Bus blues: Saskatoon riders share transit tips for turbulent times

Femi Serrano checks off the 2024 rules of riding the bus while he stands in the Confederation Mall terminal on a Friday morning.

"I'm very particular about how I take the bus," he said.

"Pay attention. Be aware."

Serrano said he has learned "from experience and observation" to avoid taking the No. 2 bus. It leaves the Confederation terminal and snakes its way south and east through Meadowgreen toward downtown Saskatoon.

"Unfortunately, you see people that have mental health problems, substance abuse problems, on that bus. I don't like being around that space. It makes me uncomfortable," he said.

"I'm also particular about where I sit on the bus. I've seen that, from observations, they tend to sit either at the far back of the bus, or just at the front. So I find myself in the middle trying to avoid both situations."

The president of the union representing Saskatoon bus drivers and mechanics said Serrano is correct to be concerned about certain routes. Darcy Pederson said Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 615 identifies No. 2 and No. 60 as "hotspot routes."

"Downtown west through 20th Street, and up 22nd Street to the Confed terminal … very scary," he said. "They could see bear spray, stabbings. We've had swarming on the bus. We've had fights break out. Lots of bad things are happening."

It's been a rough spring on city buses. Police responded to four violent incidents in May — stabbings and assaults that sent passengers to hospital — and not just on the hotspot routes. One of the incidents happened on Eighth Street East and one happened on Broadway Avenue.

And Pederson said those are just the reported incidents. Violence is a possibility on any route in the city, he said.

The ATU hosted a conference in Saskatoon earlier this month. ATU national president John Di Nino said bus violence is on the rise everywhere.

"What's happening here in Saskatoon is being replicated right across the country," he said.

"The assaults are pretty commonplace. You know, you're seeing the stabbings, you're seeing the swarmings, you're seeing use of things like pepper spray and and bear spray. And you know, the assaults are getting much more aggressive."

The degree to which violence is an issue on buses can be a matter of perspective. It's not the experience of all riders.