NEW figures have revealed a significant drop in the number of recorded incidents of anti-social behaviour on Merseyside’s bus network.
TravelSafe, a multi-agency body which targets criminals on public transport, said incidents on buses had dropped by around 50% this year, compared with 2006.
Merseytravel has jointly funded CCTV in every one of the Stagecoach bus fleet on Merseyside, as well as many smaller operators.
The organisation will also have jointly funded total CCTV coverage in the Arriva fleet by the end of the year.
Neil Scales, chief executive of Merseytravel and chair of the TravelSafe partnership, said: “While we are delighted with this marked decrease, no incident of disorder is acceptable.
“Most pass incident free and the vast majority of passengers are good people who just want to get from A to B. But, when something does happen, it can leave a lasting impression about the whole bus network.”
He added: “We need to clamp down hard on the small element who are looking to cause trouble and upset.
“We need to let them know we won’t accept it, we will catch them and we will take all necessary action to prosecute them.
“No one organisation has a solution to crime and criminality on the network. That’s why we are working so closely in partnership, through TravelSafe, to come up with some very clever and innovative new measures to tackle anti-social behaviour on the network. The TravelSafe partnership in Merseyside, with support from police and private operators, is doing more to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers than any area outside of London.”
TravelSafe has supported the use of DNA “swab kits” for bus drivers to catch and deter those who assault staff by spitting at them.
The operation means DNA samples can be collected and passed on to Merseyside Police for analysis on the National DNA database.
Drivers are also encouraged to report all incidents of anti-social behaviour, which are logged on the IRiS (Incident Reporting System) tracking system.
Julian Westwood, Merseytravel’s TravelSafe officer, said: “We log every reported incident on our system; therefore we have the best intelligence on what is happening, where it is happening and we can focus elements of our campaigns and operations to match this.
“Results from our operations this year show our approach is working.”
TravelSafe is backed by Merseytravel, as well as bus operators, Network Rail, the Rail Passengers Council, Merseyside Police, British Transport Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Government Office North West, and the Safer Merseyside Partnership.
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