A recent newspaper article written by in Perth’s Sunday Times caught my attention by claiming that London Underground trains are safer to ride on than Perth trains. Apparently statistics taken in 2006-07 survey show that Perth passengers are nearly twice as likely to be a victim of assault/mugging/robbery than an equivalent London passenger. I guess to some Perth people, this may come as rude shock to them that Perth trains are unsafer than Londo trains. And London is a crime ridden city..isn’t it?. It should be pointed out that the London Tube system may have a lot more resources to throw at controlling crime than Perth Transit Authority will ever have.
A link to The Sunday Times article can be found here.
Anyhow… I was curious to see the situation for myself at a few of the railway stations on the notorious Armadale line.
9:00PM Monday
First stop was the Cannington Station. Though I’ve been past this railway station plenty of times, I’ve rarely been in the station itself. Many years ago, I recall this station had a bad reputation for crime and unruly behavior. With its close proximity to a major shopping centre and greyhound track, the station collected quite bit of after hours passengers travelling through, hence there was always something going on. With this in mind, I was somewhat apprehensive to even visit this station at night time. I had visions of being heckled, sworn at or challenged to a fight…However… I was pleasantly surprised:-D Cannington Station on inspection was clean, quiet, well organised and was equipped with 4 Transit/ Police officers on duty! With this number of security officers I would rate this station as fairly safe, at least within the station itself. Although I did notice the car park was a little dark.
Next stop was Queens Park. This is just a basic “island style” suburban railway station platform, not too big, a few seats, shelters and ticket machine. It was completely deserted, with no one there. This station is typical of the minor stations, quiet and without any security personnel, although it does have CCTV security cameras and an intercom to call for help.
Queens Park Station is typical of the style of smaller stations.
Next stop was Welshpool. Similar to Queens Park. Two people waiting there and quiet.
Next stop was Oats Street Station. This is where things started to go bad. As I arrived I noticed 2 youths in the station yelling, throwing and smashing bottles. One bottle was thrown out of the station onto the street… smashing onto the road. These youths I suspect, were affected by either drugs or alcohol . They were totally wild and out of control.
It was at this point, I felt things were not safe to be at this station and unfortunately there was not a transit security officer in sight.
I would not want my friends or family to be at this station at this time. I didn’t hang around, I’m outa there.
Next stop was Carlisle. The situation here also was not very promising. A group a youths here acting in rowdy manner, possibly drinking alcohol. This did not inspire confidence. Other than these people, the station was deserted. I moved on the the next station
Next station was Victoria Park. All quiet here… a few passengers waiting only. No problems 
Next stop was Perth station.
Perth City Stationas I expected, is well lit with plenty of security officers on duty. Also, entry to station platforms is controlled by security officers to only allow passengers with valid tickets or smartriders inside. I guess this also filters out people with no business to catch a train and those looking to evade fares. As I recall, a few years ago, many people just went to the station to hang out… you could just walk in, sort of like a meeting place in the city.
Perth Station Monday night 11pm. Very quiet.
Entry to the station is controlled by security.
This has been very quick investigation of a small number of Perth railway stations and I did not like what I saw at Oats Street station and Carlisle Station. There are plenty more railway stations over Perth which are of the smaller unmanned type where crimes can and have occurred. Whilst it is easy to come to the conclusion that security is lacking at the smaller stations, I suggest that there is a deeper issue here, and that issue lies with the people committing the crimes and being a nuisance. Speak to a victim of crime which has occurred on a Perth train or at a railway station. They can tell you about the emotional scars it leaves and their subsequent reluctance to travel by rail again.
I’m lucky to have a car so I only use public transport going to and from work, which is during “normal” hours. I’m also lucky my station is a major one (Murdoch). Those island style stations definitely don’t inspire confidence.
And you are right though – you can’t compare the Perth Transit Authority to the London tube. And our city isn’t like other major cities being that our sparse population is spread out over a larger area, making it prohibitively expensive to secure every station on the train lines.
I often use car or bus.
Perth still is a relatively safe city compared many parts of the world though. Thankgod
[...] This is sadly no longer the case. Our cinemas are flooded with the kind of pond scum one finds in Cannington on a Thursday night. I tire of having a narrative punctuated with cat-calls and hyena-howls from an audience with the [...]
Thanks for the info on this site.
But a warning to the people travelling at night, especially the overseas asian students,
usually the attacks on the train commuters happen outside the train station.
That means no matter how many transit officers you have inside the train station is only helpful when you are in the train station.
When you are out of the train station, Dude, you are on your own; the transit officers do no follow you and are not your personal bodyguards! Be sure to look behind if anyone is following you and be on your guard constantly!
Personally, i wouldn’t take the trains at night. Its too dangerous.
I used to travel on Sydney trains late at night, sometimes past 11pm. Never experienced any major problems besides the odd harmless drunk or party-goer heading home.
Perth is a different story. Even travelling from Perth to Joondalup at 8.30pm, I ran into countless groups of young, vulgar alcoholics openly consuming beverages on the train. There’s quite a cultural difference between Perth and Sydney, Perth definitely being the more “yobbo” type which might explain the city’s astronomical crime rate. Policing can only do so much. What we need is a cultural shift.
I agree with james – there should be security patrolling outside as well as inside 24hrs a day. My son (17) and his friend (16) were attacked outside the Glendalough train station at around 7am on Sunday morning (19/4), whilst seated on the bus seats outside the train station. (They were waiting for the station to open and didn’t realise it didn’t open on a Sunday until 7.45am. It was an unprovoked attack from behind, where one was kicked in the back of the head (whilst seated) and the other hit in the side of the face/head with a brick. They ran across Scarborough beach road but were chased by 8 youths who then robbed them in the train station car park of their wallets & mobile phones. Clearly with both receiving blows to the head, this could have ended tragically. One of the boys required stitches and other medical treatment.
If we have a train line which the public are encouraged to use, they should be able to do so no matter what their age, without feeling that their personal safety is at risk. If there was 24hr patrolling both inside and out then this incident may not have happened.
The offenders have been caught and charges have been laid by police. I can only hope there is consequences for their actions.
I’m glad to hear the police caught them, hopefully the offenders will be successfully prosecuted and have their butts kicked severely for this unacceptable behaviour. In addition to being prosecuted, Transperth should ban these dickheads from any railway stations and riding on trains.
Perth people should be able catch trains and buses anytime and have the right to feel safe doing so without being subject to this random terrorism. These are OUR stations don’t let dickheads take control of them.
Guys, just be aware that Transit Officers jurisdiction ceases at the end of PTA property and are unable to do squat outside of said area (which is crap). Stations are either manned or monitored 24hrs a day and help is only 2-3 minutes away at night. Feel safe on our railways not scared. Before asking for help check the badge on the officers sleave, if it says “Revenue Protection” your shit out of luck with the help. Easy way to tell Transit Officers and the contracted ticket checkers is if they are Indian or english is their 4th language then great chances are they arent Transit Officers…..
G’day guys I have travelled in the trains during nights I know help is not far away when you request for it but does it matters who you ask for help (Revenue Protection officers OR Transit Officers) as long as someone is there to help us, that is what we want. I have not seen a single Transit officer speaking 4 languages so if an Indian is speaking 4 languages and still working with Public Transport Authority of W.A. what is the harm in asking them for help. I have also seen 5 Transit ofiicers as Indian so who ever has made this comment above correct it please….