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Fewer bus drivers in Metro Vancouver are being assaulted, thanks in part to protective barriers that are being installed in the region’s buses.

According to data provided by TransLink, the regional transit authority, there were 89 assaults last year on drivers who work for Coast Mountain Bus Company, the operating arm of TransLink that provides 96 per cent of bus services in Metro. That number is down from 99 the previous year and 106 in 2016. In 2015, there were 110 assaults.

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To date in 2019, there have been 54 assaults on bus drivers, with the worst month being April, when there were 11. This is comparable to 2017, when there were 55 assaults in the first seven months of the year.

“We’re encouraged to see that when factoring in ridership growth, TransLink is on track to match last year’s record low levels of operator assaults,” TransLink spokesperson Jill Drews said in an email.

This year, buses in Metro Vancouver have had an average of more than 20 million boardings each month.