Transit assault victim calls for onboard alert system

A number of recent assaults on TransLink vehicles has raised questions about whether current safety measures are sufficient to protect peoplebut one victim has a specific fix he thinks could help.

As part of a three-part series on TransLink security, CBC News Vancouver spoke to Steven Andrews, who was assaulted on board a bus in 2010.

Andrews was on a crowded bus on Vancouvers North Shorewhen heran into a group of men who were hassling passengers and smacked a teenager on the side of the head.

"I said to the guy closest to me, 'Hey, someone's called the cops. You better get off.' That was enough for him to turn on me and punch me in the face and then his buddies joined in," says Andrews.

His front teeth were shattered in the attack. His attackers jumped off at the next stop, and Andrews says the driver had no idea he had been beaten up.

Get within sight of driver, says TransLink

"Yeah, having some sort of alert system, just a button to alert the driver that's something going on [would help]," said Andrews.

TransLink spokesperson Drew Snider says attacks like the one on Andrews are rare and he isn't sure a panic button is worth the money.

"Most of the time there will be an opportunity to get up and within sight of the bus driver," said Snider.

That didn't work for Andrews, who now avoids taking the bus at night if he can.

A 64-year-old Vancouver man was recentlyarrested and charged with two counts of sexual assaultafter two women were groped on public transit.

In January, a female bus driver wasallegedly groped by a male passengeron the #22 bus.

In October, 18-year-old Jamie Kehoe wasstabbed to death during a fighton a bus in Surrey.

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