(Bus shelter pictured was recently shattered at a bus stop in the 3300 block of 8th Street East.)

Saskatoon Transit is using the power of art, and stronger glass, to ward off vandalisms at city bus shelters.

Mike Moellenbeck with Saskatoon Transit says the City has seen the trend of smashed glass continue for a number of years, especially at the Confederation Mall bus depot. The City has since implemented two pilot projects to discourage this type of crime.

One initiative was to replace the shelter glass with a more durable, more expensive type of glass, and the other pilot included wrapping the glass in a vinyl sheet of artwork.

“That was a location (Confed.) where we had to replace shelter glass quite frequently. It was breaking almost as fast as we were putting it up. I can say that when we put that artwork up, along with the glass being replaced, at those locations it stayed up for five, six months.”

With the new Link transit system well underway, Moellenbeck assures that those shelters will be built with additional security measures.

“Like a camera, that wouldn’t be existing at all of the other locations that were talking about…But anything we learn from these types of pilots is going to help us inform what we can do to maintain that infrastructure when it (Link) comes online.”

He reminds the public to report any damaged bus shelters to the Transit customer service line so they can clean the area and replace the glass as soon as possible.