Coast worst on bus abuse

Union says measures ‘weaponised’

THE Transport Workers Union has branded the Gold Coast as one of the most troubled areas in the state as abuse of drivers continues to climb.

Comments from the TWU follow an etiquette push in Gold Coast classrooms launched by TransLink in a bid to prevent fare evasion and abuse.

The program dubbed StepUp, which allows students to meet drivers has, however, rolled out in just a handful of schools so far this year.

“I would say for us it is the number one place where our members report anti-social or violent behaviour to us,” Troy Fernandez, bus co-ordinator for the TWU Queensland Branch, said.

“We as a union applaud the program but it is one step of many things that need to be done.”

Mr Fernandez (pictured) said there was a need for more senior network officers in the network to ensure passengers are paying fares.

“There are currently only nine on the Gold Coast,” he said. “We have been calling for duress alarms, safety shields, heavier penalties for abusers and other measures for some time. When I was the co-ordinator on the coast week after week one of our drivers was assaulted bashed or verbally abused.”

Mr Fernandez said safety measures that ensured minors were not left behind had been weaponised by badly behaved students.

“The big thing is the drivers feel they have been disempowered in their workplaces,” he said.

“Drivers are unable to say no to students who are flagrantly deciding not to pay or act in an anti-social way on the buses. They say things to our members like you have to take me, because they know they can’t be left behind.

“Our members just trying to provide a service to the public, but have become victims of the Government’s lack of capacity to protect them and the job.

“It is pretty disgusting what is happening out there.”

Member for Currumbin Jann Stuckey who has repeatedly raised the issue in parliament said more steps need to be taken. Ms Stuckey said buses had missed out on the presence of SNO’s compared to other transport providers.

“Compare the 9 SNO’s to that to G: Link with 31 officers and trains with 27 authorised personnel,” she said.

“Gold Coast Surfside Bus network is expanding — they operated 913,236 scheduled bus services in 2016 — 2017 and 936,181 in 2017–2018 so why are they being dudded?“