VANCOUVER – Translink unveiled a new tool today, which is designed to keep drivers safe.

It is a plexiglass barrier that Translink hopes will help stop drivers from being physically assaulted.

The prototype will be tested on one bus for six months starting on Thursday. The barrier will be on a NOVA bus, leaving from the Burnaby Transit Centre and may be on the following routes:

027 – Kootenay Loop/Joyce Station

106 – New Westminster/Metrotown Station

123 – New Westminster/Brentwood Station

125 – Patterson Station/BCIT

129 – Metrotown Station/Edmonds Station

130 – Metrotown/Hastings/Kootenay/Capilano University

The design will be finalized after the trial run is over.

“[It] is an auto interior-grade reflective, anti-fog, plexiglass,” says Nathan Woods, with Unifor Local 111, which represents the bus drivers. “It could have been a complete barrier, fully enclosing the transit operator, which would have made it a lot more restrictive to have that relationship.”

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“This will still allow us to interact, deal with the passengers as need be, and I think the passengers, once they see this, will appreciate that it’s there and why it’s there.”

Assaults on bus drivers has long been a concern of Translink and many agree these barriers have been a long time coming. Barriers like this one have been standard on buses in other countries for years.

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