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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Police searched for the youth but were unable to locate him.<\/p>\n
Amalgamated Transit Union president Chris Scott said the injury was a defensive one as the driver tried to protect himself.<\/p>\n
“He’s now recovering at home,” Scott said on Wednesday. “But the biggest injury is the psychological injury that occurred with this assault.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The driver said he\u2019d pull up to the next stop but the passenger grew irate and attacked, he said.<\/p>\n
There have already been 221 incident on buses this year, surpassing the 220 reported last year, Scott said.<\/p>\n
“Of those 221, roughly about 91 or 92 are assaults on transit employees,” he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The incidents involve anything from verbal abuse to assault to someone grabbing the steering wheel of a bus, he said.<\/p>\n
Scott’s worried about the impact Monday’s incident could have on staffing.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.'”<\/p>\n
Since the beginning of October, 18 drivers have left transit, Scott said.<\/p>\n
“That doesn’t include retirements. That’s resignations,” he said. “They feel they are incapable of continuing to do this job.”<\/p>\n
Scott doesn\u2019t expect the driver from Monday’s incident to ever return to being a driver.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“Just leaving the employment of the city doesn’t help him recover from the injury that occurred.”<\/p>\n
After that, the union will see if he’ll resume work in some other capacity.<\/p>\n
In February 2024, Winnipeg’s long-awaited community safety team was launched in response to concerns about violence on Winnipeg Transit buses.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761787390_193_default.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761787391_134_default.jpg\")
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