The safety of Vancouver's public transit system is coming under scrutiny after a woman was attacked last week, only blocks from a SkyTrain station.
Transit riders are scared and Translink, the Lower Mainland's transportation authority, has to do more to protect them, said NDP MLA Adrian Dix.
"More and more people are coming to transit stations in pairs or being dropped off or keeping themselves safe," Dix told CTV News.
"The community is doing more. It's time Translink stepped up and did its job," he said.
But Translink says that the assaults are taking place away from the stations themselves -- which are out of their jurisdiction.
"You can't have a police officer watching every angle all the time, which is why the person on the street and the citizens around them like the person who offered assistance near the Nanaimo situation on Friday, they're really critical," said Translink spokesman Ken Hardie.
Around 8 p.m. Friday night, a 27-year-old woman was walking along Vanness Avenue, a block away from the Nanaimo SkyTrain station, when she was accosted.
A passerby scared the attacker off.
A man whose teenage son was murdered in July 2005 at the steps of the Surrey Central SkyTrain station says more has to be done not only in the stations but also in the surrounding area to keep people safe.
"I think people should stop trying to wash their hands of the problem and instead say, okay, what can we do to help?" said David Toner, who lost his son Matthew two years ago.
"Granted, an attack that happens a block away from the SkyTrain system is now a police jurisdiction matter, not the SkyTrain authority, still SkyTrain can co-operate with the police," said Toner.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart
