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The I.Q. plan
FREE travel late at night, cameras, piped music and more individualised buses could all help to reduce the number of attacks on bus crews. These recommendations are included in a 10point plan just published by Mensa—the organisation for people with exceptionally high intelligence.
Their principal conclusions are : • Buses should be timetabledto start their journeys from school gates at finishing time, and be staffed from a small rota. School staff should be encouraged to travel on these services with travel concessions, • Fares on certain buses should be paid before boarding.
• Mirror glass should be installed on certain buses behind the driver.
• Time-lapse cameras should be fitted on certain buses, • Buses should be individualised (as is done by " wholebus " advertising) and kept to their own routes regularly.
• Piped music should be installed on certain buses.
• A poster campaign aimed at helping conductors in difficulty should be mounted.
• Travel should be free or prepaid after llpm.
• Licensing laws should be made more flexible to spread the 1 lpm peak.
• One-man-operated vehicles should be fitted with physical barriers between driver and passengers that will permit exchange of money and tickets, but prevent assaults.
" Part of the price society is paying for greater freedom of thought and action must be the increase in public violence, that is reflected by the increase of incidents of violence on buses," says the report.
London is named as suffering most from bus violence, but 24 per cent of all incidents were spread over only 10 of London Transport's 350 routes. The times that assaults took place was also found to come in three main peaks : 1. 4pm weekdays corresponding to the end of school).
2. 1 lpm weekdays (corresponding to pub closing time).
3. Saturday afternoons (corresponding to football matches).
"Using a bus can be for the individual an impersonal but obligatory contact with the authorities," says the report.
Solution
In solution of the problems of late night violence the report recommends that music be played in buses to continue the "pub atmosphere" and to fit mirror glass behind the driver to give a greater