Latest news with #Transdev
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Sydney tram drivers say they fear more pedestrian deaths without urgent safety fixes
Sydney tram drivers say the city's light rail infrastructure needs to be made safer after a second fatal incident involving a pedestrian in two years. The drivers, who spoke to Guardian Australia on the condition of anonymity because they were afraid of losing their jobs, said they had been banned from sharing information about the deaths with colleagues. Drivers said they decided to risk speaking out because they wanted safety changes and had concerns about the current set-up, including that it was too easy for someone to fall into the gap between a crowded platform and a tram. They raised concerns that existing safety measures were not adequate, saying the trams' camera system was too slow to switch on and an emergency sensor underneath the carriages did not activate during the two recent fatal incidents. One driver said they were discouraged even from sharing articles about safety issues, such as one published by Guardian Australia on 7 June, two days after a pedestrian was hit and killed by a tram in Surry Hills. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A driver raised concerns that they were being silenced by Transdev, the light rail's private operator. Guardian Australia has obtained a leaked internal communique from 8 June warning staff not to talk among themselves about the deaths. 'Sharing content or discussing distressing details – whether through employee or unofficial channels – is disrespectful and potentially in breach of the code of conduct,' Transdev warned drivers in the note. 'They always put out things like that, trying to not let us really talk about incidents that have happened,' a driver said. 'My gut feeling is they just don't want the driver group as a whole to know too much about things that happen.' But a Transdev spokesperson said the note was 'aimed at reminding all employees of their obligations to wider staff wellbeing and not designed to curb discussion about the related news coverage'. 'Formal and informal mechanisms for safety conversations between employees and employer representatives, and additionally with unions are part of regular engagements held monthly to discuss diverse ranges of safety issues,' they said. On Sydney's L2 and L3 routes, two 33m-long trams are coupled together to form 66-metre-long vehicles. On 5 June, a man died at the light rail stop in Surry Hills. Police said they believed he was trying to cross between the first and second carriage. In 2023, a teenage girl died after becoming trapped underneath a tram while attempting to cross a street in the CBD. Police told the ABC at the time that she had been trying to climb between the two tram carriages. The drivers who spoke to Guardian Australia said Sydney's trams had been fitted with a metal barrier underneath the carriages, which was attached to a sensor that would be triggered if it ran over something and bring the tram to a halt. 'Occasionally they're triggered at the front when you've gone over a cardboard box or something,' one driver said. 'In the [2023] incident in Chinatown, we knew the tram had gone 100 metres without stopping and it didn't work because it [was] meant to trigger an alarm and stop the tram.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion David Babineau, NSW division secretary at the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, said anecdotal evidence from members was that the system did not engage the way it was supposed to. 'Whether that means it was switched off, or not operating, we would expect [the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator] to get to the bottom of it,' Babineau said. 'When the coupled trams were introduced, we were explicitly promised it was impossible for someone to get run over at the beginning. Why now are two people dead in two years?' Drivers told Guardian Australia the trams had been fitted with cameras after the 2023 death that allowed them to see some blind spots around the trams whenever they were stopped at a platform, but there could be a delay in these activating. 'It sometimes does take a few seconds longer than it should to appear,' one driver said. They said drivers were 'under the pump to make trips on time' and so might not wait for the camera feed to appear on the dashboard. 'There is a delay of a few seconds of the camera coming up,' another driver said. 'The phase of the signals are telling you you have to go, your doors are closed and you're ready.' One driver said the yellow line at the light rail stops should be moved further back, as it was right at the edge of the platform and commuters were confused about where to stand, reinforcing concerns raised by a woman who witnessed the death on 5 June. Annalise Gasparre, 27, who said she was at the light rail stop when the pedestrian was hit, said 'you could fit two people' between the platform and the coupling joining the two trams. 'To be honest, I think the light rail design needs to be changed,' she told Guardian Australia last week. 'The danger gap is so big.' Transdev and Transport for New South Wales declined to comment on the record when asked about the sensors, cameras, or yellow safety lines at platforms. Transdev suggested the sensors installed on light rail vehicles were not disabled for any reason, but would not clarify when asked if this included the second carriages or if they had ever been disabled. The company suggested the yellow safety line visually marked the edge of the platform, helping to prevent slips on to the track, as light rail platforms were closer to street level than train platforms. The drivers who spoke to Guardian Australia echoed calls from experts who suggested that the gap between the tram carriages be blocked off with netting or another sort of barrier, to prevent people from trying to cross between them. They said the coupling area was dangerous and the existing warning signs weren't enough of a deterrent. 'Further deaths are inevitable, really,' one driver said. 'The only way to stop that is to restrict access to it.' A Transdev spokesperson said an investigation into the Surry Hills death would review what controls were in place. 'We cannot speculate further on any controls or conditions at this time,' they said. 'While the matter is investigated, we are unable to comment further.'
RNZ News
12-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Free fares for bus-replaced Wairarapa train services long time coming
File photo. Waterloo train station. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King Free fares for Wairarapa train services that have been bus replaced indefinitely have been a long time coming says a local councillor. The route between the capital and Masterton has been plagued by issues for the first half of this year. In March RNZ reported that just 17 percent of Wairarapa's trains were on time for most of February. Between April 2024 and April 2025 patronage on the line had plunged by 25 percent. Greater Wellington Regional Council have pointed to a lack of staff on the Wairarapa line which have necessary specialised training for the Remutaka Tunnel which had resulted in four services a week being bus replaced till further notice. The regional council believed Transdev who employed rail staff could provide enough training for the necessary number of workers by September. At a meeting today, council decided until then the bus replaced services would be free on the Wairarapa line. Greater Wellington regional councillor for Wairarapa Adrienne Staples said at the meeting the concessions were a long time coming. "This has been going on for a couple of months, we've been tearing our hair out in Wairarapa about this, and it has taken such a long time for us to take it seriously." Staples said the council now took the issue seriously but was critical for the time it took to do so. Fellow councillor and transport committee chair Thomas Nash said this was good initiative but that the problem was in the context of a wider problem with passenger rail in New Zealand. Nash said whenever tactical interventions like this were considered it needed to be done alongside consideration of long-term issues with the rail lines such as who owns the rail assets and the control of them. It was estimated that the council would lose between $4000 and $6000 a week because of the concessions. The council has also said that rail infrastructure issues such as rusty rails, points failures and signal faults have caused delays for trains. KiwiRail chief metro and programmes officer David Gordon said the Wellington rail lines went through a period where they did not see the level of maintenance investment they needed for decades. "Particularly the Wairarapa Line which was approaching a state where closure may have been necessary." Gordon said while infrastructure issues contribute to the performance of the Wairarapa passenger trains, there were other factors. "Service crewing shortages remain an ongoing problem and these are not a KiwiRail responsibility." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CBS News
03-06-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Video shows school bus hit 8-year-old child in Boston, family files lawsuit
Shocking video shows a school bus jump onto a sidewalk and hit 8-year-old Reginald Oates outside a school in Boston. The family says Reginald, who has autism, survived the crash but was severely injured. "He's understandably taking it one day at time. The video is unbelievable. It's horrific," said Tucker Merrigan, the attorney who represents the family. Now a lawsuit has been filed against the company Transdev which operates Boston Public School buses over this crash that happened last December. "We filed suit this morning. Clearly an outrageous system failure with this transportation company as this is not an isolated incident," Tucker said. Video shows driver, monitor sleeping The law firm says the video shows the driver and bus safety monitor sleeping in their seats in front of the Curley School in Jamaica Plain. After a few moments you see the driver wake up and start the bus. He immediately swerves into Reginald and the school aide. The boy suffered a broken leg and still has trauma from the crash. The lawsuit accuses Transdev and its workers of gross negligence. Video shows a school bus hitting a child outside the Curley School in Jamaica Plain. CBS Boston "You don't always get video in these circumstances but there is absolutely no explanation for what happened," Merrigan said. Parents picking up their children from the Curley School remember the incident. "I was in the schoolyard it was so scary. I am super scared of all school buses now and whenever I see one, I got to watch my kid. I hope something will be done," Kiera Solomon said. Fatal crash in Hyde Park Transdev is already under investigation for a crash in Hyde Park in April when five-year-old Lens Joseph was hit and killed after getting off his bus. An investigation proved the driver's school bus certificate had lapsed and Transdev didn't know that until after the crash. "What we seek to investigate, and we are confident that is very, very, clear is that this company has failed to supervise, its failed to train and its failed to hire qualified drivers," Tucker said. Reginal's family says they don't want something like this to happen to anyone else. "They want accountability and safety for all the children in Boston to and from school every day," Tucker said.
CBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Mayor calls on province to intervene in nearly 5-month-long Vancouver Island transit strike
Social Sharing The mayor of North Cowichan, B.C., says it is time for the province to step up and help end a months-long transit strike in his region. Transit operators with Cowichan Valley Transit walked off the job at the beginning of February in a push for higher wages, as well as washroom breaks and places to take them. The action has halted all regular bus services and limited HandyDART rides to people with renal dialysis, cancer treatment or multiple sclerosis appointments. Now, close to five months in, Mayor Rob Douglas says residents are getting frustrated. "People are really starting to feel the pain." Cowichan Valley Transit serves North Cowichan, Duncan, Ladysmith, Lake Cowichan and smaller and more rural communities in the Cowichan Valley — an area about 45 kilometres north of Victoria, along Vancouver Island's east coast. It's run by Transdev, a private French company that is contracted by B.C. Transit to operate 10 public transit systems in B.C. Negotiators for Transdev and Unifor locals 114 and 333 reached a deal back in April, but it was overwhelmingly rejected by union members. Employees say they want to shrink the pay gap between transit workers in the Cowichan Valley and those in Victoria — which the union says is a difference of $6.72 an hour. Transdev previously told CBC News that its goal in the negotiations is "finding a resolution that supports our employees while maintaining the long-term sustainability of transit services in the Cowichan Valley." Douglas said the strike is taking a toll on his community. He said he and some of his regional colleagues want the province to intervene, echoing calls made earlier by the union. That could mean forcing the parties to go to arbitration. Even though the transit system is funded publicly, the fact that it's operated privately means the labour dispute is between the employer (Transdev) and the employees. That means both B.C. Transit and the provincial government have been reluctant to step in. B.C. Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside said she understands the strike has made life difficult for people in the Cowichan Valley. She said the Labour Relations Board is providing mediation services to the union and employer, and that she has urged the parties to make use of that support to find a resolution. She's expecting a progress report from the mediator in the coming days. "So we're looking at what other possibilities there are under the [labour] code to assist the parties, once I've heard back from the mediator," Whiteside told CBC News. She would not say specifically whether she would order binding arbitration. A spokesperson for B.C. Transit said in a statement that the agency "understand[s] the frustration felt by customers, and that the job action is difficult for everyone involved in the region." "Our organization strongly believes in the collective bargaining process and hopes the two sides will reach an agreement soon," the spokesperson said. Douglas said he believes in collective bargaining, too, but that the strike has gone on too long. "It's time for the province to take on a bigger role in helping resolve this," he said.
Globe and Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Striking Transdev transit workers to rally in front of B.C. legislature
VICTORIA, BC, May 28, 2025 /CNW/ - Unifor will hold a rally in front of the B.C. legislature today to support Transdev transit workers who have been on strike for over 15 weeks – since February 8 – in the Cowichan Valley.
