Saskatoon Transit taking kinder, gentler approach to mandatory masks

As mask use becomes mandatory across all buses in Saskatoon, the city is hopeful riders will follow the rules.

Starting Tuesday, masks are mandatory on all city buses after a vote from city council Monday.

Assistant fire chief Anthony Tataryn said the city does not plan on taking a hard line on the issue.

"We're not taking the approach of enforcement," he told reporters.

"We want our campaign to be about education and public awareness and then hopefully changing public opinion where we're required."

For the first two weeks, bus drivers will be supplying masks to everyone who doesn't have one.

After that, riders will be reminded about the new rules, but will not be refused entry if they aren't wearing a mask.

In the long term, Saskatoon Transit plans on tracking habitual offenders through drivers pushing a button on their console, tracking stops where people are not complying.

"It will GPS tag the location," said transit manager Jim McDonald.

"So as we find issues of where that happens time and time again, we'll be able to actually pull video, find out what that looks like, and then have our supervisors on stay on the location to try and have a conversation with those individuals about the benefits of wearing masks."

McDonald said police will only be called if the situation escalates. He said drivers and members of the public are being asked to stay out of any potential conflict.

"In France, an operator was dragged out of his bus and beaten until he died. So we do not want that to happen. We don't even want the sniff of that kind of thing happening here."

Saskatoon Transit said mask use is expected to double capacity on city buses. Signs on seats prompting social distancing will be removed.

Buses will continue to be rerouted to ease busy schedules.