Driver Recalls T.T.C. Assault

It’s easy to still be angry about the T.T.C. walkout that crippled the entire city on Monday.

Most now think the wildcat strike had more to do with shifts than the safety of drivers, the reason originally posited for the stoppage.

But it’s clear for those on the front lines of the city’s buses and streetcars, Toronto can really often become the front line.

Just hours after the employees returned to their jobs, it happened again. A driver was attacked over a fare dispute near Old Weston Rd. and St. Clair Ave. A suspect spit on the bus driver, then whacked him with a pole. The attacker fled, shoving a 65-year-old woman to the ground in the process.

She hurt her arm, while the driver suffered scratches.

Cops have yet to find the passenger.

But Jowell Lowe knows how that operator feels. It happened to him, too.

“He grabbed my right leg, twisted it, turned the toe to the heel, pulled me down the stairs and I landed on my back,” he remembers, “I was trying to get up and I took a couple good kicks and punches from both gentlemen. The passengers on the bus came down to ask what was happening . The gentleman put his hand on under his coat like he had a gun and they all turned and ran.”

Two years later, Lowe still needs to go for therapy three times a week to deal with the torn ligaments in his knee and a rash of other chronic injuries.

And it all started with a stupid disagreement over a transfer. “It was a 10am transfer that he came northbound with,” he recalls. “He was trying to use to go southbound at 3pm. I told him the transfer was no good. Eventually he said he didn’t have a fare and he started arguing.”

The amalgamated Transit Union insists Lowe’s story isn’t unique. Physical and verbal assaults on drivers are common and is one reason operators are no longer disputing fares.

But for Lowe and those like him, it’s too late and he’s been forced to endure the suffering of Job with his suffering on the job.