BC Transit tests new door to protect its bus drivers
Steel door with Plexiglas window to be installed on Kelowna bus within a week
Bus drivers will be getting protection from violent customers with a new driver door being installed on BC Transit buses.
The bottom half of the door is made of steel and the top half is a Plexiglas window.
The door completely separates the driver from other people on the bus.
“We’re trying to address the issue of assault on our operators,” said Manuel Achadinha, BC Transit president and chief executive officer.
Last year in Kelowna, there were nine assaults against bus drivers. So far this year, there have been four.
The main types of attack the door aims to prevent are assaults from behind and spitting on the drivers, said Achadinha.
One door will be installed on a Kelowna bus later this week or next week, along with one in Abbotsford and three in Victoria. Each door costs about $6,000. The doors will be on the five buses for six months while BC Transit gets feedback from drivers and the community.
After making any necessary changes to the door, they will be installed on all BC Transit buses, said Achadinha.
“We’re pretty confident the product we’ve come up with is something both the operators and our customers are going to support,” he said.
Scott Lovell, president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union, said he applauded the efforts to implement safety measures that will “significantly reduce the chance of our members succumbing to those heinous acts of violence.”
However, local drivers have expressed concerns about being cut off from their customers, he said.
“We are very community-oriented in Kelowna, and the drivers don’t want to be separated from their neighbours, their brothers, their family. They just don’t,” said
Lovell, adding that, as president, he has to look at the situation differently.
“Whatever I can do or the executive board can do to ensure that we don’t get phone calls at 2 in the morning that one of our drivers was heinously beaten, I will do. It seems to be a better alternative, because violence in our workplace is not stopping or slowing down.”
Achadinha said BC Transit considered drivers’ concerns when designing the door, which is why they settled on the adjustable Plexiglas window.
“We wanted to have the compromise of driver safety and customer service interaction,” he said.
Along with driver safety, one of the goals is making customers feel safe on the bus, said Achadinha.
“We want to make sure the bus continues to be a safe place for people.”