OC Transpo supports using more trackers to monitor bus driver speeds, inquest hears [Video]

• Stream the inquest live here. 

Last year, OC Transpo started using GPS devices called Geotabs to keep track of speeding, suspected stunt driving and other concerning behaviour among bus operators.

The costly devices can also detect harsh braking and when a driver is not wearing a seatbelt. OC Transpo is typically notified the next day.

But as the coroner’s inquest into the fatal OC Transpo bus crash of 2019 has heard, Geotabs are used far less on OC Transpo buses than on other vehicles owned and operated by the City of Ottawa.

At OC Transpo, only four out of 870 buses at a time are equipped with Geotabs on a rotational basis, though buses also feature other types of GPS technology, the city’s chief safety officer of fleet services, Shari Nurse, testified earlier in the inquest.

Meanwhile, all of the approximately 700 trucks in the city’s non-revenue fleet have Geotabs, she said.

Peter Napier, one …