Saskatoon Transit riders question fare enforcement, as city moves ahead with new bus bylaw

As Saskatoon moves towards a transit bylaw to address disruptive behaviour and fare evasion, there are questions about enforcement. Laura Woodward reports.

As Saskatoon moves closer to a new transit bylaw designed to crack down on disruptive behaviour and fare evasion, there are questions about enforcement.

“We wonder how implementation challenges will be handled,” said Robert Clipperton, with the Bus Riders of Saskatoon advocacy group.

“For example, do you really expect to collect fines from the homeless?”

Right now, drivers do not ask people for payment to avoid confrontations.

The proposed bylaw would require riders to pay their fare and allow officers to remove people from transit property, issue temporary bans and hand out $50 tickets for offences, such as distracting a driver or putting feet on seats.

Councillor Jasmine Parker questioned how fare inspectors would handle glitches with mobile tickets, citing her own experiences with transfers failing to register properly.

“Obviously there’s going to be discretion based in this system to make sure that instances where people inadvertently can’t have the ability to pay the fare and things like that aren’t met with removal from service,” Mike Moellenbeck, director of Saskatoon Transit, responded.

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Moellenbeck said Saskatoon Transit is also working to provide receipts to riders who pay cash so they can prove they have paid their fare.

“You put money in the fare box, there’s no receipt printed. We’re actively working on that,” he said.

To help educate riders, Saskatoon Transit plans to adopt a campaign from the Canadian Urban Transit Association.

The ads encourage passengers to pay their fares, keep buses clean and follow transit etiquette.

Council voted Wednesday to direct the city solicitor to draft the new bylaw. It is expected to return to council in July and, if approved, could come into effect in September.