On Thursday, people from the transit and social services agencies traded other ideas for how to deal with disruptive riders who may need help. Price said GoTriangle drivers recently received training for conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques to help with troubled passengers.īut that’s just a start. “Because they weren’t equipped to know how to deal with them.” “Some drivers started to feel like ‘OK, maybe I need to leave GoTriangle because I don’t want to have to address these concerns,’” he said. The problems caused some drivers to quit, Price said.
Those numbers have risen steadily since rides became free, reaching 55 last year, he said. In 2019, when it still collected fares, GoTriangle had to call police 7 times because of problems on its buses or at it stations, Price said.
Number of ‘security incidents’ on buses has risenĭrivers could use the help, according to transit agencies. “We need to be involved at the onset versus on the back end,” she said. But while Triangle Family Services has traditionally reached out to people in camps, shelters or on the street, it hasn’t gotten involved with buses unless law enforcement officers called the agency about a disruptive rider who needed help, she said. Since the onset of the pandemic, the homeless population in the Triangle has increased by up to 22%, Green said. “They don’t know where they’re going because they have nowhere to go.” They don’t have the resources,” Green said. “There may be some substance-induced challenges going on - mental health, mental illness. The goal is to prevent or diffuse problems that might otherwise involve a call to police, said Seaira Green, chief program officer for Triangle Family Services, which provides support for homeless people. Price was speaking at a meeting of people from transit and social service agencies who came to GoTriangle’s headquarters to talk about how they might better help non-destination riders and improve the riding experience for everyone. “Public transportation systems are faced with significant increases in the number of people experiencing homelessness, including people using public transit services as shelters,” Price said Thursday. Drivers report dealing with more abusive or disruptive passengers than they did before buses were free, says Jimmy Price, GoTriangle’s manager of safety, security and training. Some of these non-destination riders are homeless or have substance abuse or mental health problems and make other passengers uncomfortable. When Triangle transit agencies stopped collecting fares during the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of people began riding buses simply to get out of the cold or heat or to have a comfortable place to sit or sleep.
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