Flemish plan to stop violence on public transport includes bodycams, bus bans

A plan to combat violence on public transport in Flanders includes allowing ticket inspectors to wear bodycams and issuing individual bans on boarding buses.

These are just two of the 10 points included in the ‘Stop Agressie’ plan following a round-table discussion between Flemish mobility minister Lydia Peeters, federal interior minister Annelies Verlinden and justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

The plan aims to reduce the number of assaults on public transport in Flanders.

Flemish public transport company De Lijn was confronted with 338 physical assaults on drivers and ticket inspectors last year.

In response, the regional minister invited De Lijn’s managing director, Ann Schoubs, the Belgian Federation of Bus and Coach Operators (FBAA), the federal police and the College of Prosecutors-General to a round-table discussion alongside the other ministers.

A 10-point plan was drawn up featuring a number of preventive measures, such as closed driving positions in all De Lijn buses and 67 additional inspectors.

While these ideas had been known about for some time, additional measures will be examined, including equipping public transport company inspectors and security guards with bodycams.

Van Quickenborne called for a temporary ban on using public transport, which is already applied to some offenders in his home town of Kortrijk, to be applied in more places.