regina transit drivers ‘scared to come to the job’ amid rising harassment, violence
"operators are acting as a safe bus driver, a paramedic and a police officer, as a psychologist, but it is getting very hard to do."
3 minute read
sukh gainda, a bus driver with regina transit and president of amalgamated transit union local 588 stands for a portrait beside a bus stop in harbour landing on monday, january 27, 2025 in regina. gainda ays members are experiencing increased violence on city buses -- supported by data from regina police that shows calls related to city transit have risen by 75 per cent since 2019.
kayle neis
/
regina leader-post
when regina transit driver sukh gainda pulled over for a break downtown in october, he says three teens followed him over to the bathroom. one threw an open condom at him. another spit on him.
the incident was demoralizing, the part-time operator recalls, though it wasn’t his first confrontation.
he and his peers are dealing with more and more harassment and violence than five years ago.
“most of the drivers, they’re scared to come to the job, including myself,” said gainda, who also serves as president of the amalgamated transit union local 588, which represents city bus drivers.
“verbal abuse, every driver faces every day. physical abuse, on average once or twice a month.”
data from the regina police service (rps) backs this up. it shows a 75-per-cent increase in calls for service related to city buses or transit stops since 2019
there were 202 calls in 2024, including the condom-throwing incident gainda reported. of last year’s calls, there were 36 reports of violence, including 35 charges, compared to nine in 2019.
overall, calls prompted by violence doubled from 2022 to 2024, according to the rps. the city of regina’s internal tracking also shows an increase in violence on city buses.
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data provided to the leader-post shows 37 incidents of verbal or physical violence against transit operators reported in 2024. in 2023, that number was 19.
passenger-on-passenger violence also increased from 11 incidents in 2020 to 44 in 2024, according to the city.
“regina transit’s top priority is operator and passenger safety,” reads an emailed statement from the city. “strategies such as security cameras, operator barriers and public information campaigns are used to support this priority.”
gainda believes the more realistic numbers are likely double what police or the city have on file.
many confrontations go unreported, he said, despite drivers regularly having passengers yell or berate them, using foul language or banging on doors. in one case, he said someone even attempted to grab the steering wheel while a bus was moving.
one driver, he continued, went on leave for 18 months after being punched repeatedly by a passenger in 2023. that operator still experiences anxiety on the job.
“it’s always a mental stress that something will again happen on your bus,” he said.
gainda attributes the growing number of incidents in part to rising frustrations about late buses. that is only made worse, he explains, when drivers are delayed by confrontations.
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“we cannot keep the schedule. we cannot make everybody happy,” he said. “it’s like a volcano.”
he suggested another factor contributing to the abuse of drivers is regina’s homelessness crisis.
“operators are acting as a safe bus driver, a paramedic and a police officer, as a psychologist, but it is getting very hard to do,” he said.
gainda says internal protocols are not helping make drivers feel safe and how the city applies its response policy is often inconsistent.
operators have been told they may not refuse service, he said, even to those on a barred list for previous aggression. he notes they have faced suspensions for stopping on their route to deal with passenger confrontations.
“(drivers) don’t want to get in trouble,” gainda said. “everyone is stressing out about money, the financial problem and they don’t always want to come forward and say those things.”
gainda says drivers have been asking for the ability to enforce bans and to have a road supervisor on all shifts to more quickly respond when incidents happen. they’d also like increased police presence around transit hubs.
saskatoon recently launched a community safety officer pilot project to address similar issues on its transit buses. fire services members ride city buses to keep the peace.
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a statement from the city of regina said officials are “actively exploring” the idea of putting peace officers on buses.
the city also said it is working to co-ordinate with police and have alternate response officers monitor transit stops downtown. six such officers have been deployed as of october.
regina transit recorded a record-high 7.8 million rides last year.
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