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Transit employees rally in bid to make buses safer

NEWTON - Transit employees rallied at Newton Exchange on Friday to raise awareness about assaults on both operators and passengers of public transit.

 

The rally highlighted the need for more security after a string of attacks on operators, including the most recent incident - a driver in Newton was punched in the face on March 26.

 

One of the rally organizers, Shannon Stewart, said she's tired of hearing about people coming to work and getting hurt.

 

According to her, the majority of those taking transit are good people, yet a small percentage of riders ruin it for everyone else.

 

"There's a point where I think everybody says 'enough is enough,'" she said, adding people should be able to get on the bus without fear of being touched or accosted.

 

"I don't think it's right that anybody has to be in fear of doing a job whether you're a cab driver, a police driver, a cashier," she said. "You should be able to come to work, enjoy

 

your day and go home safe and we're not getting that right now and it needs to stop."

 

On March 31, the Metro Vancouver transit police launched the Don't Touch the Operator campaign. This comes in the wake of three violent and unprovoked assaults on Metro Vancouver bus drivers since February.

 

Woods said the union has been requesting an increase in security staff in the region as the numbers they have now are too low.

 

Woods said there are two security teams of two covering 1,800 square kilometres of Metro Vancouver's transit system.

 

"If the riding public think four security people covering off over 100 routes is enough, that's ridiculous," he said.

 

Besides looking to install optional barriers for drivers, the union is strongly lending its support to Bill C-355, proposed by Ontario MP Ralph Goodale last fall. The bill would make changes to the Criminal Code that would eliminate lighter sentences for people who assault bus drivers, and instead charge them along similar lines with those who assault police officers.

 

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