(Image by Tiara Jung/The Capilano Courier)

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VANCOUVER (CUP) — In November, a bus driver was assaulted by two West Vancouver teens just after 1 a.m. Suspecting intoxication, the driver refused entry to the two teens. The teens became infuriated and beat the driver, who suffered a broken nose and other facial injuries.

This incident echoes a similar one a year-and-a-half ago in which a Vancouver bus driver was beaten and left for dead by three teenagers. Several West Vancouver bus routes have seen a string of recent driver assaults by drunken teens, and Translink's new security measures are doing little to protect their drivers or the people who ride these buses.

Everyone knows public transit can be a bit risky. Images of muggings and violence on subways and buses have been widely portrayed in films and television. However, it’s not the shady guy hanging in the back you need to worry about anymore: it’s the intoxicated teens hanging out at 1 a.m. when you’re tired, full of pizza, and just want to go to bed.

One could argue that the perpetrators are just kids who want get home, but after ingesting half of a two-six of Smirnoff vodka, they may also want to get a little rowdy. The last thing those teens are willing to do is spend $2.50 to get on a bus.

To make matters worse, many of Vancouver's bus drivers seem to have a strange complex with authority. Some of them are nice people who just want to give you a safe ride home; however, there are also the ones who would rather leave you standing in the freezing cold all night than waive the transit fare.

This string of altercations that stem from bus drivers refusing teens rides seems to be seeded in Translink's lack of security measures. Drivers should not be playing the role of enforcer or authority figure.

In 2007, Translink announced that within the next few years, all buses would have video cameras installed as a deterrent to violence and crime on buses.

However, as Micheal Vonn, policy director for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said in an interview with The Province, "There are studies that show the cameras do not deter crime. It is a concern that cameras are proliferating. Quite often the idea is CCTV is a quick fix. What happens is we get technologically driven, which doesn't end up being the solution at all."

It does seem a bit counter-productive to install cameras as a security measure when they can only protect you after the crime has been committed. In 2006, there were 241 assaults against Translink bus drivers, which triggered the security measures implemented by Translink.

Being a bus driver can be a pretty thankless job. People generally treat you poorly, and Translink leaves it up to the driver whether or not to allow intoxicated people or passengers without fares onto the bus. Drunken teens and fare-less people make up a large part of the post-midnight bus population, and it’s quite common to see drivers lose their cool over some arrogant passenger.

In many major cities, plastic barriers have been installed to separate the driver from aggravated passengers who may want to cause them physical harm. This security measure does seem pretty logical; the last thing a driver needs while driving a bus full of people down the road is some asshole punching them in the face for making them pay a fare. Vancouver's Coast Mountain Bus Company has found that such barriers create some glare and are “uncomfortable” for drivers, but perhaps this finding needs to be weighed against how uncomfortable assault can be.

Cameras and plexiglass barriers aside, what Translink really needs to do in order to ensure the safety of driver and passengers is to add a security presence on late-night and “dangerous” routes. Transit police are able to strike fear into the heart of anyone riding the Skytrain without a paid fare, and their presence on late-night bus routes would likely deter any drunken, angry teen from getting violent.

Transit police also have the authority to refuse transit and issue tickets to unruly passengers. Taking the power and responsibility from drivers would allow them to do what they have been hired to do: drive the god-damned bus and get us all home on time.

With the prices of monthly bus passes continuing to rise, it would seem that Translink could dip into its deep coffers and protect its valued customers and employees.

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