By Jesse Russell

An increasing number of assaults on bus drivers in Toronto has the union asking members to stop demanding a fare from passengers. The Amalgamated Transit Union represents more than 8,000 employees for the Toronto Transit Commission. The current fare cost for passengers is $2.75 Canadian--roughly $2.45 in U.S. dollars. Bob Kinnear, president of AMTU local 113, said the transportation commissioners have done little to stop the increase of fares and as result has pitted drivers versus passengers:

[Kinnear 1]: The inability of them to secure the proper funding so the public out there wouldn't have to pay the exorbitant amount of fares they are currently paying today.

Studies have shown that nearly 70 percent of drivers have been the victims of assaults ranging from spitting to stabbing. Kinnear said between 1999 and 2003 assaults rose by 31 percent. Kinnear said that not only to victims of attacks suffer physically, they also suffer financially.