of full shields in the entire fleet.

Young emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating, "This isn’t a want, it’s a need. This is a need to protect (drivers) before something serious happens." The complete implementation of full-shield enclosures for the entire fleet is estimated to cost around $15 million.