In the 33 years Ken Ltienc has been driving an Edmonton bus, he said he has experienced his fair share of incidents.
None of them, he said, have come close to comparing to what occurred Wednesday night when two men were arrested in the west end after assaulting a bus driver, or the brutal attack on driver Tom Bregg last December.
That attack has a man named Gary Mattson in court, possibly being determined a dangerous offender.
Safety shields were introduced to a handful of buses back in October, but Ltienc doesn’t think they’re necessary.
“You feel kind of closed in,” he said. “Some drivers like to have contact with the public.”
Patricia Dixon from ETS communicaitons said safety initiatives introduced in 2010 include eight new transit peace officers, an LRT emergency alert system, as well as a zero tolerance policy for such activity on any type of transit.
