Call for more bus security
BUS drivers are calling for a cashless ticketing system, better CCTV technology, protective screens and harsher penalties for offenders as more and more cop abuse from passengers.
A survey of Queensland bus drivers revealed more than 96 per cent had been abused.
The Transport Workers’ Union poll also showed 89 per cent of the drivers reported being intimidated or threatened, 27 per cent were spat at and more than 17.6 per cent experienced racial abuse.
TWU state secretary Peter Biagini said the Gold Coast was a hot spot for bus assaults because it was a tourist destination.
“People come up here for a good time and get intoxicated, get on a bus, something goes wrong and they get into an argument,” he said.
“(Bus drivers) are getting king hit, spat at and stuff thrown at them, as well as verbal abuse.”
Last month, a 16-year-old boy was arrested over an alleged cowardly attack on an elderly man on a Surfside Bus.
In 2014 in Southport, a man dragged a 63-year-old driver out of the bus to the ground and punched him.
Queensland Bus Industry Council executive director David Tape said any measure to isolate the driver from physical contact from unruly passengers would help ease the problem.
Mr Tape said buses should be fitted with protective screens, like the glass ones in trams, and state-of-the-art security technology.
Many arguments in buses started around cash, usually because the driver lacked change.
“We can’t go on any further. Sooner or later there will be worse injuries and, God forbid, a death,” Mr Tape said. “We can’t let it go there. “We need to take responsibility and get things to change.”
The campaign Get On Board was launched yesterday at Pacific Fair and Mr Biagini called on TransLink to step up and “stop risking the lives of drivers”.
“TransLink have fundamentally failed in their duty to provide a safe workplace for the drivers, let alone a safe travelling experience for passengers,” he said.
“We want all drivers to be able to do their job safely and go home at the end of the day.”