The new City Council will get to work this week, and for bus riders – and no doubt bus drivers – it won’t be a minute too soon. And it’s not just late and disappearing buses stranding users and PEGGO payments card fiascos that are rattling transit customers.

As Marty Gold explain in this podcast, three violent incidents involving knife wielding criminals on city buses in the last 10 days are vivid examples of why more and more residents are reluctant to take a bus or linger near a bus stop at all.

Spending on hypothetical future riders of projected rapid transit routes has to be weighed against providing a safe efficient service to users in the present day; new Councillors must be wary of the lesson learned by Greyhound Bus Lines of what can happen when fear replaces confidence in the minds of customers.