ManitobaA Winnipeg Transit driver was shot during a dispute with a passenger on a bus in the city’s North Kildonan area on Monday, police say.18 drivers have quit since start of October, union president Chris Scott saysDarren Bernhardt · CBC News · Posted: Oct 29, 2025 12:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesPeople sit inside a Winnipeg Transit bus in a file photo. A driver was shot in the hand on Monday while defending himself from an angry passenger, police say. (Darren Bernhardt/CBC)A Winnipeg Transit driver was shot during a dispute with a passenger on a bus in the city’s North Kildonan area on Monday, police say.A youth pulled out what is believed to have been a pellet gun and shot the driver in the hand, police said in a news release Wednesday morning. Officers were called just after 2 p.m. to the intersection of Gateway and Springfield roads. The driver was taken to hospital in stable condition and treated for minor injuries.Police searched for the youth but were unable to locate him.Amalgamated Transit Union president Chris Scott said the injury was a defensive one as the driver tried to protect himself.”He’s now recovering at home,” Scott said on Wednesday. “But the biggest injury is the psychological injury that occurred with this assault.”The passenger wanted to get off the bus, but the traffic light had just turned green and the bus was starting across the intersection, Scott said.The driver said he’d pull up to the next stop but the passenger grew irate and attacked, he said.There have already been 221 incident on buses this year, surpassing the 220 reported last year, Scott said.”Of those 221, roughly about 91 or 92 are assaults on transit employees,” he said.Most of the targeted employees are drivers, but “we are starting to see our maintenance staff being assaulted while they’re out on the road doing their job,” Scott said.The incidents involve anything from verbal abuse to assault to someone grabbing the steering wheel of a bus, he said.Scott’s worried about the impact Monday’s incident could have on staffing.”There’s been a lot of operators saying, ‘I don’t know how much longer I’m going to stay. I’m concerned about going to work,'” he said.”And a lot of times they’re voicing the concerns of their own family member that said, ‘You’re not going in to work, you got to look for another job.'”Since the beginning of October, 18 drivers have left transit, Scott said.”That doesn’t include retirements. That’s resignations,” he said. “They feel they are incapable of continuing to do this job.”Scott doesn’t expect the driver from Monday’s incident to ever return to being a driver.”I don’t see that happening. When we first talked to him, he expressed that he was looking at resigning, and I said, ‘Hang on, let’s get your resources. You can get coverage, you can get the treatment you need to help you move past this,'” Scott said.”Just leaving the employment of the city doesn’t help him recover from the injury that occurred.”After that, the union will see if he’ll resume work in some other capacity.In February 2024, Winnipeg’s long-awaited community safety team was launched in response to concerns about violence on Winnipeg Transit buses.The prior year, there were 257 security incidents on transit — nearly double what happened in 2022, the transit union said at that time. But in 2024, there were 325 incidents.”We’ve seen this marked rise in violence on transit since the pandemic,” Scott said Wednesday, but he still said new safety officers are making a difference.They patrol the city’s downtown transit corridors and speak with people who are unsheltered or dealing with addictions, and help connect them with resources, he said.Community safety officers have the legal authority to detain people and carry non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray. “There has been an impact with regards to those programs helping deter acts of violence,” Scott said. “That’s the preventative aspect.”And as of September this year, police officers — both in uniform and undercover — started riding buses to patrol routes, as well as check stations and shelters along the routes.Transit is also aiming to install full shields for the driver compartments, which will help, Scott said.A Winnipeg Transit operator tries out the new half-shield that was installed in buses in 2019. A full shield is now planned for the city’s fleet of 600 buses. (Jaison Empson/CBC)”Nobody will be able to reach around the shield any longer. So the operator will be able to be confident, knowing they just have to focus on doing their job effectively.”The problem is, the process to get the shields installed is expected to take at least a year, he said.The city’s transit advisory committee is developing a request for proposals, which has yet to be sent out. It will take more time for companies to apply for the contract and for one to be chosen.That will be followed by half a year of testing the shields for their effectiveness, Scott said.”We are concerned with how long this takes.”He wants the process sped up so installation and testing can begin before the end of this year.Coun. Janice Lukes, chair of public works and of the transit advisory committee, said finding the right design and suppliers takes time.“We all want it faster. ATU knows very well that it’s not easy to a) find a design their drivers like and b) find a design that withstands force,” she said in a text message.”Elected and city staff are supporting their decisions on design desires 150 per cent. No one is holding up this process on either end.”As for Monday’s shooting incident, police urge anyone with information, such as dashcam or cellphone footage, to contact the major crimes unit at 204-986-6219.Anonymous tips can be called in to Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477 or submitted online.ABOUT THE AUTHORDarren Bernhardt has been with CBC Manitoba since 2009 and specializes in offbeat and local history stories. He is the author of two bestselling books: The Lesser Known: A History of Oddities from the Heart of the Continent, and Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravity and More Lesser Known Histories.With files from Meaghan Ketcheson
Winnipeg Transit driver shot in hand, union says violence chasing away employees
