Transit bus briefly hijacked, sprayed with bear repellent

Passengers and a Winnipeg Transit driver were caught in a crossfire of bear spray blasted duringan armed fracason a Portage Avenue busearlier this month.

The event has the head of the union representing Transit drivers slamming security on buses as inadequate and criticizingthe City of Winnipeg's response to bus safety issues.

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Security concerns on city buses have been in the spotlight in Winnipeg sinceFebruary 2017, whenTransit driver Jubal Fraser was killed while on duty.

Winnipeg police have confirmed a disputeescalated from the street onto a Transit bus just after 9 p.m. on July 6.

A manbeing chased down Portage Avenue hopped on to a bus stopped at LangsideStreet. His two pursuers followed.

As the bus drove off, police say, the men attempted to shoot each other with bear spray.

A senior memberof the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505 hasseen avideoof the incident captured by security cameras on the bus.

Winnipeg Transit declined to share the footage withCBCNews, citing"privacy reasons."

It was a "bad situation" that got worse as the man on the bus tried to stop the people chasing him, ATU 1505 president Aleem Chaudhary told CBC.

Turned can of bear spray on driver

"Supposedly he just turned around and tried to spray out at the people following him, but as the door was closing the pepper spray got inside the bus all over the bus," Chaudharysaid.

The man on the bus pointed thecanister of bear spray at the bus operator and forced him to continue driving.

The driver did so, stopping a short way down the roadat Sherbrook Street.

"Everybody was screaming and yelling ...It was a packed bus with mothers and young kids with them," Chaudhary said.

According to what the ATU official witnessedon the video,passengers ran off the bus in a panic.

Once the bus was empty, the driver followed.

A witness on the street saw what happened and tackled the suspect as he was getting off the bus, police said.

As the passerby tried to control the man, the can of bear spray discharged, incapacitating him enough that police cadets in the area wereable to take him into custody.

The two other men fled and have not beenarrested. The personwho was detainedfaces charges of assault and possession of a weapon.

Chaudhary says the driver was treated by paramedics at the scene for the effects of the bear spray andtook time off work to recover from the incident.

The driver had hit a panic button in his bus and people at Transit'scommunications centre could hear what was happening.

"Unfortunately this happens more than not. Not just with the [bear] spray, but we just had passenger pull a knife and said 'drive.' He was a new immigrant to this country and he [the passenger] said 'you don't belong in this country,'" Chaudhary said.

Safety not improving, union says

The ATU says efforts the City of Winnipeg has made to improve bus safety are not working.

In January the city announced it was hiring five "highly trained" former drivers to be inspectors to improve security on buses.

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Chaudhary says the new inspectors have madeno impact on safetyand aren't trained to respond to incidents.

"I can expect out of them just as much as I would expect out of a normal person such as you and I, who has no training because they have no training ... they can't really touch people, they can't apprehend people, they can't do anything really," Chaudharysaid.

The ATUwants to see amix of highly trained undercover and uniformed security staff working daily as transit police.

City detailsefforts to improve bus safety

CBCNews asked Winnipeg Transit for an interview with a manager to addresssome of the union's concerns but the request was declined.

A spokesperson sent an email outlining a number of initiatives Transit has taken in the last year or so.

The spokesperson described inspectorsas "highly trained former bus operators who are uniquely positioned as a resource for both operators and passengers."

A list of changes Winnipeg Transit provided to CBCNewsincluded a pilot program for driver shields and other efforts;a media campaign encouraging riders to report undesirable behaviour;creating stronger reporting procedures with police, as well asa new safety program aimed at helping employees prevent and defuse conflict.

The city also said it's in the process of building two new duty stations to be staffed day and night.

Chaudhary, however,says whatever initiatives the city is taking aren't being felt by drivers on the buses.

"There is no visible change whatsoever. Ofcourse they [the drivers] are upset," Chaudharysaid.