Soon transit buses across the province will be equipped with full driver doors to protect drivers from potential abuse and attacks.
It's a sad reality, but BC Transit has launched the full door concept with five full driver doors being installed on buses in Victoria, Abbotsford and Kelowna.
Manuel Achadinha, BC Transit President and Chief Executive Officer, tells us why they've chosen those three communities.
"They are three of our largest fleets, and historically, it's where we've had some challenges in terms of incidents, and it's the one thing we want to be able to address."
Ben Williams, president of Unifor Local 333, which represents the transit operators, says his union and BC Transit will await feedback from the drivers.
"One of the things our operators have come to us over the years and have said is, they don't feel safe. But, at the same time they don't want to sit there and limit that communication with their customers. So, it was trying to balance their safety as well as allowing them to do their job and communicate with their customers as they have over the years, and as they enjoy doing."
BC Transit will create an implementation plan to install full driver doors on medium-duty and heavy-duty buses across the province.