Media Statement

Saturday's Incident with Metro Transit Bus Operator

(Monday, March 16, 2009) - I can confirm this afternoon that an operator has been relieved of duties pending investigation as a result of the incident that occurred on Spring Garden Rd. on Saturday, March 14. An operator left his bus and involved himself in a demonstration.

This behaviour is unacceptable. We have met with the operator and appropriate action will be forthcoming. As employers, we are bound by the terms of our Collective Agreement to keep such matters confidential.

Recently, there has been significant interest and attention directed towards Metro Transit.

MetroTransit in no way condones the kind of behaviour recently reported. Like everyone else, we are deeply concerned. Our operators are trained professionals and we expect them to behave accordingly.

On behalf of our management team and our operators, we deeply regret that some of our patrons have experienced embarrassment or distress.

In such a large and diverse workforce, unfortunately incidents with the public can occur. We deal with each of them on a case by case basis. Changing behaviour and organizational culture takes time, but I, and the entire management team, are committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure Metro Transit is an organization we can all be proud of. We clearly have more work to do.

One step Metro Transit had already taken prior to these recent events, is to develop a refresher training program for all our operators. Key components include customer relations, diversity training, and conflict management.

Events such as those of the past weeks are rare in our organization. We take pride in our operations, and work very hard to ensure a positive environment for all our employees and patrons.

Pat Soanes
General Manager, Metro Transit