Greyhound Canada is seeming to have a difficult time as it implements new security measures.

The bus company was a hot item in the news after a passenger was stabbed to death and beheaded on a bus headed from Edmonton to Winnipeg last summer.

A television reporter recently boarded an Edmonton bus with a pocket knife and other prohibited items in his carry-on luggage, according to the Canadian Press.

The CTV Edmonton reporter packed a wrench, screwdriver, pliers and a pocket knife under a hockey jersey and some books in his carry-on bag, and secretly videotaped himself boarding the bus.

Last December, Greyhound announced it would introduce new security measures, including metal detector checks and rules about stowing luggage beneath the bus. 

Clearly, based on this reporter’s experience, the security measures aren’t working. 

It’s great that the bus company seems concerned about the safety of its passengers, but trying to implement such security measures on a bus is ridiculous.

Anything a passenger on a bus can do, a person anywhere in a public place can do. 

If security checks are implemented on inter-city buses, would the same be expected on the train? 

How about city buses, which are at times packed end to end with passengers? Would a chef be prohibited from carrying his set of knives home from work on a city bus or a subway?

And how about cinemas? People sit in the same proximity to one another in a crowded theatre as they do on a Greyhound bus. Would security measures be expected there?

As well, the logistics of implementing stringent security on a bus are extremely complex.

Perhaps everyone should have a metal detector at their property line, and be forced to discard any offensive items before they’re permitted to leave home.

Although the company has stated the security measures are not a result of last summer’s gruesome decapitation, it’s clear it’s making a weak effort to improve its image in the wake of that event.

When the video collected by the CTV reporter was shown to Greyhound’s local director of safety, she said she was a little surprised, because it deviates from their company policy. “This is not the right procedure and now that we’ve seen that we can go in and investigate.”

Business will likely wane for Greyhound for a while, until the murder is a distant memory and people start to feel more comfortable on the bus again. 

Until then, that company should stop insulting the public’s intelligence with its feeble attempts to show improved security measures on inter-city buses.