In wake of recent attacks, transit association calls for more police, security on city buses, trains
Recommendations come after multiple reports of stabbings on transit systems
Swift action is needed to address a rise in violence on public transit, the Canadian Urban Transit Association said Monday.
The industry association's transit safety task force published a list of 27 recommendations to improve rider and staff safety on public transit, including a demand to hire more on-the-ground peace officers, special constables, and police officers.
"It's obvious, I think, to Canadians that we've got to address this issue,'' said association president Marco D'Angelo.
The recommendations come after multiple reports of stabbings on transit systems over the last few months, including one that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old boy in Toronto last month. Earlier this month, a 17-year-old was fatally stabbed on a bus in Surrey, B.C.
In Alberta, an Edmonton-area man was stabbed while waiting for a bus, and in Calgary one person was sent to hospital after a daytime shooting on a bus travelling in the city's downtown.
In a statement, TransLink, which manages Metro Vancouver's regional transportation network, says it supports the association's recommendations.
Passengers raise safety concerns
As he waited at a bus stop in Surrey, B.C., on Monday, transit user Richard Grevers said news of recent attacks has made riding transit more tense.
"Before, I wouldn't have paid any attention to anybody, but now suddenly I feel I need to look at somebody just to be, like, am I safe with you around me?"
Grevers said he wants to see more police on transit.
B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Metro Vancouver Transit Police are stepping up "high visibility" patrols on the transit system, including at bus stops, bus loops and SkyTrain Stations.
Four months ago, Julia Rady was randomly attacked on Toronto's subway. She says a stranger struck her in the head with a bottle, leaving her in need of stitches.
She doesn't think adding more police will solve the problem.
"I think the attacks on transit are very much a symptom of a larger social problem, and so when we can take a longer view and see if we can help our fellow citizens, then we do better going forward," she said.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, speaking at a funding announcement Monday about the purchase of electric buses for the Toronto Transit Commission, said, "Recent acts of violence on the TTC are concerning to us all."
"The TTC is the lifeblood, the circulatory system of the city, and we need to do more to ensure the safety of the great people who work for the TTC and literally keep our city going.''
She pointed to government funding to address poverty, mental health and addictions as another way transit safety can be improved.
"But it's not enough, and we need to do more,'' she said.
With files frome Renee Filippone and The Canadian Press