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Speaker 1: The government's introducing a new aggravating factor for us fences

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Speaker 1: against public transport workers. This is after attack on bus

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Speaker 1: drivers and passengers on the buses as well has left

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Speaker 1: them bashed and bloodied and bruised. Gary Froget is with us.

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Speaker 1: He's the Tramways union president. Gary. Good morning, Good morning, Ryan,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for being with me. Tell me do you think

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Speaker 1: this aggravating factor for offenses is going to help? Is

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Speaker 1: going to deter people who do this?

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Speaker 2: Well, I guess it's another weapon in the armory against

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Speaker 2: this type of crime. It will help make some passengers

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Speaker 2: think again before assaulting a bus driver. However, it's not

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Speaker 2: going to be a solution on its own. The quicker

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Speaker 2: at can install the promise safety screens would be a

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Speaker 2: much better solution.

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Speaker 1: I think yeah, And there is money, they say, money

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Speaker 1: coming for that. Why do they generally attack bus drivers?

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Speaker 2: What sets it off? Well, mainly it's over fears. When

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Speaker 2: the driver questions why their hot card doesn't work, they

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Speaker 2: get aggravated. The driver usually tells them to take a seat,

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Speaker 2: But in the last four instances in the last two weeks,

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Speaker 2: we've discovered that the passengers come down the aisle and

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Speaker 2: then whack the driver while he's actually driving the bus.

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Speaker 2: We don't know what triggers that off. Maybe they don't

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Speaker 2: like authority being asked to pay their fare. I'm not sure.

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Speaker 1: So what are you What are the drivers told to

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Speaker 1: do in that situation? Are they told to tell them

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Speaker 1: to sit down? Or what's the rule?

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Speaker 2: Well? Often transportive in this particular case, or can transport

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Speaker 2: have now agree that bus drivers are no longer required

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Speaker 2: to monitor the fair cards all and the drivers have

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Speaker 2: been told not to question the passengers, just to let

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Speaker 2: them take a seat, lose a couple of dollars and

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Speaker 2: have a bus driver off work for three months or so.

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Speaker 1: I can see the logic, But man, it's a sad

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Speaker 1: day when you have to just let them run a mark,

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Speaker 1: isn't it?

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Speaker 2: Yes, it is. It's not acceptable, But I don't have

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Speaker 2: a solution. We can't have a police officer on every bus, unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: and we really don't want that. In the old days,

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Speaker 2: of course, there was a conductor who collected the fares

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Speaker 2: and they acted as a type of security. Gary.

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Speaker 1: What about slamming on the brakes, Well.

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Speaker 2: That has happened on occasions. One of our drivers did that, unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: the bus company didn't like it, and when he tried

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Speaker 2: to kick the passenger off the bus, they got upset

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Speaker 2: and tried to threaten him with some penalty. So it's

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Speaker 2: a difficult situation.

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Speaker 1: It is rocking a hard place. Gary, thanks very much

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Speaker 1: for being with me. Hopefully the new aggravating factor might

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Speaker 1: make some difference. That's Gary Frogett. He's the Tramways Union president.

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