'Kind of sad' word of terror threat wasn't passed to riders, commuters say

While some Toronto transit riders said they would have liked to have known that GTA transit staff were on heightened alert over a terror threat, one security expert said passengers would only be told about a potential threat if law enforcement had received word that a specific location was being targeted.

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The RCMP alerted both the TTC and Metrolinx about a credible terror threat on Wednesday morning, and the transit agencies both put staff on alert to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious.

A spokesperson for each agency said they were told the threat was "non-specific," meaning they did not identify a specific target for an attack.

"As a result of that threat we increased vigilance among our staff, we sent out a bulletin to them just to warn them that we had received a threat that wasn't specific to a location but it was enough that we wanted them to increase their vigilance. If they see something, say something, check unattended packages," Anne Marie Aikins, spokesperson for Metrolinx, told CBC News on Thursday.

"Because passenger safety, customer safety, staff safety are always our first priority in everything we do."

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said the transit agency's employees received the same instructions.

"As a transit provider to 1.8 million people in Canada's largest city, it's important that we take these things seriously as well," Ross told CBC News on Thursday.

Neither agency alerted passengers, and both Ross and Aikins said they would take their instructions from police when making such a decision.

'It's kind of sad that information wasn't passed on'

While the information from authorities did not say that transit infrastructure was a target, nor was it clear that Toronto was the intended location, some commuters said they would have liked to have known.

Shameem Bulbulia-Bince commutes to Union Station every day on GO from Mississauga.

She didn't find out about the police warning until after she arrived in Toronto on Thursday morning.

"I think it's kind of sad that information wasn't passed on," she told CBC.

She said passengers should be made aware when a security threat is possible. Other passengers said they felt it is the public's right to know.

"There's a lot of people who take transit every day and they have to be aware of situations so they can protect themselves," one commuter said.

'What reason to spread panic?'

Former security analyst and current consultant Phil Gurski said Thursday that there may be information that the RCMP is choosing not to make public about a specific target. The Mounties only said Thursday that their suspect, 24-year-old Aaron Driver, had made a martyrdom video in which he was planning an attack within 72 hours in an urban centre during the morning rush hour.

Driver died Wednesday evening as police closed in on him in Strathroy, Ont.

Gurski said he understands why members of the public feel they should be told about an imminent threat.

"If the threat had been credible and imminent and been a named target, I'm pretty sure you would have seen the GO train stopped and Union Station under some kind of, not a state of siege, but under higher security," Gurski said Thursday.

"The fact that that did not happen suggests to me that there was no concrete intelligence to suggest that Union Station was being targeted. Secondly, if they thought they had the situation under control, what reason to spread panic?"

Ross said TTC head Andy Byford had a "brief telephone conversation" with Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, as is customary in such a situation. The transit agency would take direction from Toronto police on whether to inform the public about security threats.

"Police are responsible for public safety, which includes informing the public of any of these types of threats," Ross said. "So we would defer to police on that, as we did yesterday. There was no request or no real need to advise our riders because there was no specific threat to the TTC."

Aikins said there was a heightened security presence at Union Station on Wednesday because of platform changes, two concerts and a Blue Jays game.

While Toronto would seem the most obvious target for a terror attack, given it's Canada's largest city, Gurski noted that attacks and threats have hit various cities, from Ottawa to Victoria.

"So Toronto itself isn't the place to be in Canada in terms of terrorist targeting," he said. "But clearly it does offer terrorists a pretty good smorgasbord of places to hit."