Bowman, EPC plan puts safety shields in all buses by next January

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This article was published 21/01/2019 (2068 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayor Brian Bowman and members of his executive policy committee devised their own plan Tuesday to fund the purchase and installation of driver safety shields on Winnipeg Transit buses.

The committee voted unanimously to fund the $3.1-million initiative out of the 2019 capital budget and have the shields installed within a year.

The EPC proposal is a slight variation on the proposal from the public works committee, which wanted to use a portion of Transit’s 2018 surplus and have the work done within 18 months. Bowman said Tuesday’s proposal could result in the shields being installed in a shorter time period.

Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of the public works committee, told reporters he expects all protection devices to be installed by the end of January 2020.

It was good news for the union that represents bus drivers and most other Winnipeg Transit employees.

“I’m really, really pleased with that,” Aleem Chaudhary, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, told reporters following the EPC meeting. “I think all of the membership will be really grateful to all the councillors and the mayor, if this passes — and I’m pretty sure it will pass.”

The shield funding will now be rolled into the 2019 budget debate, which will not get underway until March.

Chaudhary said he would have preferred council approved the project at its meeting next week, but he’s confident the issue will soon be addressed.

“We do have an understanding that (the shields) are needed… and needs to be addressed now,” he said. “Within the next few months, we should start getting them installed.”

With Tuesday’s vote, it appears the EPC has other plans on how to spend the estimated $12.8-million surplus in Transit’s 2018 budget.

A week ago, Bowman said he hadn’t decided how he was going to vote on the public works proposal, explaining he had his own initiatives he wants to implement, including a low-income bus pass and service improvements.

Transit director Greg Ewankiw had proposed a three-year phase-in of shield purchase and installation. Ewankiw told the public works committee the work could be done within 18 months, and his only justification for the phased-in approach is was the typical length of time taken by transit authorities across the country to install such shields.

Coun. Jeff Browaty, who initiated the motion at public works, said he was embarrassed it’s taken the city almost two years following the Feb. 14, 2017, slaying of Transit driver Irvine Jubal Fraser to conclude shields should be installed on all buses.

Browaty later said he was pleased EPC voted to speed up the installation.

The second-degree murder trial for the man accused of killing Fraser began in a Winnipeg courtroom Monday.

Bowman told reporters it would be premature to allow council to vote next week on the question of using Transit’s 2018 surplus to fund the shields, explaining the final tally on the surplus won’t be known until some time after that meeting.

However, the mayor said city hall will ultimately finance the shield purchase.

“It’s going to be difficult work for the public service to get it done in one year, but we want it done as soon as possible,” he said.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca