People want SkyTrain stations staffed

We need to get serious about improving safety for SkyTrain commuters.

Last week I, along with MLA Adrian Dix and many volunteers, were 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 10 more women being assaulted near the Edmonds SkyTrain Station and another assault reported near 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.

Increasing safety on transit and in particular at SkyTrain 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.

Raj Chouhan

MLA Burnaby Edmonds