5.6 Crime


5.6.1 Safety and security on and around public transport is consistently identified by the public and operators as a key concern. It can have a serious impact on accessibility, by deterring vulnerable groups such as women and older people from travelling (particularly in the evenings). In extreme cases, where buses and their drivers have come under attack, it can also lead to the withdrawal of services. Through its Crime Reduction Team, GMPTE has put in place a number of important initiatives to reduce anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and the fear of crime. These include:

  • Fitting CCTV to bus shelters. Vandalism and anti-social behaviour at bus shelters not only causes inconvenience to passengers but increases the fear and perception of crime and anti-social behaviour in the community. Cameras now monitor activity in and around 38  shelters and can be moved to other locations to  target ‘hot spots’. Images taken have led to police intervention and figures for 2007/08 show that bus shelter vandalism in Greater Manchester  fell by almost 38% compared to 2006/07.
  • Launching the Crime Reduction on Public Transport (CROPT) initiative in 2006, to work within existing crime and disorder structures within Greater Manchester.  The aim is to reduce anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and fear of crime, but also to unite the ten Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, sharing good practice, tackling cross-cutting large scale issues and raising the profile of public transport crime. An action plan was developed as a result of consultation with local authorities, Police, transport and infrastructure providers and elected Members.
  • Setting up a Patrol and Response scheme. Building on previous pilot schemes such as the Bus Station  Rapid Response Unit and the Safer Travel Officer scheme GMPTE launched a Patrol and Response scheme in 2006. Two dedicated security teams patrol the network, using “intelligence lead” crime / incident reports to target their activities. The first team is dedicated to covering the bus service network and the second protects GMPTE’s bus stations. In the first two months of operation, incidents at bus stations were reduced by 41.8% compared with the previous year. The early success of these units has attracted financial support from bus operators who now provide 40% of the funding for the scheme.
  • Organising and part funding ‘Gateway Checks’ on bus services. Police and Ticket Inspectors (employed by the operators) board buses and tickets are checked. If a passenger has no ticket, an offence has been committed and the Police can consider carrying out a ‘Stop Search’ of the offender.  As well as detecting fare evasion or ticketing offences, deterring potential offenders and providing reassurance to the travelling public (by providing a uniformed presence), these highly successful operations are proving beneficial to the Police in uncovering more serious offences. Individuals travelling without tickets may also be wanted on warrant, be carrying drugs, weapons, tools for crime or be illegal immigrants. In one such operation in July 2008, involving 147 buses, checks on 2,468 passengers found 58 invalid or fraudulent tickets. The Police carried out 21 stop searches.  As a result, 33 people were issued with bus operator penalty notices, while the Police submitted 5 Intelligence reports and made three arrests. However, overall statistics on bus fare evasion are not collected by GMPTE because the revenue risk on all services, including subsidised contracts, is taken by operators.
  • Putting in place a new security team to patrol Metrolink trams, stops and car parks throughout the day until the last service at night and working in partnership with ticket inspectors and Greater Manchester Police. In August 2008, operation 'Your Choice' commenced to target Metrolink fare evasion.
  • Anti-social behaviour incidents on school buses have been reduced by a combination of measures. GMPTE and Stagecoach have written to schools throughout the county advising them of each school’s responsibility in preventing / deterring anti-social behaviour by their pupils on public transport and  the consequences of failing to take action (e.g.  service withdrawal, ASB Orders, etc). GMPTE now identify potential problem schools and offer support in dealing with the problem. At the same time, Yellow School Buses (of which a further two were introduced in Wigan) led to a reduction of incidents on specific routes.  In 2006/07, the number of incidents on all home to school services at schools where at least one yellow bus had been introduced fell by 75% compared to the last school year prior to the introduction of the Yellow Bus.