Injured on a YRT or Viva Bus in Vaughan? When Can You Make a Claim?

A person injured on a YRT or Viva bus in Vaughan may have a claim if unsafe driving, premature movement, defective equipment or a failure to assist a passenger caused the injury. York Region Transit is not automatically responsible whenever someone falls, so onboard video and operating records can be central to proving what happened.

Our Vaughan personal injury lawyers investigate serious YRT and Viva injuries such as sudden falls, boarding incidents, mobility-device failures and bus collisions.

Can You Make a Claim After a YRT Bus Injury in Vaughan?

Yes, if the way the bus was operated or maintained caused the injury. In Day v. Toronto Transportation Commission, the Supreme Court of Canada explained that a passenger carrier is not an insurer of passenger safety, but must use due, proper and reasonable care to prevent injury.

Passengers therefore do not prove negligence by simply illustrating that the bus stopped and they fell. Drivers could need to brake because another vehicle enters the lane, a pedestrian steps into traffic or congestion develops unexpectedly.

The case requires evidence that the operator created an unreasonable danger or failed to respond properly to one. The bus’s speed and following distance, the driver’s view of the roadway, the force of the movement and the passenger’s position may all become relevant.

Who Operates YRT and Viva in Vaughan?

York Region Transit is operated as a regional system rather than by the City of Vaughan. Viva is YRT’s rapid-transit service.

A bus can therefore be operating within Vaughan without being operated by the City. A claim involving the driver or vehicle will ordinarily require the Regional Municipality of York to be investigated. The driver’s employer and the organization responsible for maintaining the bus should also be identified before the defendants are selected.

The City of Vaughan could still be involved if a separate City-controlled road, sidewalk or property condition contributed to the injury. Another driver may also be responsible where their conduct forced the bus to brake, swerve or collide.

Viva Orange serves Vaughan along the Highway 7 corridor and connects with local YRT service at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. The route and location can help identify the vehicle, operator, platform and recordings that should be preserved after an injury.

When Can a Sudden Stop Support a YRT Injury Claim?

Sudden stops can support a claim if the evidence shows that the driver was following another vehicle too closely, travelling too quickly for the conditions or failed to respond to traffic that should have been visible ahead.

The driver’s awareness of the passenger can also be relevant. Pulling away while an older person, a young child or someone with an obvious mobility limitation is still moving through the bus may create a greater risk than ordinary acceleration after passengers have had a reasonable opportunity to become secure.

YRT’s bus-safety guidance advises standing passengers to hold a seat or pole. A defendant may rely on that instruction to argue that a passenger contributed to the fall.

Failing to use a handhold does not automatically defeat the claim. There may have been no suitable support available, the vehicle’s movement may have been unusually forceful or the bus may have started moving before the passenger could reasonably steady themselves. Responsibility can be divided where the conduct of both the operator and passenger contributed to the injury.

Claims Involving Boarding, Exiting or Bus Doors

Some YRT passenger injuries occur before the trip has properly begun or while the passenger is attempting to leave. A driver may move the bus while someone is still stepping aboard, close a door on a passenger or position the vehicle too far from the curb for a safe exit. Video can show whether the operator could see the passenger, when the doors closed and whether the bus moved before boarding or exiting was complete.

The surrounding stop should also be examined as a passenger may be directed toward an uneven curb, snowbank, pothole or other unsafe surface even though the bus itself operates normally.

YRT’s accessibility guidance states that where a stop is inaccessible, an operator will allow a passenger who requires an accessible stop to board or exit at the nearest location that is safe and acceptable to both the passenger and operator. That procedure can provide useful evidence where the boarding or exiting location contributed to the injury.

YRT Wheelchair and Mobility-Device Injury Claims

YRT publishes more specific procedures for passengers travelling in wheelchairs or scooters. Its accessibility guidance expounds that proper securement of mobility devices is mandatory. Passengers who remain in their wheelchair or scooter must use the applicable lap belt, and the operator assists with securement and belt use.

Serious injuries can occur if a device shifts or overturns due to not being properly secured before the bus moved. Other claims may involve a ramp that was operated unsafely, a malfunctioning kneeling feature or movement before the passenger and mobility device were safely positioned.

The published procedure can helshow the steps YRT itself has identified for transporting a passenger who uses a mobility device.

Video may establish whether assistance was offered, how the device was positioned and whether the operator confirmed that securement was complete before departing.

Does YRT Keep Video of Passenger Injuries?

YRT’s technology information states that each bus has four to six security cameras and a digital video recorder. Cameras are also used at terminals and other transit properties.

Its safety and security information says footage is not archived and is retrieved only when police or authorized YRT officials request it as evidence of a particular event. YRT Special Constables are authorized to retrieve recordings under supervisory direction.

YRT does not publish a standard retention period. A passenger should not assume that footage will remain available simply because an incident was reported to customer service.

A written preservation request should expressly ask YRT to have an authorized official retrieve and retain every relevant recording. It should identify the date, precise time, route, direction of travel, nearest stop and vehicle number, where available. The request should also describe the passenger and where they were positioned inside the bus.

A PRESTO record or mobile fare history may help identify the correct trip when the passenger did not record the vehicle number.

What Other YRT Records Can Help Prove the Claim?

Onboard video could show what happened inside the bus, but other records can sometimes explain why it happened. GPS and vehicle-location information may help establish the bus’s movement before the incident. Dispatch communications can show whether the operator reported an emergency, passenger fall or collision.

Door-operation data, inspection documents and maintenance records may be important where equipment allegedly malfunctioned.

The operator’s report should be compared with the passenger’s account and statements from other riders. Passengers who witnessed the incident often leave before their contact information is collected, so their names and telephone numbers should be obtained as soon as possible.

Medical records will hopefully accurately describe how the injury occurred, including whether the passenger was thrown by sudden movement, struck part of the bus, fell while boarding or was injured when a mobility device shifted.

Are Accident Benefits Available After a YRT or Viva Injury?

A passenger injured when a YRT or Viva bus collides with another automobile or external object may have access to statutory accident benefits. The passenger may also be able to sue York Region, another driver or another party whose negligence contributed to the collision.

A different rule generally will apply when braking, acceleration or turning causes the injury but the bus itself does not collide with anything. Section 268(1.1) of Ontario’s Insurance Act can prevent the passenger from receiving accident benefits in a no-collision public-transit incident.

That exclusion does not necessarily prevent a negligence lawsuit. Our Ontario bus and public transit accident lawyers explain the different claims that may arise from transit collisions, no-collision passenger falls and injuries on public-transit property.

YRT and Viva Injury Claims in Vaughan

YRT and Viva cases are not determined by the mere fact that a passenger fell and was injured. Persuasive evidence can come from camera footage, vehicle data, accessibility procedures and records showing what the operator could see before the injury.

Foster Injury Law represents people who have suffered serious injuries on YRT and Viva buses in Vaughan and elsewhere in York Region. We can request preservation of recordings, obtain transit and medical evidence and identify the parties whose conduct caused or contributed to the injury. For related municipal transit claims, see our guides to TTC injury claims in Toronto and GRT bus injury claims in Kitchener.