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Shields up: Transit to test barriers

Hoping to protect drivers from spitting, assaults

By: Kevin Rollason

Posted: 05/20/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Allan Malazdrewich says a shield would help drivers feel safer behind the wheel.

Transit Tom is hoping a pair of safety shields being tested will reduce the chances of drivers being the targets of spit or physical assaults.

In response to rising numbers of assaults on bus operators -- 70 in the last three months versus 70 all of last year -- Winnipeg Transit has outfitted two buses with clear shatterproof shields to protect drivers. Forty per cent of the assaults are people spitting or throwing something at a driver.

The numbers

Number of assaults against Winnipeg Transit drivers: 70 in last three months, 70 in all of 2009. Forty per cent of assaults are people spitting or throwing an object at a driver.

Safety shields: made of a polycarbonite plastic material, which is strong enough to deflect most projectiles.

Number of bus drivers: 1,100

Number of buses: 545

Number of routes: 86

Service: 365 days a year, weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., and weekends from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

-- Source: Winnipeg Transit

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Both shields are made of a polycarbonite material, which transit says is strong enough to deflect most projectiles and are clear and shatterproof.

But while one shield slides into place, the other closes like a door.

Keith Martin, transit's operations manager, said each costs in the neighbourhood of $2,500.

Martin said the shields will be tested on buses deployed throughout the city and on all routes in the coming months.

"What we want to do is evaluate their use and their effectiveness," Martin said on Wednesday during a demonstration for the media.

"We haven't mandated the use of the shield. It is optional. It is our operators' choice. But if we install them in all buses we would look at making it mandatory."

Martin said possible downsides are communication with customers, glare from light hitting the shield and -- with the sliding shield -- possibly less room in the aisle for wheelchair access.

"It will be important to get feedback from the disabled community and not just wheelchairs, but also people with strollers, too," he said.

Martin said they are testing two different shields because the city has 10 different types of buses in its 545-vehicle fleet.

Keith Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1505, said they're pleased the shields are being tested because there have been 70 assaults on drivers in the last three months. Scott said the assaults ranged from being spit on to being struck.

"These shouldn't affect customer interaction at all," Scott said.

"There are little speaker holes and we can still hand out transfers."

Driver Allan Malazdrewich said he has never been a victim of an assault, but he said if needed the shield would "make you feel safer and more secure."

Winnipeg Transit is encouraging the public to call 311 or go to www.winnipegtransit.com with their views on the safety shields once they see them.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 20, 2010 A4

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