Bus Drivers Stop Night Service to Inala and Forest Lake Due to Safety Concerns

Bus drivers servicing routes 100 and 110 have had enough. Due to rising incidences of youth crime and violence, buses on these routes will no longer be travelling through the areas of Inala and Forest Lake at night, until further notice.

The Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU) has recently announced that from 6.30 pm to the last service, bus service will no longer continue past Stop 67 on Blunder Road, Oxley every Thursday to Sunday for route 100 outbound beginning 20 January 2023. This will also apply to route 110 outbound as it will not go further than Stop 59 on Mortimer Road, Acacia Ridge North.

The announcement is in response to the continued violence being experienced by the drivers servicing these bus routes. RTBU said that their drivers continue to experience incidents of being assaulted and buses being vandalised despite temporary measures put in place the week before “to help alleviate youth gang violence.”

“The safety of our bus drivers is still in imminent risk. The measures put in place so far are simply not enough to deter the youth gangs threatening and attacking our members.

“This is not good enough!

“Everyone deserves the right to go to work without fear and go home without being assaulted.

For the past weeks, it was reported that there have been about 24 incidents of violence including assault, spitting, and attacks from the outside using rocks and bottles. The last incident occurred Friday 13 January 2023 when a huge rock was thrown at the bus window where two female passengers were seated.

“We acknowledge the disruption this will cause to members of the community but our members deserve to be safe at work and we take any action necessary to guarantee this.

“Police need to be allocated to these routes to keep our drivers safe until fully encapsulated screens and a dedicated transit police squad are up and running.”

In late December 2022, the State Government announced that it will introduce new measures in response to the rising crimes involving the youth including increasing high-visibility patrols; construction of two new youth detention facilities; and a penalty of 14 years if an offence is committed at night, where the offender uses violence or threatens violence.

Published 24-January-2023