LAVAL, Quebec - Laval bus drivers have been puffing away on the job and one rider has the photographic proof.
A commuter who seeks to protect his identity by asking to only be known as Chad, produced a series of recent photos of drivers sucking back on the smokes while on the bus.
In one video a driver is lighting up while cradling a coffee in his other hand.
In another, a driver puffs away behind the wheel on his break.
Chad is outraged by the practice, which he said shows blatant disrespect for the clientele.
"Second hand smoke is a big killer," he said. "And I don't want to be exposed to it while I'm taking public transit."
Both Laval transit brass and workers' union agreed that the drivers had no business sucking on the smokes.
"It's not permitted," said Laval Transit Commission's Sylvain Yelle. "Our rules and the law does not permit to smoke inside a bus."
The union rep didn't defend this nicotine-hungry fellow wheel-men either.
"Even if a driver is on a break, he knows the rules that it's forbidden to smoke in a bus," said Richard Ouimet, President of the Bus Drivers' Union.
A sampling of riders surveyed by CTV Montreal did not seem up in a knot about drivers flouting the smoking ban.
"It says ‘hors service' (out of service)," said one, "so you know so there's no one in the bus."
"I don't care really," said another.
The Laval Transit Corporation provided CTV Montreal with stats that suggest they receive two or three smoking-related complaints per month, but it was not clear whether they were inspired by drivers sneaking a smoke or by passengers lighting up the cancer sticks.
