Sudbury to test barrier project to better protect transit workers

Greater Sudbury city staff are recommending a pilot project be tested to install barriers to better protect transit drivers on the job.

City councillors on the community services committee will discuss the plan at a meeting next Monday. One city bus will be fitted with a barrier compartment designed to protect drivers from physical assault.

After a year, drivers will decide whether or not to have the compartments installed on the rest of the fleet.

A staff report states a similar idea was presented to transit operators in 2014. The city says at that time a survey was done "which revealed that the majority were not in favour of the barrier," due to not being able to interact with passengers.

However, a driver was physically assaulted on the job in May 2017. Steven Blondin was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant. He was treated in hospital where he required stitches on his wrist.

City councillor and member of the Transit Task Force, Evelyn Dutrisac, says the attack on Blondin last year has caused some to reconsider.

"I think it's very important that the operator has input, but maybe with an other eye now with what happened in May 2017," Dutrisac said.

"It brought back the whole issue of safety."

Darryl Taylor, president of the local chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says the previous attempt featured a poorly fitted compartment, and that not all drivers had their say.

However, Taylor says he believes those problems will be addressed in the upcoming pilot project.

"It's long overdue."

"In conjunction with our transit operators and the [city's] Transit Task Force, we're going to be closely monitoring this to ensure this pilot project looks into all aspects to ensure any issues revolving around driver safety, or public safety for that matter, are thoroughly addressed," Taylor said.

Dutrisac says drivers will be surveyed later this year to get feedback.

"We're concerned, as the Transit Task Force, with the safety of our operators, as well as the safety of our residents taking the bus," she said.

"It's going to give the operator another opportunity to try it."

According to the city, the cost of the pilot project will be $8,000.