In December 2019 — 11 months after the fatal Westboro bus crash — OC Transpo started using more steps to make sure “only the right candidates” went on to get driver training, an inquest into the crash has heard.
As a result, so many candidates were weeded out that it caught OC Transpo by surprise, an official with Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation told the coroner’s inquest into the Jan. 11, 2019, crash.
On that afternoon, a packed OC Transpo double-decker slammed into the Westboro Transitway bus shelter. Three people — Judy Booth, Bruce Thomlinson and Anja Van Beek — died in the crash. Many others were injured, triggering a flurry of lawsuits.
While the city accepted civil responsibility, the bus driver was charged with 38 counts of dangerous driving causing death or bodily harm. She was acquitted of all of them in a judge-only trial in 2021.
The inquest, which began last week, is hearing …