Saskatoon councillors consider hiring social support workers for city buses

Saskatoon’s transportation committee will consider whether to put social support workers on city buses in its meeting on Tuesday.

Saskatoon’s transportation committee will consider whether to put social support workers on city buses in its meeting on Tuesday.

Administrators prepared a number of potential options for dedicated transit support workers following reports in February of escalating violence and mental health-related incidents on city buses.

Saskatoon’s local transit union President Darcy Pederson told CTV News in February the rates of unpaid fares increased sharply in the last year, and drivers were increasingly met with conflict from bus riders who were unwilling to pay.

“We’ve had people spat on. We’ve had bear incidents on the bus. We’ve had knives in the downtown terminal, guns on the bus — there’s a major crisis happening," he said at the time.

Bus drivers are trained to safely operate a bus, not to intervene in mental health or addictions crises, Pederson said.

Saskatoon Transit Operations Manager Mike Moellenbeck prepared the report for city councillors, which outlines options ranging from putting a support worker on every bus to rotating support on targeted routes, support workers stationed at terminals, or the continuing as-is.

Moellenbeck ultimately asks the committee to let the transit department work with a review of the community support program that’s already underway — to work with existing support services and come forward with a new proposal in advance of discussions for the next multi-year budget.