Carmen Hall: Addressing safety fears in Tauranga's downtown

There are concerns about anti-social behaviour around the Willow St bus terminal. Photo / George Novak

OPINION:

Everyone should feel safe at work.

There are exceptions when the nature of the job itself carries inherent risks - such as fighting fires and bringing criminals to justice.

People working in those fields are aware of those dangers and receive a high level of training about how to respond to and guard against any threats to their safety.

However, it is a sad day indeed when bus drivers are increasingly in danger from aggressive passengers.

Figures show incidents are happening on and off the bus and have recently escalated in Tauranga's CBD. Drivers reported 28 incidents in September and October - five of the more serious incidents were reported to the police.

NZ Bus says drivers have been assaulted, robbed and verbally abused and there have been a handful of robberies or attempted robberies of driver cash boxes and personal belongings.

A passenger suffered a broken wrist when another passenger allegedly pushed her.

The company is now training staff about how to de-escalate abusive passengers.

Fears for public safety in Tauranga have also been raised.

First Union organiser Graham McKean says the CBD is becoming a "frightening place".

I think this behaviour is appalling and bus drivers should not have to put up with aggressive passengers who like using intimidation.

I agree with businesses that it does the city's image no favours to have intoxicated people loitering around the bus terminal.

I acknowledge the councils and the police are working together with other agencies and there is hope the Māori Wardens will resume their inner-city patrols.

There have been suggestions the Willow St bus terminal should be moved but, in my view, that will just be shifting the problem.

At the moment the CBD is undergoing a huge transformation and now is the time to clean up its image and take a tough stance.

Why should people be allowed downtown if they are unruly, intoxicated, offensive or acting aggressively?

In Rotorua, security guards patrol the CBD to combat safety issues, but they come at a cost to ratepayers.

In 2019, the council was spending about $28,000 per month for the service.

And at the moment, security companies are patrolling 24/7 during the summer period for the second year in a row.

Do we want that in Tauranga?

Security patrols might be expensive, but how else can we address the behavioural issues emerging in our downtown?