Drunken danger may cost region free New Year's Eve bus services
By Kyra Hoggan
The actions of as many as 200 intoxicated youth have BC Transit questioning the merit of continuing to provide free New Year’s Eve bus service in the Greater Trail/Rossland/Castlegar area.
BC Transit corporate spokesperson Meribeth Burton said a scheduled 1 a.m. bus in Rossland New Year’s morning saw drunken teens behave in a manner so threatening to the bus driver and security person on board that they opted to leave passengers behind in the interests of security.
“There was a large gathering of rowdy, intoxicated youth – more than 100, less than 200 – and some of those youth were banging on the bus,” she said, adding the driver and security person contacted RCMP.
“Some people in the crowd were intending to board, while others clearly were not. Some passengers were left behind as a security issue when the decision was made to depart immediately.”
By the time police arrived, the crowd had dispersed.
Burton said a bus scheduled for 2 a.m. was escorted by RCMP to the stop, where it boarded passengers and proceeded on its route without incident.
She said this was not the first problematic interaction on locally-offered free New Year’s Eve buses, hence the presence of private security.
“For the past two years, every bus driver has been accompanied by a private security person,” she said. “There’s been nothing of this magnitude before, but over the years, there have been issues with intoxicated people on the New Year’s Eve service.”
She said local municipalities provide the service (of the 132 communities providing New Year’s Eve service, only between 15 and 20 offer it free of charge) in the interests of resident safety – but this incident has raised a different kind of issue for BC Transit and its operating company.
“At this time, there are red flags being waved, for sure,” she said. “As for whether we can continue to provide the service, we’ll have to meet with our regional partners and see what suggestions can be offered to address these concerns.”
She said roughly 400 people took advantage of the service in the Greater Trail area, while 85 stepped on board in Castlegar – all without reported incident.
Rossland presented the only significant concern.
In Nelson, City officials decided to run regular service. The same regular service was also available to riders in the Slocan Valley.
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