What is the burden of liability for a public carrier in cases of injury or accident sustained by a passenger?

In Visanji v. Eaton and Coast Mountain Bus Company Ltd., 2006 BCSC 656, Arnold-Bailey J. surveyed the authorities and summarized the governing principles in this instructive way, at para. 29: Whether the burden upon a public carrier in cases of injury or accident sustained by a passenger can be referred to as the shifting of the burden as in Day, or a matter of inferences to be drawn from the evidence once the plaintiff has established a prima facie case of negligence against the defendant carrier, as articulated in Fontaine, it is for the defendant to present evidence to answer, or be found negligent [citations omitted].

The majority of the authorities cited by counsel analyze the issue of liability in circumstances where the passenger was embarking, disembarking, standing or walking on the aisle when the injury occurred. One decision placed before me that deals with a seated passenger is Sarkar v. Sarai, [1993] B.C.J. No. 3203, on which the defendants rely heavily. In Sarkar, as the driver rounded a curve on the route, the female passenger suddenly slid across her seat and fell onto the floor. Her little son, who had been asleep on her lap, fell on top of her. The trial judge did not accept as accurate the plaintiff’s impression that the bus had been travelling faster than usual as it negotiated the curve, finding instead that the driver took the curve at his normal speed.