Light Rail drivers forced to take action as Transdev puts passenger safety at risk

Light rail members unanimously voted to take protected industrial action in a protected action ballot last week.

The first action took place today as drivers refused to wear their uniforms.

Further industrial action will stop services between 10am and 2pm on Thursday 16 June.

The safety of Sydney’s light rail commuters is being put at serious risk by dangerously crowded carriages, increased driver shift limits, and unrealistic passenger turnaround times.

While drivers didn’t want have to take action, for as long as Transdev is not listening to our concerns, they left us with no other option.

Drivers are doing everything they can to keep the system running smoothly and are already stretched to the limit, yet the company is still trying to squeeze more out of them.

In order to meet Transdev’s unrealistic demands, drivers are forced to get overcrowded carriages of people on and off within 45 seconds, navigate around people walking onto the tracks because of inadequate safety signage, and now drivers are facing longer shifts on top of it all which is a serious fatigue risk.

It’s an accident waiting to happen.