Busker Robert Newton was assaulted by a ticket scalper in Burrard SkyTrain station. (CBC) A busker who performed for years at SkyTrain stations in downtown Vancouver believes the public transit system is losing thousands of dollars to drug addicts who harass passengers for their used tickets, then illegally sell them as transfers.
Robert Newton, who was assaulted by one of the transfer scalpers, said SkyTrain attendants and police don't do enough to discourage the practice.
"There were times when there would be upwards of four transfer sellers in one station selling transfers, competing with each other," Newton said. "The transfer sellers would virtually take over the station. It was their territory."
Until January, Newton played classical violin at SkyTrain stations in the evenings. Over four years, he said, he would watch for hours as drug addicts and other street people accosted passengers getting off the trains, asking for their transfers.
They would then aggressively solicit incoming passengers at ticket dispensers, offering the used transfers for a cut rate of $2, Newton said. Legitimate tickets bought from SkyTrain fare dispensers cost $2.50.
Scalpers can make $100, busker says
"Two dollars is a lot of money, when you start counting up the number of transfers that [the scalpers] can sell," Newton said. "They would blow into these stations stay for an hour or so. They would make close to $100 and they would be gone."
CBC News cameras caught this scalper soliciting passengers to buy his used SkyTrain tickets. (CBC) Although the practice is illegal, transit police spokesperson Tom Seaman said, scalpers are not considered a very serious threat by SkyTrain police.
"It's not really a severe crime or a very serious crime, but it is something that people have told us annoys them," he said.
Seaman said SkyTrain's uniformed presence has increased significantly this year вЂ" with police bike patrols, undercover officers and a much better camera surveillance system. But there still aren't enough resources to have visible attendants or police at all stations at all times, he added.
"That would be great. In a world where we could put a person in uniform at every station, that would be fantastic, but of course that's not feasible," Seaman said.
Newton said he was playing his violin in Burrard Station one evening in March 2008 when one of the regular transfer scalpers, Darren Hardy, started harassing a group of young women, pushing them to buy his used tickets.
According to Newton, when he stepped in to ask Hardy to leave, Hardy hit him in the face and smashed his violin. Newton fell and injured his elbow. He was lying at the bottom of the escalator, bleeding, while his assailant ran away, he said. Passersby called an ambulance, but neither SkyTrain attendants nor police responded, Newton said.
SkyTrain staff away during assault
"The whole [assault] must have lasted five, 10 minutes. Nobody came," Newton said. "Finally, later, one of the SkyTrain attendants came out of the staff room door and she walked right by me вЂ" until somebody said, 'Hey, this guy is hurt. He needs help.' "
The public area at Burrard Station is unattended by SkyTrain staff during evening hours. (CBC) Newton said that when he returned to the station several days later, Hardy was back, too, peddling his transfers.
"There he was, back at business as usual," Newton said. "He's a regular. He is there all the time. They knew who he was."
Hardy, who has a long criminal record, was eventually charged with assault and convicted вЂ" but not until Newton pushed SkyTrain staff to take action, he said. Hardy was given probation and ordered to stay away from SkyTrain facilities. Records show he has since breached the terms of that probation five times, as recently as March 16.
'The SkyTrain station was like a jackpot for these people.'вЂ" Former SkyTrain busker Robert Newton
"The SkyTrain station was like a jackpot for these people. It was like a Las Vegas slot machine where they were the winners every time," Newton said.
He said he witnessed numerous fights between transfer scalpers over turf, constant harassment of passengers, and scalpers breaking the ticket dispensers so the public would have no choice but to buy from them. The scalpers were often drug addicts who then attracted drug dealers and other problems to the stations, Newton said.
"I've seen people assaulted. I've seen fights break out. I've seen drug deals. I even saw sex here one night, too, right on the platform," he recalled.
The root of the problem, according to Newton, is that SkyTrain attendants were often on their break or in the staff room вЂ" from where they can't see the public area of a station вЂ" while those activities were going on.
"I have played at Burrard and I have played at Granville Station at night, and you can be here for two or three hours and there won't be one person. Not one attendant," he said. "They are not there. They are not doing their job."
Stations 'unattended for long periods': union
SkyTrain attendants are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Local 7000 president Gerry Cunningham, who represents more than 200 attendants, said they often have to leave their posts to ride the train or attend to other stations.
SkyTrain police spokesperson Sgt. Tom Seaman says security measures have increased significantly in 2009. (CBC) "That can leave stations unattended for long periods of time," Cunningham said. "There is a public misconception that there is one attendant per station."
There are four "must attend" problem stations вЂ" Broadway, New Westminster, Surrey Central and Main вЂ" where an attendant must be on duty at all times, Cunningham said. Cunningham said that means downtown stations, including Burrard and Granville, often have to be left unstaffed.
In addition, staffing levels drop by half for a two-hour period during each shift so that attendants can have lunch and coffee breaks, Cunningham said.
The union has been asking SkyTrain for years to increase the number of attendants by 30 per cent, Cunningham said. He said attendants are often afraid to work alone and have also been assaulted вЂ" badly enough to send three or four of them to hospital a year.
"It's not just for the public to be more secure. It's for our staff to be more secure," Cunningham said.
The union has also written to NDP MP Peter Julian, who represents the riding of Burnaby-New Westminster, urging him to push for tougher sentences for people who commit crimes on the transit system, Cunningham said.
"We hear that a lot from people, and it's frustrating for everybody," transit police spokesperson Seaman agreed.
He said the agency has asked B.C. prosecutors to encourage the courts to take SkyTrain crimes more seriously, to discourage chronic offenders like Hardy from returning.
"We're asking the Crown to come up with something, to work with the courts to get more severe sentences. And I think that's going to be the case as time goes on," Seaman said.
Overall security improved: SkyTrain police
Seaman insisted an overall change in approach and attitude by SkyTrain management has improved security of late. Two hundred arrests have been made for SkyTrain crimes so far this year, an increase over recent years.
"We can't be everywhere all the time," Seaman said. "We have a certain number of officers and attendants covering the line, and we are quick to respond to calls. We're as visible as we possibly can be."
However, CBC News observed three ticket scalpers in action at Burrard and Granville Stations during a two-hour period on the evening of May 14. The scalpers were seen asking people for transfers and approaching several passengers pushing them to buy.
While this was going on, no attendants or police were visible in the public area.
"The solution is simple," Newton said. "You have the SkyTrain attendants where people can see them as much as possible, instead of in the staff room."
