By VANESSA CHIRCOP
HOBSONS Bay Police and Transit Police spent last Tuesday morning conducting 168 surveys at Newport Train Station as part of Operation Railwatch.
This is the second station officers visited as part of the operation, surveying commuters at Laverton Station previously.
“It’s to listen to the voices of people in our community who are using the rail system,” Hobsons Bay Inspector Bill Mathers told Star.
“It’s to ask people about things that are impacting on them around railways – how they feel about the safety and what they think we should be focusing on.”
As reported exclusively by Star last December, Hobsons Bay was ranked the worst in the state in a commuter survey of day-time perceptions of public transport safety.
The Star Freedom of Information investigation revealed only 64 per cent of commuters travelling on Hobsons Bay’s public transport felt safe by day – the lowest in the entire state.
The figures, from the September quarter’s National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing, also revealed only 19.6 per cent of commuters felt safe travelling on Hobsons Bay’s public transport by night – the third lowest in the state.
“There’s a lot of things that impact on why people feel unsafe and they range from changes train timetables through to fears of violence, graffiti, lack of visible police and we’re looking at all those sorts of things,” Insp Mathers said.
