Don't expect to see airport-style security any time soon on inter-city bus lines, industry experts and officials say.
However, groups including the Greyhound Canada bus drivers' union and Transport 2000 Canada, which lobbies on a wide range of issues including safety, believe more can be done to improve passenger safety at a reasonable cost.
The calls for beefing up motor coach security follow a recent grisly slaying on a Greyhound bus, where a passenger travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg was repeatedly stabbed and then beheaded.
"We're very shocked and saddened by what happened on one of our buses. This is truly an isolated incident and nothing could have prepared us for what occurred," says Greyhound Canada spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh.
"For 11/2 years, long before this incident, we have worked with Transport Canada to determine what security measures would be most effective for inter-city bus companies like Greyhound."
Transport Canada has agreed to provide funding to Greyhound under Round 2 of the Transit-Secure contribution program, a federal program introduced in 2007 to enhance passenger rail and urban transit security.
Greyhound is set to receive $285,000, or 75 per cent of the cost, to develop a risk assessment and security plan. It will cover the remaining $95,000 of the $380,000 project. The company faces a March 31, 2009 deadline to complete the risk assessment and security plan - the sunset date of the Transit-Secure program.
Transport 2000 Canada (Ontario region) president Natalie Litwin says bus companies will have to decide if the security improvements are affordable.
"People who use inter-city buses are often - but not always - at the lower end of the income scale and it's very important to keep that form of transportation affordable," she says.
Many believe that airport security procedures would be impractical for an inter-city bus network such as Greyhound's, given its rural nature. Major terminals account for only a fraction of the company's 600 different stops.
Adopting airplane-level security is not applicable to a transit bus, she adds, "because first of all it's unaffordable. Transit buses, whether they're inter-city or inner-city, they stop in so many places. It's not like an airplane that stops in one place. It's just not possible."
Independent businesses also contract with Greyhound at several of these stops. Some allow passengers to buy tickets and board, while others are enroute stops such as a gas station in a small town.
"No action we take is going to be 100-per-cent foolproof, but any action will minimize the chance of an occurrence like this from happening again," says Jim Higgs, president of the Calgary-based Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1374, which represents the Greyhound drivers.
In proposals already submitted to Greyhound, the union is calling for changes to the way luggage is handled by Greyhound, including random luggage inspections and visible signage to make the public aware of what items are prohibited on a motor coach and the consequences of bringing them on.
The union proposal would mean depositing luggage in a central area in major terminals, tagging it and having it subject to random checks. For passengers who board enroute at smaller stops along the way, all luggage, including carry-ons, would have to be placed in the luggage hold until it reaches its destination or the next major terminal. At this point, if the passenger is continuing, it would be tagged and subject to a possible random inspection.
"Random inspection of luggage is going to deter prohibited items from being brought on a bus, even if it is underneath the coach," says Higgs, who notes that the union's requests are scheduled to be discussed at a September meeting with Greyhound.
Transport 2000 Canada is also calling for increased driver-operated lighting in the back of buses, where it says incidents are more likely to happen; pamphlets detailing bus safety and security procedures to be put on buses or distributed to passengers; and to have cameras installed both as a potential deterrent and as a record of any incident that might take place.
Toronto-based Motor Coach Canada, which represents motor coach and tour operators, says it will look at anything required in the aftermath of the Greyhound incident.
"Bus travel is safe, this horrific incident aside," says Motor Coach Canada president and CEO Brian Crow.
"This could have happened in a movie theatre. Would we be saying that every movie theatre should have metal detectors? I don't think we would."
Both Greyhound and Motor Coach Canada say they will look to the federal government for funding any costs associated with new security measures.
"We get no subsidy as an industry. Any cost we bear would be passed on to the passenger," says Crow.
In the U.S., Greyhound does random baggage checks and wand-detector sweeps of passengers, which is supported by funding from the Department of Homeland Security. On this side of the border, Greyhound says it's in discussion with Transport Canada for similar grants.
"We continue to work with Transport Canada, as Greyhound is, and seeing if there is any added benefit," says Crow. "We move over 60 million passengers a year, but the vast majority don't board at a bus terminal."
Greyhound Canada serves British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in addition to the Yukon and Northwest Territories, with some 1,000 daily departures and 500 buses.
(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)
