The "broken window" effect in action: After public transport funding
has been cut, station staff and tram conductors eliminated and maintenance
neglected, vandalism has increaded dramatically as have train cancellations.
Consequently, patronage has dropped, especially on late-night services, as
people
feel unsafe:
The perception is that if something does happen, no one will be watching.
And when train carriages are spidered with graffiti, have knife-slashed seats,
shattered windows, busted lights, dirty floors and an atmosphere of neglect,
then it transfers into the mindset of customers who, regardless of physical
threat or not, feel more unsafe.
Judging by passenger numbers, Bayside Train customers have been finding
alternate ways of travelling on certain routes at night. They're scared by
what might happen; perhaps still scared by the murder of pensioner Yuksel Asar
by a 21yearold at the unstaffed Hallam station - two on from Dandenong - in
1997, when the Public Transport Corporation - and nearly 10,000 of its staff -
had long gone. Even though Asar's murder (he was robbed, tortured and beaten
to death) was captured on video, there was no one at the station to see it;
Hughesdale has graffiti all over the station sign, rendering it unreadable....
Then, while two very young and innocent gay boys kiss in the seats at the back
of the train, a group of loud drunks leer at them from up the carriage and
chant "poof" in high voices, just loud enough but for too long. By Clayton
they've had their fun and get on with eyeing up the women.