New safety officers tackling anti-social behaviour on West Midlands buses
Safety officers are on patrol on West Midlands buses in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour after nearly 10,000 incidents were recorded in a month.
The 11 transport safety officers are specially trained, and will target particular routes and locations based on reports from transport staff and the general public.
In December last year the team had 9,258 recorded interactions with the public on transport and issued 331 verbal warnings during almost 1,500 hours on patrol.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority, said: "We want local people right across our region to feel comfortable when using our public transport network.
"This is an important investment in our Safer Travel team that will provide visibility and added reassurance – I wish these new officers well and I look forward to bus passengers continuing to enjoy safe surroundings when they make their journeys.
"This investment in safety was of course made possible thanks to the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding we secured which has also enabled us to take steps to make our bus services more attractive to passengers and build our services back up to pre-Covid levels.
"We’ve already announced a fare freeze until 2025 to help ease cost of living pressures and have further proposals in the pipeline."
The new officers have been assigned to the West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership, in collaboration with Transport for the West Midlands, West Midlands Police and the British Transport Police.
Simon Foster, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, said: "I’m very pleased to see new uniformed officers are now out and about, helping to prevent and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour on our buses.
"The overwhelming majority of journeys on public transport in our region pass without incident, but it’s important that we’re not complacent and that safety and security are our top priority.
"We need far more people to be travelling by bus and this investment is a positive step in the right direction.”
