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GUEST COLUMN – NDP
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NEW DEMOCRATS’ 10-POINT PLAN FOR SKYTRAIN SAFETY |
By Raj Chouhan, MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds
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We need to get serious about improving safety for SkyTrain commuters.
This week I, along with MLA Adrian Dix and many volunteers, was at the Edmonds SkyTrain station calling for more SkyTrain police, security cameras, better lights and turnstiles as measures to increase security at stations throughout the lower mainland.
The New Democrats repeated their call for TransLink to immediately adopt the measures laid out in the NDP’s 10-Point Plan to improve SkyTrain safety in the wake of RCMP reports of ten more women being assaulted near the Edmonds SkyTrain Station and another assault reported at the Nanaimo SkyTrain station.
SkyTrain passengers don’t want investigations after the fact; they want someone at the SkyTrain station witnessing and preventing assaults from occurring.
A survey done last month for TransLink confirms that riders believe SkyTrain attendants are needed to address ongoing security concerns at stations. Riders polled indicated that they do not feel safe around certain stations, especially at night.
Women and people with disabilities have far greater concerns with transit safety. The lack of action to improve security measures in Burnaby is a big problem for residents trying to get around the city, yet safety is essential to promoting transit use.
For the past two years Adrian Dix, the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway, has been leading a strong campaign to improve Sky Train safety. The 10-point plan was spearheaded after a series of attacks against women at the 29th Avenue and Nanaimo SkyTrain stations. NDP MLAs held public meetings, went door-to-door around SkyTrain stations, met with the families of victims of crime and talked to transit police, SkyTrain attendants and thousands of transit riders.
Many of the ideas contained in our plan come directly from the community – from listening to the ideas and proposals from transit users, groups such as Families against Crime and Trauma and Women against Violence against Women. Thousands of people, mostly from East Vancouver but also Burnaby, New Westminster and Surrey, signed petitions in support of the ten-point plan.
Increasing safety on transit and in particular at SkyTrain’s stations by itself will not stop all violent crime in the neighbourhoods around SkyTrain stations. It will simply make traveling better and safer for those using transit.
All the victims of these crimes had several things in common – they were TransLink customers attacked going to, coming from or at SkyTrain stations. TransLink exists to serve its customers, the residents of the Lower Mainland. We have an obligation to do everything possible to ensure that riders are safe when they use the system.
At a time when the Campbell government is encouraging people to leave their car at home and ride public transit, their lack of action is having a negative effect on our efforts.
The New Democrats encourage TransLink to adopt the Ten-Point plan. We all want more people to ride transit. It is good for our communities and for the environment.
The NDP 10-Point Plan to Improve SkyTrain Safety:
1. Increase the number of SkyTrain police by 50%, with the goal of having one security person at every SkyTrain station while the line in operating.
2. Provide additional after-hours security at all stations.
3. Place primary focus on security rather than fare evasion.
4. Build new turnstiles now with direct grant from provincial government rather than redirecting TransLink resources to private sector scheme.
5. Implement a pilot walk-home program for at least five high-risk stations.
6. Expand the Joyce-Collingwood pink-whistle program.
7. Conduct full review of lighting at SkyTrain stations.
8. Increase sponsorship of community gardens and other amenities at SkyTrain stations.
9. Support the bus drivers campaign to implement stiffer criminal penalties for attacks on transit personnel.
10. Restore support for Victims’ services and anti-violence against women programs and women’s centres.
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