An Investigation Into Abuse and Assault of Route Bus Drivers: Statistics, Triggers, Risk Reduction, Training, and Opportunities
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An Investigation into Abuse and Assault of Route Bus Drivers: Statistics, triggers, risk reduction, training, and opportunities. Stuart Dawson Parry Serafim Chris Lowe Bus Association Victoria Inc. June 2017 Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 3 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction and overview ..................................................................................................................... 5 Part 1 – The abuse and assault of Victorian route bus drivers. .............................................................. 7 Part 2 - Official data for the physical and verbal assault of bus drivers ............................................... 13 Part 3 – Triggers for abuse and assault ................................................................................................. 19 Part 4 - The legislative framework for passenger behaviour and farebox compliance ........................ 25 Part 5 – Physical risk reduction (engineering) measures ...................................................................... 28 Part 6 – Driver training in respect of passenger conflict and farebox compliance ............................... 33 Part 7 – Fare Evasion - A Quantitative Study ........................................................................................ 42 Part 8 - Industry comments: strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities ........................... 54 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................ 58 Appendix 1: Bus Operator Interview Transcripts, February-March 2017 ............................................. 59 Appendix 2 – Non-Operator Agencies .................................................................................................. 96 Appendix 3 - Key Interview topics Analytic Grid ................................................................................. 102 Appendix 4: Legislation impacting drivers in respect of passenger behaviour and ticketing ............ 103 References .......................................................................................................................................... 105 Contributors Stuart Dawson is Accreditation Liaison Manager at Bus Association Victoria Inc., and an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University. Parry Serafim is the Manager, Planning and Industry Development at Bus Association Victoria Inc. Chris Lowe is Executive Director of the Bus Association Victoria Inc. 2 Acknowledgements We thank the members and Board of BusVic for seeing and supporting the need for this work to be undertaken. We also thank the 16 contracted BusVic member and non-member bus operators and their various staff members who generously availed their time and interest to participate in the group interviews and some follow-up enquiries on which this project was based. We also wish to thank the TWU Vic/Tas organisers, and members of the Authorised Officer Bus Pool, for the same interest and willingness to participate in this project. We thank Stephen Turner, Director Bus Safety, Transport Safety Victoria, for his willing communications on incident reporting, and for providing the latest official data. We also thank PTV for providing the myki top-up information and charts. We additionally wish to thank Robyn Lincoln (Associate Professor of Criminology, Bond University), for her interest in, and email correspondence on, some criminological aspects of this research. BusVic Bus Association Victoria Inc. (BusVic) is the voluntary professional association for bus and coach operators and suppliers. BusVic is committed to working in partnership with all stakeholders involved in raising the level of safety, integrity and effectiveness of the Victorian route bus system and the level of the professional and ethical behaviour of bus operators. The triggers, ramifications and solutions to verbal abuse and physical assault of route bus drivers has been of significant and material focus to BusVic, global practitioners and academics of late and this work aims to make a contribution to that narrative. 3 Executive Summary This report reviews the extent of verbal abuse and physical assault of Victorian route bus drivers, which increased significantly over the past three years. It explains why the official data dramatically understates the extent of aggression, essentially because it was never set up to capture it, and provides a sound basis to realistically estimate the extent of aggression to drivers. This shows that physical assault is some 20 times, and verbal abuse some 4000 times, higher than TSV data suggest. It ranks the triggers for abuse and assault, and summarises the legislation under which operators manage drivers, passenger behaviour, and fare collection. It reviews industry responses to the problem of rising incidences of passenger aggression, including physical (engineering) risk reduction methods. It reviews the adequacy of bus driver training in respect of passenger interaction and farebox compliance, which is inconsistent and problematic. It reports the results of a qualitative investigation into these issues specifically for bus, which has not previously been attempted. This report also presents a fare evasion study, the results of which suggests that fare evasion on Melbourne's route bus network is presently being understated. The introduction provides an overview of the background, objectives, and methodology for this investigation and report, which represents the first qualitative research into the triggers of, and extent of, aggression toward bus drivers that has been conducted anywhere in the bus industry. Part 1 sets out what is known and not known about aggression towards bus drivers, and establishes a link between fare non-compliance and increasing levels of aggression over the past three years. Part 2 explains the basis of TSV’s official incident data, and why it shows only a fraction of assaults on drivers. It then provides a sound basis to estimate the true extent of aggression toward drivers. Part 3 sets out and discusses the triggers of aggression identified by the interviewed operators. Apart from the two primary triggers of ticketing and late running, these are not ranked in order of frequency or severity. Levels of aggression may vary both geographically and demographically. Part 4 critically examines how current legislation, which imposes a range of expectations and duties on bus drivers, impacts upon their role, and makes them into frequent victims of aggression. Part 5 evaluates physical measures that have been implemented to varying extents, which are intended to reduce the risk of aggression to drivers, or increase their confidence in their own safety. Part 6 examines operator approaches to bus driver training in respect of passenger interaction, conflict, and farebox issues. It will be seen that training is heavily impacted by the climate of risk of assault in which drivers work. Part 7 presents a quantitative fare evasion study that challenges the true extent of fare evasion on Melbourne's route bus network. Bus Association Victoria Inc engaged a resource to ride on multiple metropolitan route bus services 5 days a week for 6 weeks over April and May 2017 and count how many passengers touched on with their myki smartcard and how many didn't. The results suggest that fare non compliance on the metropolitan bus network is much higher than is being reported by PTV. Part 8 offers BAV industry comments on some key issues that emerged from this investigation. 4 Recommendations have been made in respect of the matters investigated, based on the analysis that follows each section. The most urgent need is dialogue about how to address increasing tension between bus driver safety and farebox compliance, which requires immediate legislative action. Introduction and overview Background: Concerns about rising incidences of verbal abuse and physical assault of bus drivers have been raised by Bus Association Victoria (BAV), bus operators and drivers, the Transport Workers Union (TWU), and in media reports, for several years. In 2013, the reasons for this rise were not clear, its impact little explored, and, bar a small number of incidents classifiable as criminal assault, its extent mostly unknown. In 2014, BAV initiated research by MentalHealth@Work that surveyed aggression toward Victorian bus drivers as one element of a broader study, primarily focussed on their mental health and contributing risk factors. It did not distinguish between verbal and physical aggression, correctly seeing their impact as part of a continuum of psychological damage. However, research conducted for the present report revealed that this and related distinctions vitally inform drivers’ attitudes to reporting abuse and assault to operators. The study recommended further research into aggression, including its actual rather than perceived rate; the impact of myki on interactions with drivers, and how incidents of aggression might be reduced, including by driver training. BAV commissioned a second study, Prevention of Aggression to Bus Drivers, which reviewed a range of literature to do with workplace aggression, including that first study,