Cairns bus services: Sunbus drivers refuse to take cash after attacks
Aggressive behaviour towards public transport drivers has reached boiling point with many refusing to accept cash on their route.
Cairns
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AGGRESSIVE behaviour towards public transport drivers has reached boiling point with many refusing to accept cash on their route.
As a protest to this, bus drivers across Cairns are refusing to take their cash tins on buses without hindering the service.
Transport Workers Union Queensland Director of Organising Jared Abbott said cash should not be allowed on buses after around 15 robberies in Cairns last month.
“The days of bus drivers carrying cash without sufficient security protections should be over. Bus operators and TransLink have been too slow to act on this, and now drivers are having to protect themselves,” he said.
“These drivers are not taking this measure to be disruptive, and bus routes will continue as normal.”
A TransLink spokesperson said there were measures in place for safety.
“Customer Service Officers are deployed on buses and at bus stations in Cairns, as well as security guards on select services,” they said.
“These types of incidents are rare and public transport remains safe, with the vast majority of about 73 million trips taken on buses in Queensland during the 2021-22 financial year to the end of May occurring without incident.”
Currently bus services in Cairns do not have an option to pay with card but the spokesperson said soon the incidents would decrease.
“Translink’s Smart Ticketing system is expected to help decrease these incidents as customers pay for their journey with a smart device or bank card.”
A Sunbus spokersperson said they were working with TransLink and police to best support their drivers.
“Anti-social behaviour is not tolerated and all incidents of criminal activity are reported to and dealt with by police,” they said.
“Security and CCTV is in place with vision provided to QPS and we thank them for the response to recent incidents.”
But these incidents have not been limited to buses, Cairns taxis has also experienced aggressive behaviour.
Cairns Taxis fleet service manager Chris Balsom said he has noticed the shift.
“There’s been an increase of aggressive passengers which our drivers are finding difficult to deal with,” he said.
“With the driver shortage, people tend to take it out on the drivers.
“For Cairns Taxis our primary concern is driver safety. Our number one concern is the driver operating in a safe manner.”
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