Conductors set to be back on West Midlands buses

EXCLUSIVE: Bus conductors could be on the way back to services across the West Midlands in the wake of the murder of Christina Edkins as she travelled to school, it can be revealed today.

moreTransport chiefs are considering the move to make passengers feel safer after the 16-year-old Black Country schoolgirl was stabbed on a bus.

National Express drivers have radios where they can report any trouble on their services, but those on Arriva buses have to use their own mobiles to call for assistance, the region's Police and Crime Panel was told yesterday.

Councillor Deirdre Alden, who represents the Edgbaston ward in Birmingham, where Miss Edkins was killed on the Hagley Road, told National Express boss Peter Coates: "It would make parents feel happier putting their children on your buses if you brought back conductors.

"I realise that there is a cost implication but this should be weighed against the fact they may be losing passengers because of the perception of safety and this could reduce the repair bill caused by vandalism."

Mr Coates, who appeared alongside Gordon Frost, area manager for Arriva Midlands and police officers involved with the Safer Travel Partnership, said: "I do not think we would see conductors deployed again throughout all our 1500 buses because that would be uneconomic but we could explore having them on certain journeys where they could have the greatest impact."

National Express has CCTV on buses and all their drivers are constantly linked to a central control by radio on which they can immediately summon help, but Mr Frost revealed Arriva drivers use their own mobiles because as a provincial service they operate differently to bigger firms.

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Crime on buses in the West Midlands has in fact fallen by 67 per cent in the last six years from around 7000 offences in 2006/7 to 2398 in the last financial year

But the number of passengers reporting that they feel safe while travelling on the region's buses is significantly lower than in other areas like Tyne and Wear and Greater Manchester.

A report concluded: "We know that 17 per cent of passengers feel uncomfortable due to the anti social behaviour of others."

A decision on the use of conductors will be made by September.

Philip Simelane, aged 22, of Dalkeith Street, Walsall has been charged with the murder of Christina, who went to Halesowen's Leasowes High School, on March 7.

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Video journalist Nicky Butler asked passengers at Wolverhampton Bus Station what they thought of the proposed move.