Monday marked the first day new security measures were in place at Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) centres and stations.

The move came a few days after the city announced the changes.

A third-party contractor was hired to patrol 25 ETS facilities. About 100 guards will be dispatched as part of the addition.

“We review all security incidents very closely,” ETS spokesperson Rowan Anderson said.

“We’ve made some decisions to deploy these guards at stations that have had incidents over the past five years.”

Some of those locations include transit stations at Southgate, Coliseum and Century Park.

Starting Monday, security guards will spend most of their 12-hour shift at an assigned LRT station, before moving to another transit facility when the station closes for the night. All of the changes will be introduced over the coming two weeks.

The security guards will work with transit peace officers and Edmonton police, and receive training specific to the areas they patrol.

The move follows a number of random attacks at transit centres this year, including an incident where a young man was stabbed at South Campus LRT Station in an unprovoked attack.

In September, a bus driver was stabbed at the Mill Woods Transit Centre by a 15-year-old boy, who had reportedly asked for a ride downtown. The boy was arrested by police after trying to drive away in the bus.

Following that incident, the union representing bus drivers demanded added security measures, including retractable shields for drivers. The shields have since been approved, but there is no timeline for installation.

The added security guards will cost less than $1 million for the rest of 2018, and under $6 million annually.

With files from Nahreman Issa