Police, Brisbane City Council, TransLink up security at Chermside Interchange
A multi-agency bid to “stamp-out community misbehaviour” at an interchange where a bus driver reported being too afraid to leave her bus to go to the toilet will begin soon.
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SECURITY will be increased at a major Brisbane bus interchange where a driver reported being too afraid to leave her bus to go to the toilet.
Rail Tram and Bus Union Queensland secretary Tom Brown said Brisbane City Council, Queensland Police and TransLink were working together to increase safety at Chermside Interchange in a one month trial.
“Our members will be watching this very, very closely,” Mr Brown said.
“At the moment, there’s a great reluctance to go in there because it’s volatile, so we’ll listen to our members to see if that reluctance will ease off.
“There are other interchanges on the radar — Carindale is one and Browns Plains is the other, also Inala — that could use similar bolstering of the security.”
It comes after Quest Community News reported drivers were afraid to leave the bus to go to the toilet, forced to dodge assaults and finding it difficult to deal with fare evaders.
It also follows the revelation that verbal and physical attacks on Brisbane bus drivers rose by 41 per cent this year, despite $1.3 million expenditure on increased safety measures.
Public and active transport chair Krista Adams security guards would be at the interchange platform between Sunday to Wednesday from to 2-8pm up from 3-7pm.
She said it would feed into a multi-agency response with the Queensland Police increasing their presence at the interchange.
“We realise it’s around those school hours that seems to be the issue, so we’ll get in a little earlier,” she said.
“Our security guards are bouncers at the bus stops — it’s about having somebody on the platforms to identify any suspicious behaviour before it escalates.”
She said the council would evaluate the trial with the union at the end of the four weeks.
Cr Adams said any bus driver being assaulted, whether it was verbal or physical was “unacceptable”.
“We’ll always work with the unions to see what we can do to stamp out this misbehaviour of the community,” she said.
“This isn’t just bus drivers, we’re seeing this with paramedics, with nurses in hospitals, teachers in playgrounds that there’s a greater issue here about the general public’s behaviour to public servants and first responders.”
Cr Adams said the council was still writing to TransLink to provide more Senior Network Officers, who have greater powers and training than security guards, on Brisbane’s bus network.
Mr Brown agreed with Cr Adams that there was a wider issue of abuse towards public servants and he said he was particularly worried about drivers and teachers.
“It’s interesting to note other people have back up on hand, in emergency wards there’s security guards everywhere,” he said.
“When we get the security at the right level at our interchanges we will get the results.”
A TransLink spokesperson it was undertaking joint operations with the Queensland Police Service to target anti-social behaviour at major transport hubs, including Chermside.
“We’re currently in the process of hiring up to 20 more SNOs to patrol across the SEQ network, as required,” the spokesperson said.
Queensland Police was contacted for comment.
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