Whatever happened to a ‘morning driver’ and a ‘thank you driver’ as you hopped on and off the bus? The violence and racial abuse of bus drivers and indeed their commuters, their passengers using public transport, has got so bad in recent times that the Bus and Coach Association is calling for more security officers to ride along on bus routes, for safety screens to be installed on buses, and now the Government is making offences against public transport workers an aggravating factor in sentencing. Along with the tougher sentences, the Government’s investing $15 million specifically for practical improvements to driver safety, like retrofitting the aforementioned safety screens and real time CCTV monitoring.
