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Police officers are taking the bus to look for people texting and driving.

The police service partnered up with Winnipeg Transit Thursday to ride various routes around the city.

We know distracted driving is a difficult issue for police to enforce. Getting creative like this raises the awareness of the issue and keeps the personal, and societal, costs of distracted driving in the community's mind. https://t.co/ylUAM7MMQu — CAA Manitoba (@CAAManitoba) March 29, 2018

One of the reasons we’re on @winnipegtransit today is to assist with distracted driving enforcement. This is what we’re hoping to see: drivers focused on driving – and the cell phone *not* in use! So far so good! –#WPSTraffic pic.twitter.com/IHyABzCmhI — Winnipeg Police (@wpgpolice) March 29, 2018

“While the safety and security of passengers and operators will be a focus of this effort, we will also be conducting an enforcement project by watching for distracted drivers who use hand held electronic devices while driving,” a news release from the Winnipeg Police Service stated.

READ MORE: Winnipeg police frustrated texting and driving still continues on the roads

The service used Thursday to let people know officers will be focusing even more on finding distracted drivers during April.

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Earlier this month the province announced stiffer penalties for people caught on their phones while driving. When passed, the updated legislation will allow police to suspend a driver’s licence for three days for a first offence and for seven days for a subsequent infraction.

Drivers already face a $204 fine and five demerit points.

READ MORE: Roadside suspensions on the way for Manitobans caught texting and driving

As of 4 p.m. March 29, nine tickets had been issued by police officers on city buses.

Update: People have been asking how many Distracted Driving tickets were written today. Our project counted nine tickets issued. The goal, as always should be zero. That would mean folks are truly getting the message: Leave the phone alone when driving. #WPSTraffic — Winnipeg Police (@wpgpolice) March 29, 2018