Driver barriers to be installed on Brisbane buses
Driver-protection barriers will start being installed on Brisbane buses from July 1.
The installation of the barriers was a finding of the Bus Driver Safety Review that the state government ordered in September 2015.
One month after the review was ordered Manmeet Sharma died during an unprovoked attack while he was behind the wheel of a Brisbane City Council bus.
In May 2017 the council released its own independent review, completed by Aussafe Consulting, into the death of Mr Sharma, which found a driver barrier could be helpful depending on the nature of the incident.
On Friday, Transport Minister Mark Bailey released the government’s response to the Bus Driver Safety Review, which included $3.93 million for protective driver-safety barriers, which operators could apply for as part of a 50-50 government grant.
On Tuesday, council’s public and active transport chairman Adrian Schrinner announced the council would begin rolling out barriers on buses.
“From July 1 we will commence our program of rolling out barriers and we will be applying for that 50 per cent grant as soon as we are required to do so,” he said.
“We carried out consultation with our drivers last year and there was a strong response from our drivers for some sort of barrier.”
Cr Schrinner said he envisaged the barriers would be a partial barrier and that any new buses ordered in the coming financial years would come off the production line equipped with the driver protection barriers.
Opposition councillor Jared Cassidy welcomed the announcement barriers would be installed on Brisbane's buses.
"We have been calling for this for some time," he said.
"Barriers won't resolve all issues on buses, but they will certainly help to protect drivers from physical assault."